With COVID-19 being a part of our daily lives now, I have heard more about the video conferencing system Zoom than I ever did in the past! Even the members of Saturday Night Live (SNL) did their show SNL from Home but it was Live from Zoom! So, without a doubt, since I had to blog about an unexpected application for social media, I chose to blog about Zoom. But wait, not only do I want to blog about this application, I also want to mention how well their online marketing is going since most of us are working from home!
As a freelancer, Skype used to be my application of choice. Well, I must be honest, I had never heard of Zoom before COVID-19. These days, I seem to be hearing a lot more about Zoom than Skype so right out of the box, I wanted to know what all the craze was about with Zoom and why Skype seemed to be losing its popularity.
But what about Skype? I remember the days when you used to “Skype” your friends and family. Then, Skype became more than just a familial tool. Many enterprises were using Skype as their video conferencing tool of choice. So why have so many people left Skype to join Zoom? Both are great choices, but it all depends on your business needs. They are both powerful communication channels that are very efficient and cost-effective.
Zoom was designed as a video conferencing software to help promote collaboration using an innovative system allowing applications such as web conferencing, group messaging as well as online meetings. Zoom is a cloud based application that supports many different platforms such as Android, iPhone, Mac, iPad and web platforms.
As for Skype, the goal of the software application, which includes text, voice and video tools, was to provide its users the opportunity to share content with others no matter where they were located. Skype is a web-based application that is also supporting various platforms like all Windows, Android phones, iPhones, Macs and iPads.
Here is a more detailed comparison between Skype and Zoom that demonstrates the differences between the two software applications.
In conclusion, it is almost impossible to adopt a software application for long nowadays. The technology allows for constant changes that are being made at lightning speed. I have adopted a new motto that reflects that evolution: learn to expect the unexpected! Will you?
As it has been mentioned previously in one of my blogs, networking is an important tool that can bring value to your professional career. It is crucial to remain an active member of various professional associations that are related to the translation industry. Another way to improve our present and future network is to adhere to as many other groups as possible in the quest of acquiring numerous referrals coming from their members.
A professional social media platform such as LinkedIn offers people the opportunity to display their content online. Posting blogs, articles, opinions and comments related to your industry or related to a very trendy subject can potentially increase the number of connections and followers. Whether they are coming from individuals, professional groups and associations, each connection added to your network adds value to it and might not be of any current value but may become very important in the future.
The main obstacle, in so many cases, is that you must be diligent and consistent when posting any content on social media platforms. Even the most disciplined content creator has moments when it is hard to manage work, content creation and networking. However, I pledge to be more active and work to solidify my networking in the next 6 to 12 months. Here is how I plan to successfully increase the number of people within different networking platforms, solidify the existing connections as well as diversified the type of connections that will be acquired through networking in the future.
In order to be successful, I will need to:
Identify my influencers and my potential clients
Capitalize on mutual connections
Use a different approach if necessary
Step out of my comfort zone
Not always tell clients how I can help, but let them ask me how I can help
Just like any other lead, always follow up an invitation to connect or email
I will also step out of my comfort zone and explore some of the newer social media platforms and experiment with some new content as well as remind myself of the 5 rules of the courteous networker: listen, be myself, create human connections first, be considerate of time, and always follow up any interaction with a thank you. I try my best to be as successful as I can be at networking. Are you?
Do you remember hearing your mother say those bad words when she stepped on one? Do you remember the last time you stepped on one or found one inside your shoe? Well, Lego has been the toy of choice for generations. The brand was even named World’s Most Powerful Brand by the Brand Finance’s Global 500 list for 2017. This power comes from countless Lego fans worldwide. Lego had that year an impressive 1.2 million pieces of user-generated content (USG) demonstrating the dedication of Lego hobbyists.
