Cross-Cultural Social Media

This morning I woke up to some unexpected news. Facebook made a change in how you can set up your business page.  You used to be able to set up your Business Page so everyone who was not a fan or had not hit the “Like” button would land on a specific tab or “landing page” whenever they visited your page.  Businesses used this to:

• Get more people to like their page and build their Facebook audience
• Highlight offers
• Incite people to participate in a charity or a community
• And generally guide visitors to create a unique navigation experience on social media

Well this morning it appears Facebook took away this landing page capability. Now, this literally just happened and I still need to read something official from Facebook, so if you are concerned by this news, please read up about it on Mari Smith’s blog or the Social Media Examiner Facebook Page. I’m sure they’ll keep you informed.

At the time of writing this post, there is a question about just what this new change means and what will happen to the Facebook Business Pages currently using “welcome” tabs and other landing pages.  There is speculation this may be happening in phases and still no official news from Facebook.

But I want to share some cross-cultural insights on the impact of what happened in these first few hours because there are a few things worth noting and one of them is about how timing and communication is perceived by different cultures.

Latest Facebook Change

First, the short story…

Following the thread of how this news broke on the Social Media Examiner Facebook page, it appears a group of Facebook developers found they could no longer set up accounts to get new visitors to land on the customized tabs they had just created for their clients. And in this developers forum Facebook informed them that Facebook had changed their rules and Facebook users would not be able to do this unless:

• You are a Facebook authenticated business which means you have over 10,000 fans
• You asked your “Facebook representative” to do this for you, and this means you are an advertising client of Facebook where minimum monthly purchases are in the 5 figure range.

Businesses Losses

Again, I have to say it’s very early on and things may not be as they first appear. But if this is true, this change is particularly troublesome for businesses who are currently running a Facebook ad campaign. Their links are no longer going to their landing page as planned. Apparently at least some of them were not informed of the change the moment it happened.

This does not send a very good image of what it’s like to work with Facebook.  In fact, it could put a big dent in Facebook’s credibility from a business perspective. These new changes make it clear Facebook wants big business bucks, but this incident shows they don’t know how to play the big business game.

Cross-Cultural Losses

Unfortunately things get even worse when you consider this from a cross-cultural perspective.

Credibility. Different cultures use different frameworks to process credibility. It’ll be interesting to follow the different reactions from businesses in different countries.  It’s not going to be easy for Facebook to manage the loss of credibility across such a diverse set of followers.

Although businesses are adopting social media at a greater rate this year in North America, the climate is very different in other countries where businesses are still wondering what social media can do for them.  And I know many of the businesses around me here in France will have a good little chuckle and put the whole social media question aside to get on with “real” business.

Respect. The worst insight of this whole incident is the lack of respect Facebook shows towards their raving fans. They’ve put mud on the face of two of their own fan groups:

• The Facebook developers who sold Facebook services to their clients
• The businesses with ad campaigns linking to landing pages which are no longer working

Respect was lost because Facebook did not inform these two groups of fans in an appropriate manner at the appropriate time.

In some cultures this is very bad and should not be ignored by Facebook. People just don’t want to be associated with businesses who treat their own close “fans” with such disrespect. This is a “deal breaker” in many cultures.

Trust.  With the loss of credibility and the lack of respect there is a loss of trust. Trust is always very precarious in cross-cultural relationships. It’s very easy to lose trust between cultures, and much more difficult to build it up.

So businesses need to make an effort to lose as little trust as they possibly can. Clear upfront communication is one way to do this and it’s absence leads to mistrust.

The Impact Of Time On Cross-Cultural Damages

It’s interesting to look at how time and timing impact your communication from a cross-cultural communication perspective.  You see there are two things to look at:

• No matter what Facebook does from hereon in, the fact that this happened without informing people at the time it happened will mean a loss of credibility, respect and trust for many different cultures. And in cross-cultural relationships these take much more effort to build back up.
• No matter what the real situation is, Facebook needs to respond quickly because different cultures have different appreciations of time and of what has just happened.  There is only a narrow window to do this and get it right for a wide international audience at minimal cost.  Many cross-cultural mishaps become outright blunders simply because there is a lack of response within an appropriate time frame.

