In an increasingly globalized world, the numbers of multilingual speakers are growing. In such places as the EU especially, multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers drastically. It’s become more important than ever to target bi-lingual or multilingual speakers in marketing campaigns. It may be a daunting task, but if you take the steps to implement multiple languages throughout your marketing campaigns, even on social media platforms, it can be well worth the effort.
Even if you have a small business, you can benefit from having a global strategy for your Social Media campaign, as long as it is well thought-out. So here are a few things you can do to create multilingual social media accounts, and how they can benefit your business.
Using multiple languages can benefit your business globally, but also locally
If you’re already a large company, the reasons for marketing in local languages should already be obvious. For small businesses that have a long-term international expansion plan, the benefits of looking ahead at multilingual advertising should also be obvious.
But just as local SEO can help bring users searching within your geography to your site, and ultimately bring customers through your door, using languages that are spoken in your local area can bring more users to your social media platforms and your site. And then you can say “hello” to more conversion rates!
If your business or company is based in a larger city, do some research on the population and demographics of your specific region. Who lives there? Is there a sizable immigrant population, and if there is, what languages do they speak? What are their needs, and can you help fulfill them? Research can help you narrow down which languages are most relevant to your campaign.
Use filters that are already available on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter
On most social media platforms as well as search engines, both users and marketers can filter by language. Facebook users, when setting up their account, or at any point afterwards, can select a language preference for their profile. Advertisers can use this feature to specifically target users based on their selected language. Twitter has a similar feature, with 20 available languages.
Google has a feature on AdWords that can make your job easier as well. By filtering your AdWords campaign to a specific language, you can find keywords that work in that language. Google detects a user’s language not only through their selected default setting, but also through their search history. By filtering keywords in more than one language, you can target users that are multilingual quite easily.
Once you’ve done your market research, do your linguistic and cultural homework
Or hire someone to do it for you. If you’re designing your campaign in multiple languages, don’t go in blind. You could end up missing the target, or worse, creating a nonsensical and embarrassing ad campaign. Hire someone who can translate your slogans in a way that speaks to an audience in another language, and be smart about culture as well. Sometimes English represents luxury. Sometimes you want to use the local language to create a sense of belonging and trust. Know what’s useful and when, and a multilingual campaign could open some doors that you didn’t even know were there.
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