Lego has multiple accounts on Twitter and Facebook and counts more than 6.5 million subscribers on its YouTube channel. Lego has been portrayed in video games, televised competitions and even in movies. The most important aspect of their successful social media strategy comes from the increase of the engagement with their audience when Lego Ideas was created. An official Lego set can be created following the submission of Lego makers. This is engagement at its best since the product development is purely social, and it gives the fans a great sense of ownership. But the cleverest part is that each submission must be accompanied by a support group of 10,000 people before Lego even considers the submission (see Figure 1 below). The fans then become marketers for Lego! Following a survey done by the Harvard Business Review (see Figure 2 below), Lego knows how social media is important for the brand and its USG platform is just brilliant.
Spotify is one of the most popular companies that specializes in providing services in the digital music industry. This commercial music streaming service has been operating since 2008. Spotify counted, as of 2016, more than 100 million users. Because Spotify targets audiences such as Millennials and Gen Z, it partnered with various record labels including Sony, EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal. It was important for Spotify to be able to provide a wide variety of music to their listeners. The listeners are using the services based on a subscription.
Spotify’s social media strategy is so good that it is a social media network. Spotify created the opportunity for its listeners to influence their following on social media by integrating with Facebook and Twitter. Users can share music, send tracks and playlists to their Facebook friends who can access them on their Spotify account. Spotify’s social media strategy emphasizes the power that music has on people. It brings them closer and is a part of moments that are special and unique to each listener. Spotify does not have to create this magic, music does it all by itself! It is easy to see that Spotify will eventually become the place where music will be shared and not just listened to.
Dove has put an emphasis on empowering women concerning existing beauty standards. Dove created its beauty platform about 10 years ago called Real Beauty. It has encountered some ups and downs. One of the major downs came about when the company put on Facebook a post showing a black woman becoming a white woman after she used Dove’s body lotion (see Figure 3 below). This image is not representative of a woman who believes that beauty should be about loving the way you are. This post insulted many women who pointed out the racial aspect of the image. Dove received so many negative replies and messages from women across different races that the company removed the posting from Facebook and even released an apology statement.
Dove also tried to reinforce a positive body image through its Real Beauty campaign by demonstrating visually that “beauty comes in all shapes and sizes.” As it was mentioned in a commercial, the ad showed Dove body wash in six different shapes of bottles (see Figure 4 below) each one corresponding to a woman’s body shape. Dove tried the associative advertising technique which is to connect products and services with ideals. What if the store is running out of the bottle that matches my shape? Do I want to buy the bottle that has my body shape or the one I would like to have? What about the ergonomics of the bottles? Clearly, the shape of the bottles was negating all the efforts made by Dove to reinforce a positive body image.
Of course, being a freelance translator means that you make money only if you get requisitions or contracts for translation services coming from individuals or organizations. That also means that it is imperative to find listening and monitoring tools that will assist you in getting those requests at the lowest price possible. After spending so much time writing, researching, blogging, creating a website and being active on social media, it is important to listen and measure the impact of these actions on your audience. For a freelancer, the lowest price possible on the market for such tools is, of course, not to have to spend a penny. This is the most difficult thing to do since there are some very good listening and monitoring tools on the market, but some of them are expensive enough that only large organizations and companies can afford to use them.
As per social monitoring, Google Alerts is a simple and very economical way to get email notifications regarding the most searched keywords on the web. Most of all, Google Alerts is a free feature and is available to anyone with a Google account who wants to monitor the internet for mentions of any topic. Notifications are sent to the account owner by email or RSS alerts. It is possible to search for anything; if it can be performed through Google searches, it can be created as Google Alerts.
It is possible to set up Google Alerts for just a word or a whole phrase. It allows you to listen to what people are saying about you, your brand, your products or services. It allows you to know who likes your content, who follows you, who refers you and who is not. It is possible to reply to a mention immediately and provide opportunities to change, adapt or create new content if needed. It increases rapidly the level of engagement and provides opportunities to connect and exchange with your audience.
A feature that Google Alerts offers which is very useful is that alerts can be received on all genres of devices. It is possible to receive alerts even on smartphones which allows one to receive any Google Alerts whenever you want and wherever you are. The Google Alerts are received as soon as Google recognizes the mentions, or you can schedule to receive them all at once, daily or weekly. Social Searcher is another monitoring tool that I use because it is free and easy to use. It is a search engine that allows you to monitor all public social mentions in social networks and on the web. It can, in real time, measure and track what is being said on social media platforms about your company, brand, product, or service. The results are compiled and easy to read in one user-friendly dashboard. The search engine looks for user-generated content including everything from news, videos and images that are related to searches on eleven social media platforms as shown in the picture below (Figure 1).