Immediate Reparation Of The Damage

Please remember, I’m responding to this news only a few hours after it broke and things may not be exactly as they seem.  But if all of this is indeed true, it’s not going to be easy for Facebook to find the best response for their wide international audience. Both the response itself and the timing of the response is critical.  Here’s what I suggest their response has to be:

• Elegant enough to repair some of the damage. Some cultures will respond well to a sincere apology which shows empathy towards them.
• Thorough enough to build up a bit of the trust  lost within the business community. This will take time and the next steps Facebook takes will be scrutinized.
• Very clear information to get this across well to a multicultural audience. And because many people believe their communication to be clear when it isn’t, this should proofed by someone with the right international communication skills.
• Within at least the first few hours of their head office opening today Facebook should at least give an acknowledgement that they will respond more fully within a maximum of a couple of days. It’s bad publicity when you put your clients in a situation where they lose business because of your actions. This is probably what happened to some of the people in the 2 “raving fan” categories above, and all businesses will be watching to see how Facebook responds.

Getting Beyond This Unfortunate Communication Incident

Because I’m writing this very early after the first incident, it’s important to note things may not be as they seem.  A close look at this situation, in this early phase, makes it’s easy to understand why you need to quickly respond with clear communication.

If Facebook is indeed changing the way how you can set up your landing page,  they will need to work on building trust.   Of course, businesses can still use URL redirects to drive people outside of Facebook towards specific Facebook tabs or landing pages because all tabs have a unique URL.

But Facebook should also try to show businesses a solution, or the path they see for businesses to use Facebook, and not just the big businesses who can afford Facebook advertising. Facebook needs to acquire a bit more of the social media mindset and come down to meet all of their business users. It’s important to have trust built at this level in an international environment.

Otherwise they will lose a part of the “raving” element of their “raving fans” because part of their international audience will not be able to connect with them in a strong way. This leaves a door open to competition. It’s hard to evaluate the cultural impact of “raving fans” from other countries because many cultures don’t really fit into this description. The image changes from one culture to another.

And this is probably where you can bring in parallels from traditional international marketing with the 5 different steps to becoming an international business. The idea being you need to learn how to create relationships with one country first, then a few different ones, and it’s only by acquiring these international skills that you can become a “global” business, like Nike for example.

With this is mind and if all of this is true, it looks like Facebook just showed it’s limitations. Despite the massive presence worldwide, it hasn’t yet learned the skills it needs to communicate with a global audience.

That’s looking at Facebook, but it doesn’t take into account the users. And Facebook’s future will depend on how their users will want to use their platform.

On a side note, I’d like to bring up one other thing.  Unfortunately working internationally you see a lot of people trying to cheat systems to make money. And my second thought to the Facebook change was this:

• The minimum amount of fans businesses need to be authenticated is 10,000 = too many for most businesses to realistically attain.
• The minimum amount businesses can spend to advertise on Facebook is 5 figures = big money most businesses cannot afford to spend on Facebook.

This probably means an onslaught of people figuring out ways to sell businesses large quantities of “fans”.  And this will probably mean people on Facebook will also have to deal with an increase in spam related issues. Will it all be worth it? Will this change the Facebook environment enough to make people leave?  Will this leave a big enough opportunity for another social media platform?

Now It’s Your Turn

• What other cross-cultural perspectives do you see in this incident?
• Do you think this incident will impact how businesses invest in Facebook?
• Does this incident make you want to invest more in your own blog or website?

Please leave your comments below.

Need Help?

If ever you need help in figuring out how to respond to a communication incident across a broad international audience, contact me and I’ll give you a quote.  With over 25 years in developing international markets, I’ve played a pivotal role in diffusing many a business crisis in cross-cultural environments.

