You don’t need to be a social butterfly to reap the benefits of social media for your translation business.

But you do need to make sure your professional image on social media aligns with your company’s image on your website, your values, goals, and objectives across all platforms that you use for business. Otherwise, you risk not being taken seriously.

The imagery you use, the language you use, and the content you produce all affect your customers’ perception of you and your services. By taking care of your visual image, you’ll attract more customers who want to work with you – and recommend you.

Here are five ways you can enhance your professional image as a translator or interpreter on social media.

ONE: Keep your brand coherent

Once you create a brand, use it!

Your logo should be clearly visible, either in your profile image or your cover image. Keep everything branded – images, colours, shades, and voice. Think of your social media pages and profiles as an extension of your website. They really shouldn’t look much different.

Consistency across all channels prevents confusion and gives customers a strong impression of what makes you stand out. And most importantly – inspires trust.

Here’s a good example of a conference interpreter and translator with clear specialisations and a coherent personal and professional brand:

https://www.sergioparis.it/en/ 

https://www.facebook.com/sergio.paris.interpreter.translator/ 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sergioparis/

As you can see, Sergio’s logo, photos and content are aligned with his specialisation: conference interpreting, while also mentioning his other services. Between clear logo use, similar colours and images and professional and friendly approach, this brand accomplishes its goals but most importantly instils trust as you can “verify” Sergio on different platforms and using similar imagery, logo and profile photos reassure a potential customer.

If you dig deeper you can also see that he is indeed a “real person” on the other side of the keyboard, who is regularly taking part in professional events and has experience on the job (check out: https://www.sergioparis.it/en/photo-gallery/ or his LinkedIn posts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sergioparis/detail/recent-activity/shares/!)

Everything on Sergio’s website and profiles reflects his professional identity and it’s what makes the brand unique.

You can do the same. On your website and your social media profiles. Always ask yourself if something truly fits to your brand and the message you want to send to your customers. You might really like a certain photograph or inspiring quote, but if it doesn’t make sense when placed on your website or professional profiles, leave it out.

TWO: Post a variety of professional photos

Transparency is treasured on social media.

In fact, 53% of consumers say they’d most likely buy from brands that are transparent on social media. But what exactly does transparency mean?

Well, it certainly doesn’t mean sharing your romantic timeline or current health woes. It’s more about being open with your audience and letting them peak a little into your professional life. Provide them with the information they may expect. Instead of posting stock images that look boring and impersonal, try incorporating photos of you at work and photos from industry events and conferences.

Avoid amateur-looking, unfinished assets. And don’t publish photos with watermarks of the photo bank (This still happens so often. Buy that photo!). It sends out a message of carelessness that isn’t attractive to people who want high-quality services. That doesn’t mean you can’t create beautiful images for free (there are some great, free picture banks out there), but it does mean ensuring your images look professional, unique, and authentic and that you have a professional approach to business.

THREE: Publish case studies and testimonials from clients

Even though research shows that nearly 90% of customers read reviews before making purchasing decisions, there are still many freelance translators and translation companies without testimonials, ratings or reviews on their website or social media pages. 

If you have them, post them! If you don’t, ask for them – then post them! Customers want to know how professional, reliable and capable you are. The only way they can find that out before parting with money is by reading reviews.  

You can also boost your social media pages by publishing case studies, to show potential clients what you’ve been working on and what you can do. Always highlight your experience and tell them how you solved your client’s problems. Scenarios like that help people understand that you know what you’re doing and understand their industry.  

Try adding an accompanying photo or visual quote to draw people’s attention to the testimonial or case study. 

FOUR: Share content aligned with your brand

One of the ways to promote your translation business using social media is to share content that aligns with your brand daily or weekly, especially if you’re going to try and establish yourself as an expert in a particular specialisation.

It enables you to connect with your audience and show them that you’re active and available on social media and that you know the market.  Find content that would be interesting for your customers in your specialisations and share it with them. You can try to be more socially conscious too.

For original content written by you, such as a blog post, prepare a nice photo or a cover that will match the rest of your approach. 

While building your brand voice, don’t be afraid to share your own opinions according to your brand values. Just try not to be too opinionated – unless this is the image you’re going for! If you publicly complain about a lot of things in a very harsh language, it may give out an impression that you’re difficult to work with. So, always use your best judgement! 

FIVE: Try uploading videos to strengthen your image

Your nose may wrinkle at the thought of it, but here’s a nice little stat that may change your mind: 67% of consumers think video is the most transparent type of social media post.

And because consumers love transparency, you can reach a much wider audience if you create and post videos. You don’t need to post anything really personal. Videos from public assignments that you can post about and interpreting events or conferences give customers enough insight into your professional life and what you do, to build trust and connection with your customers. You can keep them in your Instagram story highlights for example so customers can always access them – not just on the day of the big event.

You can also prepare a simple promo movie in iMovie or Canva or make a short video from your latest blog post with Lumen5 app – more and more easy video makers are available so you don’t have to spend a lot of time creating them.

Are you active on social media?

Social media for translators and interpreters are powerful tools to create, showcase or sharpen your brand. Most of them won’t give you instant client enquiries, but they are a massive trust inspiring tool that you can use for free, and that will help convince and reassure your clients. 

Whether you use LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or all of them, you can definitely raise your professional profile as a translator on social media through coherent branding, professional photography, content sharing, and plenty of testimonials.

You don’t need to use all of them either – pick one profile and stick to it, be consistent and boost your visual image this way.

I hope you’ve found the above tips useful in promoting your professional image visually. Whether or not you’re a social media fan, you can definitely leverage it to build brand awareness and loyalty. 

I’d love to know your tips on using social media as a translator or interpreter! Please share them in the comments section below.

And if you’re looking to find out more about how to use the 4 main social media platforms and create your own social editorial calendar, we have a bundle that helps you do just that in the Language Services Marketing Academy!