The ATA Chronicle - July/August 2022 - 31

BUSINESS PRACTICES By Madalena Sánchez Zampaulo
are they using? For example,
take a look at the Activity
section of your current or
potential clients' profiles. My
own Activity section looks
something like Figure 1 on
page 32.
How to Decide What to
Post on LinkedIn to Market
Your T&I Business
K
nowing what to post on
a social media platform
where your potential
clients are hanging out can
be a real challenge these
days. I get these questions all
the time from my LinkedIn
course students:
y What should I share?
y How often should I post?
y What will resonate with
my ideal clients?
y Will my ideal clients even
see my content?
y How can I engage with my
clients' content?
These are valid questions.
And if you're asking them,
you already know the value
of engaging on LinkedIn,
where your clients are also
spending time. So, let's
break down the answers to
these questions, keeping in
mind that every translator
and interpreter will have a
different ideal client in mind.
Start with knowing who
your ideal clients are. First,
you need to understand who
your ideal clients are. And
you may well have more than
one-most of us do!
What do you know about
the ways your clients use
LinkedIn? This may require
some research if you don't
already know, but it's
worth doing for your own
business development. You
never know what you'll
find about your clients
that could improve your
marketing strategy. Start
with your favorite current
clients. Connect with them
on LinkedIn and check out
their profiles.
Research how your clients
use social media for work.
Once you have a good idea
of who the clients are that
you would like to appeal to
on LinkedIn, you need to
understand the way they use
the platform. What features
You can see your clients'
most recent activity at the
top of the Activity section.
Then, if you want to see
more activity than what's
shown from the past few
days, just click " Show
all activity. " (See Figure
2.) Take a look at what
they're posting, sharing,
commenting on, writing,
etc. Use the filters at the top
if they have a lot of activity
to review. (See Figure 3.)
This should give you a good
idea about how they're
using LinkedIn. Doing this
will help you see how your
clients are showing up on
LinkedIn, which informs
your own strategy.
Be selective with the
features you use. There
are so many features on a
platform like LinkedIn. You
don't need to (and probably
shouldn't!) use all of them.
Make a list of the features
that make the most sense
to use-ideally the same
ones your clients are using.
Consider things like posts,
articles, commenting,
sharing, LinkedIn Groups,
etc. And don't forget to add
direct messaging to your list!
The LinkedIn features
you plan to use should be
beneficial to your business.
This way, you can spend
only the time you need on
the platform to market your
" Business Practices " will alternate in this space with " The Entrepreneurial Linguist. " This column is not intended to constitute legal,
financial, or other business advice. Each individual or company should make its own independent business decisions and consult its own
legal, financial, or other advisors as appropriate. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of ATA or its Board of Directors.
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