More on Cross-Cultural Social Media

• How to Connect Globally With Social Media
• Choice Of Social Media For International Markets
• The Cultural Divide In The Social Media Evolution
• Cultural Differences In Social Media Marketing
• How Cultural Differences Impact International Social Media
• 7 Cross-Cultural Skills For Businesses To Master Social Media
• Social Media Marketing Across Cultures
• Guerrilla Marketing With Social Media To Enter New International Markets
• Understanding Social Media For Stronger International Web Marketing

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

Cross-Cultural Blunder On Latest Facebook Change

Cross-Cultural Social Media

Jay Baer recently shared the social media quotes he uses most. Be sure to check out the SlideShare presentation he’s put together. These are some great quotes and I use many of them myself. But I’m based in France and network constantly with a broad international audience for my business.  So these quotes don’t always resonate the same with my international audience.

Here are Jay’s favorite social media quotes with some of my own thoughts on how these work within international social media.

Social Media Tips From An International Perspective

#1: “Focus on how to be social, not on how to do social.”

This is not always easy for people from different countries to understand because their ideas of “being social” are different. And this means people in different countries observing social media in North America can have a hard time picking up what “being social” means in social media.

For example in many countries “social” has to be in person. Here’s an example of how French people have integrated the French notion of being social in social media.

#2: “Social media doesn’t create negativity, it uncovers it.”

I personally have a hard time with this. One of the culture shocks I had, even after living in France for decades, was the negativity in the French blogosphere. Of course there are many great French bloggers, but every time I dive into this French environment I’m shocked by how negative it is and invariably close all my web browsers.

This makes me a bit wary of what negativity means to different cultures and how this can impact social media in different countries.

#3: “Social media is an ingredient, not an entree.”

Right now in European businesses social media often seems more like the unicorn mentioned below. It’s something you’ve heard about, but don’t really believe the business benefits exist.  So it’s hard to create any sort of “social media meal” at all.

But progress is being made and it’ll be interesting to see the differences in how social media is used within different countries.  Just like there are different cuisines throughout the world, there’s sure to be “culinary differences” in successful social media in other countries.

#4: “Everyone says social media is a unicorn, but maybe it’s just a horse?”

Or the Lochness Monster?  That’s the response most appropriate to what I hear here in Europe.

As North American businesses use social media more in 2010 it’ll be easier for businesses in other countries to come up with a metaphor they can relate to and then learn how to adapt it to their own cultural specifications.

#5: “Social media is the ultimate canary in the coal mine.”

Speaking of metaphors, this is one that doesn’t translate well. Hopefully in years to come we’ll see the cultural differences in social media as a flock of different exotic birds.

#6: “The goal of social media is to turn customers into a volunteer marketing army.”

Of course, this is fascinating to observe through a cross-cultural lens to compare cultural differences.

For example, creating a “volunteer marketing army” is different in “highly independent” versus “highly collective” societies.  And there will also be differences when comparing results in cultures with “high context communication” versus “low context communication”.

#7: “It’s not viral unless it is.”

I love this one.  It’s not always easy for non-native English speakers to understand buzz words. They can often take on new meanings when adopted in different cultures. And this quote reminds everyone to not get carried away in selling social media.

#8: “Linkedin is for people you know. Facebook is for people you used to know. Twitter is for people you want to know.”

Outside of North America this appears to be different. There are cultural differences in how people like to connect with others and there are cultural differences in how different generations use social media.

The younger generations around me here in France definitely use Facebook for the people they know. In international circles LinkedIn is not necessarily for people you know. In fact, I often hear people in the UK say they didn’t feel the need to be on LinkedIn. And there are still too many questions about Twitter outside of North America and it may not be the best place to make specific international connections.

#9: “Facebook Fan Pages are email newsletters with smaller pictures.”

This is a great social media quote, but it doesn’t work in cultures where most businesses don’t use email newsletters.