Of course, being a freelance translator means that you make money only if you get requisitions or contracts for translation services coming from individuals or organizations. That also means that it is imperative to find listening and monitoring tools that will assist you in getting those requests at the lowest price possible. After spending so much time writing, researching, blogging, creating a website and being active on social media, it is important to listen and measure the impact of these actions on your audience. For a freelancer, the lowest price possible on the market for such tools is, of course, not to have to spend a penny. This is the most difficult thing to do since there are some very good listening and monitoring tools on the market, but some of them are expensive enough that only large organizations and companies can afford to use them.
As per social monitoring, Google Alerts is a simple and very economical way to get email notifications regarding the most searched keywords on the web. Most of all, Google Alerts is a free feature and is available to anyone with a Google account who wants to monitor the internet for mentions of any topic. Notifications are sent to the account owner by email or RSS alerts. It is possible to search for anything; if it can be performed through Google searches, it can be created as Google Alerts.
It is possible to set up Google Alerts for just a word or a whole phrase. It allows you to listen to what people are saying about you, your brand, your products or services. It allows you to know who likes your content, who follows you, who refers you and who is not. It is possible to reply to a mention immediately and provide opportunities to change, adapt or create new content if needed. It increases rapidly the level of engagement and provides opportunities to connect and exchange with your audience.
A feature that Google Alerts offers which is very useful is that alerts can be received on all genres of devices. It is possible to receive alerts even on smartphones which allows one to receive any Google Alerts whenever you want and wherever you are. The Google Alerts are received as soon as Google recognizes the mentions, or you can schedule to receive them all at once, daily or weekly. Social Searcher is another monitoring tool that I use because it is free and easy to use. It is a search engine that allows you to monitor all public social mentions in social networks and on the web. It can, in real time, measure and track what is being said on social media platforms about your company, brand, product, or service. The results are compiled and easy to read in one user-friendly dashboard. The search engine looks for user-generated content including everything from news, videos and images that are related to searches on eleven social media platforms as shown in the picture below (Figure 1).
Of course, concerning social media updates, when it is time to know what is going on in my professional field, LinkedIn is my go-to application. It provides me with all the latest news in the corporate world as well as keeping me inform specifically about the professional groups and associations that I am a part of. It also gives me the opportunity to connect with potential clients and employers.
In a more general note, when it is time to have a quick peek at what is going on in the world, I go to Twitter and read headlines from my favorite newspapers, magazines and news channels. Twitter also offers a feature called Twitter Advanced Search which is the best way to find tweets that belong to a targeted sector. It is possible to look for keywords, search by location, by date, and other options to filter future searches.
And when I feel that I need a distraction from my work and all that social media monitoring, I grab a book, you know, that thing made of a cover and a back with, a middle filled with a lot of pages with writing on them that you flip once you have read one page. Yes, a good old book!
So many people think that when you are bilingual and are proficient in both languages, for example, French and English, that you have everything you need to become a successful translator. Unfortunately, this is not quite true. It takes more than “knowing” both how to read, write and speak in two languages to become a good translator. A professional translator will take into consideration many different factors in regard to the source language as well as the target language. The most important factors are, without a doubt, the language’s syntax, terminology as well as idioms. In order to be understood clearly by the people of a different culture, region and country, the translator must adapt the translation to deliver a more “localized” translation. Localization is one of the most difficult, and yet, the most important part of a professional translation no matter the genre or the format of the translation.
One common mistake that is being omitted by many translators is that they are not asking enough questions concerning the content that must be translated. It is imperative that the translator fully understand the content that must be translated before even knowing where the translation will be delivered. It does not necessarily mean that the translator must know all the elements of the message but understanding the what, when, where, who and how that will be transmitted to the readers. Effective communication must be present between the requester and the translator.
