Today’s guest post provided by Shara Clark, who markets and writes about global language school Glovico. In this post, she analyzes how to approach tweeting in multiple languages – why, how, and even a little bit about when.
An estimated 13% of the global population speaks English. As a global marketer, that leaves you with 87% of the global market pending penetration.
If your brand is represented at a global level, you are faced with deciding whether to split or centralize your social media voice. There are benefits and risks involved with both strategies, but generally, if you are attempting to reach a web savvy audience, consider centralizing your efforts.
By maintaining a single centralized voice, you allow your global customer and fan base to be part of something bigger. You will be able to reach customers with varying degrees of multilingualism. But before you get moving with your plan to take over the world, it is imperative that you understand the benefits, nuances and implications.
Identify Relevant Languages
Begin by mapping geographical areas where your company or business already has business representation. Identify markets not currently in your portfolio that offer high potential for your business.
Take Into Consideration Time Zones
There are excellent tools such as http://www.tweriod.com that will help you understand the most beneficial and relevant times to reach your followers. When you have a global audience, your times for optimal reach in each language will vary based on time zones. Plan your multilingual resources accordingly, or engage someone who is on location.
Balance Your Strategy
As you introduce multilingual tweeting, it is indispensable that you place similar levels of attention and care to all your followers regardless of their language. This does not mean that all tweets need to be translated into each target language; instead you should attempt to provide equal quality of content that has been tailored to the specific marketing objectives of the region or language of choice.
Embrace the Language
Poor language skills on a second language tweet will not further your brand. If you plan to embark in a multilingual tweet and social media strategy, engage resources with superior language skills and deep understanding of your brand voice.
Embrace the Culture
Think about Google Doodle: your multilingual and global social media strategy will have far better reach if you engage in celebrating and commemorating events that matter for your followers. In addition to traditional festivities, your social media strategy should remain cognizant of local trends and follow local hashtags to help your brand efforts align well with local trends and local voices.
Reach Out
Take time to follow local celebrities tweeting in your target language. Learn what drives the passions and interests of your segment
Two Way Street
Just as we all do it for our main language tweets, you must establish internal engagement protocols aimed at conversing with your followers. Be ready to deal with real time customer service issues and provide public follow-up and resolution to convey a message of caring.
Consistency
Create a semi-formal tweeting schedule for each language to ensure your voice is constant. While you can always do more, you should try your best not to do less than the number of tweets you have established in your social media plan.
Prepared by Shara Clark. Shara writes for Glovico a fair trade global language school using online tools to connect students with native tutors.
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