But it can give forward thinking marketers in those countries a great idea to try out in their market. Many business successes originated from adapting and being an early adopter of what works well in one country to another country.

#10: “Social media isn’t inexpensive, it’s different expensive.”

For businesses in countries where social media is still an enigma, it can appear to be very expensive.  This is because it takes so much time simply to understand the value and figure out how they can use this to their advantage.

#11: “Social media creates kinship between companies and customers, and kinship equals purchase intent.”

The cultural differences in how people connect with each other and do business impacts how social media can be used for business.

On the one hand social media should prove to be a great tool for some businesses in connecting with potential customers. And on the other hand, there are cultures where social media’s role in getting sales will not be obvious.

#12: “Social media changes the relationship between companies and customers from master and servant, to peer to peer.”

Although I agree 100% with this social media quote, in some cultures it’s very difficult to create “peer to peer” relationships without meeting people in person.

In some international markets, it may be possible to a certain extent and prove to be helpful, but it won’t be easy. And in these cultures social media localization is a necessity.

#13: “Activate your fans, don’t just collect them like baseball cards.”

As an international marketer this is one of my favorite social media quotes.  Social media makes it easy to connect with an international audience, but are you doing anything with these connections?

I meet many business owners who say they want to develop their international business, but don’t know where to start.  Social media can be a great starting point to learn more about your international markets. But it involves putting in the effort to take those social media connections further.

#14: “Social media is about people, not logos.”

This social media quote can help all businesses. In countries where social media is not used extensively for businesses it’s easy to miss this. And it’s also why social media can be valuable within an international communication campaign.

#15: “Every company is its own TV station, magazine, and newspaper.”

This is another of my favorite social media quotes because it represents opportunities for businesses interested in reaching international audiences.  It’s not easy and there are limitations, but social media gives you platforms to connect with international markets and get feedback. It’s a great international market research tool when used strategically.

All businesses with North American clients or wanting to develop there must use social media… and it’s surprising to see how many of them still not using the fantastic communication tools social media gives them.

#16: “Social media allows big companies to act small again.”

I love international business development tools and this is what social media can be for many companies.

#17: “Passion is the gasoline of social media.”

This quote reminds me of how Clotaire Rapaille refers to the American culture as being adolescent in his book The Culture Code.  The capacity of this nation to use passion as a driver is wonderful to watch in action.  But it also makes me wonder if something else will fuel social media in other cultures.

#18: “You must fight social media fire with social media water.”

This is a great quote and leads to another one: “You must adapt social media to work well in different cultures.”

Now, It’s Your Turn

• How do you adjust your social media for international audiences?
• What cross-cultural challenges have you encountered using social media?
• What’s your favorite social media quote for international markets?

Please leave your comments below.

More on Cross-Cultural Social Media

• How to Connect Globally With Social Media
• Choice Of Social Media For International Markets
• The Cultural Divide In The Social Media Evolution
• Cultural Differences In Social Media Marketing
• How Cultural Differences Impact International Social Media
• 7 Cross-Cultural Skills For Businesses To Master Social Media
• Cross-Cultural Blunder On Latest Facebook Change
• Social Media Marketing Across Cultures
• Guerrilla Marketing With Social Media To Enter New International Markets
• Understanding Social Media For Stronger International Web Marketing

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

18 Great Social Media Quotes With An International Perspective

Twitter

Here is my article which was first published on Social Media Examiner:

Want to expand your Twitter business network? Looking for a way to get to know someone better before connecting with them outside of Twitter?

Twitter interviews are the answer. Twitter interviews are simply interviews where the conversation is carried out entirely in tweets. Here’s a few of the benefits of Twitter interviews:

• You learn more about the people you interview.
• You show your Twitter audience whom you are interested in connecting with.
• You give others the opportunity to share more about themselves.

Twitter interviews can be fun for everyone when you do them right.