A message that is being translated word by word becomes a robotic message that may not even be close to the original message. For example, the order of the subject, the verb and the complement are very often placed in a different order depending on the target language. Very often, the translators will change the order without considering if the expressions or idioms in the translated message are correct. The way the sentences are constructed, the agreement between the verb and the subject and the gender may be totally different or nonexistent from one language to another.
Of course, the choice of words and expressions must be verified before being used in a translation. This explains the time that is required to research the terms that are specific to an environment, a culture, a region and a country. The tone and the style of the original message must be kept once the message is translated. For example, punctuation may differ from one language to another giving the translated message a totally different meaning.
The translator must also stay current with the trends and the technology that changes rapidly. The addition of new words and expressions in a language is something that the translator must keep in mind and research in order to be up to date as much as possible. It is inevitable these days for a translator to encounter terms that are being used in specific environments, more particularly, in applications that are part of a more “global” vocabulary such as blogging, chatting and vlogging. In my opinion, a “good” translator must be as versatile as well as professional and dedicated!
As a professional translator, I can attest that most companies that wish to become global or international should absolutely acquire the services of a professional translator. Most industries benefit from relying on the services of a professional translator. Many sectors such as information technologies (IT), legal, political, tourism, hospitality, healthcare, real estate, finance, accounting, scientific research, analysis as well as manufacturing benefit greatly from being able to do business in many different languages allowing for expansion opportunities.
Many industries are not taking translation seriously and underestimate the role of the translator. These same industries are often the ones that are using translation software and apps to translate their content, correspondence, websites and so on. These industries do not realize the impact a bad or wrong translation can have on their performance, image and most importantly, their credibility.
The choice of a professional translator is important. The most important skill that a translator should have is certainly the will to understand and to research the content that needs to be translated. Also, the target language must be familiar, most specifically the targeted region where the translation will be used, which is often referred to as localization. Because someone is bilingual and has worked many years in the same field does not necessarily mean this person qualifies as a professional translator who is specialized in one specific field.
Just like an investigator, a translator must, most of all, be a very good researcher to ensure the translation reflects the essence and the tone and not only the words of the message. Having complementary skills and experience such as administrator, project manager, different studies and working experiences in bilingual environments will ensure the translation project will be uniform from start to finish. Each translator has its own preferred expressions and writing style.
A business owner once told me he preferred hiring people with English as a second language because their written English was impeccable since they had to learn it, while anglophones were taking the language for granted. He, himself, was Polish and English was his second language.
We should all know by now that getting a translation from the Internet, a translation software or an app or to hire bilingual employees to help the organization with their translation needs are not appropriate, adequate or professional solutions. Now that communication is at its peak through so many social media platforms, why not require the services of a professional translator. Will you?
Communication has come a long way since Alexander Graham Bell. Nowadays, digital communication is used not only to communicate, but for a multitude of applications. Learning about social media listening was an eye-opener as it is the base of any successful marketing campaign made for social media platforms.
The storytelling aspect of digital communications was also, in a sense, a revelation. To be good at writing and describing products and services is essential, but to be a good storyteller is crucial. It is true that the engagement level is dictated, not necessarily by the story itself, but by the way the story is being told.
The element of diversity among different audiences involving the adaptation of a specific communication style was surprising to me. I was under the impression that only social platforms used to display the conveyed messages were what mattered the most to the targeted audience. Learning about the different audiences based on age, culture and gender has helped me to understand the terms segmentation and generational marketing.
The discussion about personal and corporate branding was very interesting as it did bring a different take on the subject. Exchanging opinions and ideas about these two kinds of branding were engaging as well as beneficial.
In conclusion, I have discovered that no matter what you sell, make or build, if you keep in mind the principles that have been learned during the Digital Communication course, you will be able to write a story that will assure that your marketing campaign will be a very successful one!
On that note, I must go, I have some stories to tell!
There was a time when I worked for an egocentric boss in a well-known company that had an international reach. My manager came to see me one day and asked me to do something that I thought was not productive at all and would not solve any of our problems. And I opened my mouth to tell him so. He then answered back to me saying that his position was allowing him to tell me to do something and there was nothing I could say or do about it. I just had to do it. I quit a couple of months down the road and decided to start my own translation company.
