Whether at home or abroad, social media marketing is something you must take advantage of. But while it’s comparatively easy to do so in your own country, promoting your product across national borders presents new challenges.
So, if you are going international, here are Five tips to help you create a solid social media strategy for your foreign markets.
1. Use the right platform
The popularity of specific social media platforms varies from country to country. In Brazil, WhatsApp is king. In Ukraine, it’s Telegram. In Switzerland, Facebook is still the most popular, (though it has been losing space to TikTok and YouTube).
Besides country preferences, the right social media for you will vary according to the kind of product or service you offer. For instance, “Instagram is by (very) far the number one medium for beauty and lifestyle”, according to a 2021 Kolsquare survey — and to the common knowledge of all of us.
Find out which is the most used platform for your industry in your target country, and you will maximize your ROI by advertising where the largest number of prospects will see you.
2. Localize your content
Don’t just translate the words in your original ads. Instead, make sure they produce the same effect on your foreign prospects as they do at home.
For instance, puns and pop culture references are usually untranslatable into another language. So, if your ads include these, you will need not only translation services, but transcreation services as well. The same applies to visual elements — colours, gestures, clothing, etc. — which can mean something entirely different in the culture of your target country.
Also, remember that some countries comprise more than one language and cultural identity. Make sure you know what group (or groups) you want to sell to, and if necessary create a multilingual content strategy, so you talk to each group in their own language.
Localization also means taking into account time zone differences — you don’t want to miss the optimal time of the day for releasing your ad just because you forgot that you are living six hours ahead.
3. Interact with your prospects
Social media marketing is all about creating connections and relationships. If you want to make the most of your advertising on foreign social media, don’t just post your stuff there — interact with your prospects.
Depending on the size of your business, it may be worth hiring a foreign social media manager to answer questions, deal with complaints, and thank your followers for their support. And also, to connect with those people who can most help you earn the trust of your prospects. Which leads us to our next point...
4. Work with local influencers
It’s one thing to pay an influencer to review and promote your product. It’s quite another to build a relationship with them.
While the first option demands less effort on your part, and may yield results faster, it can show you are not that confident in your product, which is damaging to your image. And since they have no personal relationship with your brand, the influencer may drop you as soon as they find a better deal elsewhere.
On the other hand, finding foreign influencers who really love your product, and who are happy to associate with you in the long-term, will give you long-term, stable access to an audience who’s ready to trust you.
5. Choose the right translation provider
If your business is small, and you are working in just one foreign language, an in-house translator can probably deal with your multilingual social media marketing. Just make sure they are a native speaker and have marketing skills (remember, you may need to transcreate your content).
If, however your company is medium- or large-sized, and if you are operating in several foreign languages, the best option is for you to work with a translation company. (It doesn’t have to be Upwords... but of course we’d love it if you chose us!)
A good translation agency will provide the right professionals to translate, localize and transcreate your content, and will save you the time and effort of finding, hiring, coordinating and supervising freelancers.