Live Twitter Interviews

Jay Baer has been doing “live Twitter interviews (aka twitterviews), long before George Stephanopoulos popularized the concept by chatting with Senator John McCain in 140 character bursts.” Here is Jay Baer’s compilation of his Twitter interviews.

Want to learn how to do great live Twitter interviews? Here’s a 7-point checklist.

#1: Determine Reasons for the Twitter Interview

First, you need to have a clear understanding of why you are conducting your live Twitter interviews. This will help you choose the best people to interview and the right questions to ask to get the most out of your interviews. Here are some possible reasons:

• To provide valuable or unique insights to your Twitter audience
• To have a bit of fun and share it with others
• To network with others and get to know them more
• To help someone promote his or her latest book or services

#2: Make Pre-Interview Contact

You need to make sure the person you interview understands the reasons why you are conducting the live Twitter interview and agrees with this. If you want to provide valuable insights to your Twitter audience and your Twitter interviewee only promotes his or her services, the experience will not be a good one for anyone.

Send a pre-interview email outlining what to expect and how it will take place. Don’t assume everyone is as Twitter- or web-savvy as you are; they may appreciate the extra information you can give them.

#3: Decide on a Hashtag

Hashtags make it possible for everyone to follow the Twitter interview. So you’ll need to come up with an easy hashtag to use.

Jay Baer uses #twt20 for his Twitter 20 interview series and I use #ckinterview for my cross-cultural Twitter interview series.

You’ll want to let people know what your Twitter interview hashtag is so they can follow along or search for it after the event.

#4: TweetChat

Of course, you can simply post your tweets as you usually do, but this only gives you a limited view of the conversation. The Twitter monitoring tools you use to follow hashtags can also help you follow the Twitter interview.

I like using TweetChat to follow and tweet live Twitter interviews for a variety of reasons:

• It’s web-based, which means everyone can access it easily.
• It’s easy to sign in with your Twitter account.
• All you need to do is enter the hashtag you are using—without the “#.”
• With TweetChat you don’t need to add your hashtag each time you tweet. TweetChat does this automatically for you.
• You can use the reply button in TweetChat so others can see the question.
• You have a live stream of everyone using this hashtag.
• You see all of the live conversations, including any comments from your audience.

Simply “sign in with Twitter” and “enter hashtag to follow” in the top box.

#5: Decide Direction of the Interview

You’ll want to think about the number of questions you want to ask and the ideal average length of time for your Twitter interview.

As you can see, Jay sticks to 20 questions in his live Twitter 20 interviews and this takes about 90 minutes.

After trial and error I found my audience and interviewees enjoyed 30- to 45-minute interviews most with about 10 questions.

You’ll need to find the right fit for your audience.

You can also split your interview into two parts: a written interview in a blog post published before your live Twitter interview and an updated blog post with the transcription of the live interview.

#6: Come Up With Interview Questions

Do you want to adapt your questions to each interview? Or do you want a set of questions for all of the people you interview?

When you prepare your interview questions, try to make them suitable for your Twitter audience. There’s only so much you can do in 140 characters.

When your Twitter audience finds your questions fun or intriguing they will want to jump in and enter the discussion too.

#7: Advertise Your Twitter Interview

Let people know about your upcoming Twitter interview through your usual communication channels: your blog, newsletter, Facebook and LinkedIn updates and whatever relevant methods of communication you use offline.

Tweet about it prior to the live Twitter interview:

• The day before
• A couple of hours before
• Half an hour before
• A few minutes before

Find what works best for your audience.

Remember to let your Twitter followers know what you are doing during the live interview.

Keep the Conversation Going

Once your live Twitter interview is finished be sure to put up the transcript on your blog and share it on your social media platforms.

When you do a series of live Twitter interviews it’s easy to collate the different interviews and rebroadcast the information in different formats. As you can see at the beginning of this post, Jay made a presentation of his Twitter 20 interviews. I created separate blog posts for each of the 10 questions in my cross-cultural Twitter interviews.

If you think about how you’d like to continue the conversation before your live interview, you might find questions to ask to make it easy to do this.