Since I am a fast learner, I took on the challenge to create everything myself, find the future clients myself and complete the translation requests by myself. In short, I wanted to do and to be everything all at once! I have quickly learned that it is impossible to do it all, especially when you are a person who likes to get things done impeccably and in a very reasonable time frame. Well, this means that I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist and that delegating is, for me, a hard thing to do.
Having not obtained the level of business that I expected, and of course, needless to say, I had great expectations, I got discouraged and decided to find a position that would allow me to give the same quality of work that I was giving while managing my company. I then realized that not too many companies really cared about nor understood the importance of the translation part of their business as much as I did.
That it is why I decided to be a freelancer again and be proud of the work that I do. I know that I will take the time and the effort to ensure the translation of a document reflects the content, the essence and the tone of the original document. Furthermore, if it is dedicated to an audience located in Quebec, I will ensure the translation will be understood and properly perceived by the targeted audience. I have always believed that actions speak louder than words.
I define personal brand as being your image, your reputation and your career. It is composed of bits and pieces of your life; personal and corporate. It is, in my opinion, the most vulnerable representation of yourself. Why? There is no place to hide.
My personal branding statement is: Learn. Grow. Thrive. My passion and enthusiasm are some key elements that allow me to stand out. Well, I must confess that my sense of humor and my rhetoric have helped build my brand too! I was very social before the arrival of social media, so I was not intimidated by it at all.
I am a perpetual learner. My career path consists of many different specializations that are different but related to each other; translator, copywriter, blogger, marketing coordinator, customer and supplier relations, administration and management related positions. The combination of all these studies, experiences and skills is what differentiates me from my competitors, and it allows me to be versatile and flexible.
I am the organizer, the problem solver, the thinker, the devil’s advocate on whom you can count on. I am the one people come to for technology-related issues (and to know all my shortcuts!). Because I am great at generating ideas and finding solutions to problems, fields including creativity, research and innovation are attractive to me. New projects are a source of challenges and excitement. I value teamwork and brainstorming sessions where people having a common goal can share ideas!
LinkedIn is the social media platform that I mostly use and since it is linked to the corporate world, it allows me to connect with professionals and opens doors that otherwise would be inaccessible. I make sure I comment and post often to ensure constant visibility. I have been posting some of my blogs and have been listening to the received feedback. I am learning to engage people and create a targeted audience which is not an easy task. I am still very cautious as to what I choose to post online. My motto is “Think twice, post once.”
Do you know of a company that is targeting all their diversified audiences? Well, Shoppers Drug Mart has succeeded in engaging with people of all ages and still does. Founded in 1962 in Toronto, the drug retailer added mass merchandizing and self-service, both in a retail pharmacy format. It has evolved into the Shoppers Drug Mart that we know now which offers varied products and services including cosmetics and fragrances. In 2000, Shoppers was launching its Shoppers Optimum loyalty program which amassed more than six million members after only one year. In 2014, the merging of Shoppers Drug Mart and Loblaws created the PC Optimum loyalty program. And this program that has been successful all these years has helped create, in my opinion, one of the most engaging companies on social media.
Being the leading loyalty program in Canada has its advantages and the company is using them to engage people on many different social media platforms. All members of the program who are engaging with Shoppers Drug Mart gain something: PC Optimum points. Those precious points can be redeemed in any of the stores that are under the company’s banner. The company, through their different products, services, contests, promotions and programs, is rewarding the members of its loyalty program with more points which means more “free stuff” for the customers. Of course, expanding their number of memberships also means more sales and more sales translate into more profit!
From pharmaceutical products and services to long-term care facilities and online prescription renewals to beauty products and cosmetic trends revealed on sponsored blogs, Shoppers Drug Mart is very active on social media. Aside from having a very functional and engaging website, Shoppers Drug Mart can also be found on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And when you think the company could not reach more people and expand its diversified audience, Shoppers Drug Mart has found a new way to promote its products using the newest technology. You can now try on hundreds of products virtually with the Virtual Try-On which will certainly be talked about on social media. How engaging is that?
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 