Ask how you can help them connect with others and continue networking after the Twitter interview.

Above all, remember this is a networking exercise. Have fun and try to make it easy for everyone to jump in and follow the Twitter interview.

Are you ready to use Twitter interviews to develop your network on Twitter? Please share your comments below.

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

7 Steps to Successful Twitter Interviews

International Links

Last week I found several interesting links on international social media and a few others for international business. I particularly enjoyed reading the first one in the list below: the Forbes article on the shift in trade routes. It’s a bit long but well worth reading.

International Business

• The Future Of Finance Shifts From West To East – Enjoyed reading this article by Michael Geoghegan of HSBC on how the CIVETS are joining the BRICs and why trade routes are changing. Are you seeing these changes?

Facebook Business Page on International Business:

International Marketing

• Why Did Paris Hilton Drop Her Guard In Brazil? – A look at how a beer company skilfully took culture into consideration to get the results they wanted. -

Facebook Business Page on International Marketing:

International Sales

• Negotiating With Chinese Companies. In Real Life – Here is a review of “When Chinese dreams meet the real world: Western negotiators in China need to keep their heads out of the clouds” by Andrew Hupert with great insights into negotiating in China.

Facebook Business Page on International Sales:

International Social Media

• StatCounter Global Stats – Have a look at this infograph comparing popularity of different social media platforms worldwide. You can also select world regions and see the differences there. It’s interesting to see how StumbleUpon does in North America compared to Europe. Like all social media stats, I wonder how accurate these are.
• Official Google Blog: Integrating virtual keyboards in Google search – Difficulty typing in foreign languages on your keyboards? Have a look at these virtual keyboards with different alphabets.
• 8 Social Media Strategies to Engage Multicultural Consumers – A great read by Jessica Carter from Technicultr. What other social media strategies would you use for multicultural audiences?
• Twitter analysis: Development organizations and their listening skills – Christian Kreutz has a look at social media strategies of a few development organizations. I’m interested in seeing how things evolve over the next few years. What about you?

Facebook Business Page on International Social Media:

Now It’s Your Turn

• What interesting links did you find recently?
• What do these international and cross-cultural links inspire for you?
• Which international link is your favorite?

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

International Links: Week 17 2010

Social Media Localization

It’s funny how things sometimes happen in a series. Last week all of the North Americans I spoke with asked me the same question:

“Do you need to adapt your social media communication to different cultural audiences?”

It intrigued me that all of these questions came from North Americans and I think I have an answer as to why this happened… more on that later. I want to answer this question first.

By the way, for those of you who are not familiar with the term “localization” this refers to adapting all of your communication to different local cultures. It’s much more than just translation and includes all aspects of communication. Localization means adapting your communication make sure your message gets across in the right way.

Adapt Your Communication For International Audiences

The short answer is: yes.

To create genuine communication you must adapt how your social media communication to the different cultural audiences you want to reach.

Adapting your communication always gives you better results when communicating with different cultures, and sometimes it’s critical to do so. If you don’t adapt your communication you can lose relationships which leads to losing clients and business.

More Cultural Differences Are Visible On Social Media

But there is also a longer answer because the localization of social media communication goes deeper than cross-cultural people skills. Social media communication can be a little bit more challenging than other traditional forms of communication such as print communication or emails.

Here are two characteristics of cross-cultural social media that magnify the cultural differences others see in you.

Your cultural differences are obvious. It’s hard to hide from who you are on social media and this means

You get close when you’re social. Social media gets you closer to people. It is a social environment and people tend to let their guards down when they are behind a computer. It’s easier to say things online that you wouldn’t say in person. It’s easy to forget about trying to respect the other person’s cultural differences.

This is why you should always pay attention to the messages you are conveying to others and how they are perceived on social media.

People Skills To Connect With Different Cultures On Social Media

Good cross-cultural social media skills require both:

• Strong “soft” skills or people skills
• Good cross-cultural skills

Over the years I’ve noticed how most North American business professionals don’t have time for these “soft” skills.  They prefer to focus on the skills that are easy to measure and ones you can learn through courses. This may be why this question seems to crop up more often there than in the other cultures I network with.

Cross-cultural skills are not so easy to pick up or develop, they:

• Require some personal work
• Usually require international experience

Localization Of Social Media

Some of the people I spoke with needed some more insights

Here are the personal observations I shared with them regarding cross-cultural differences on two popular social media platforms.

Different Networking Practices On Twitter

Prior to my cross-cultural twitter interviews I chat with my guests and try to learn more about how they use Twitter in their country.  For some people it may come as a surprise to learn that English speakers in different countries do not have the same habits on Twitter.

Some cultures are more at ease in striking up instant friendships, and some cultures need a bit more time.  This impacts the relationships you form on Twitter.  And if you use Twitter for international networking it also means you need to use cross-cultural communication skills even on Twitter.

Different Job Hunting Practices On LinkedIn

One of the people I spoke to yesterday needed to advise his clients on business networking on LinkedIn.  Communication on LinkedIn is just the same as any other communication.

Every time I navigate on LinkedIn I’m struck by it’s the strong North American atmosphere. In cross-cultural terms most of the people I run into on LinkedIn have very strong traits of “individualism”.  Obviously LinkedIn is mainly a job hunting platform which brings out these North American traits even more.

Even if you come across people from different cultures on LinkedIn there is a very strong probability they use it differently than a North American on LinkedIn.

Different Perceptions Of The New Like Button On Facebook

It’s easy to see how different people use Facebook and thanks to the newly improved Insights box on Facebook Business Pages you can monitor some international metrics.  But the fun thing I’m noticing lately is the differences in appreciation of the new “Like” button.  So many of the North Americans in my network seem to identify more personal endorsement just because the button is now called “Like” and not “Become A Fan”.

The reaction to this small little word reminds me of the need to localize social media buttons in some Eastern countries.

• In most Western cultures having a real photo creates credibility and in some Eastern cultures it creates discomfort. Cartoon gravatars work much better.
• In Western cultures it’s easy to use the notion of being a “friend” on social media and in some Eastern cultures the use of the term “friend” creates uncomfortable situations for fear of offending others by not being their friend.

Those are extreme reactions to small things in social media.  And when you dig deeper and analyze communication on Facebook, you’re sure to encounter subtle differences in perception which can have significant impact on your Facebook marketing.

No Standard Social Media Localization Plan

Even with the knowledge of some of these differences you still cannot expect to come up with a standard international social media localization plan or generalizations for all international markets.  It’s hard to do. Social media marketing for international audiences is still evolving due to a number of reasons:

• Some countries are still catching up to social media and at different speeds.
• The cultural differences between generations within different countries makes it difficult to provide a cookie cutter solution for using social media.
• We should see growth in online communication from several countries thanks to recent changes by ICANN to allow URLs with different alphabets.
• The demographics in many countries are undergoing dramatic changes and this will eventually impact cross-cultural communication with these countries. Cross-cultural generalizations established in the last century are rapidly becoming obsolete.

Social media marketing in different cultures follows the same basics as in your own country: you need to get to know your audience well before you can create an effective communication plan. The good news is that you can use social media to help you get to know your audience if you take the time to go slowly and do the person-to-person networking you need to learn how to adapt your communication.

Now, Over To You

• Have you adapted any of your communication on social media to different international audiences?
• What are your favorite social media platforms for your international audiences?
• What cultural differences do you notice on the different social media platforms?

It would be great to hear from you. Please share your comments below.

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

Do You Need Social Media Localization?

International Links

I shared a number of interesting international and cross-cultural links last week on Facebook and Twitter. Here’s a quick summary.

Cross-Cultural Topics

• Ten things we have learnt about Africa - Some interesting stats here on different African countries.
• Investing in Foreign Land – this article brought up things I hadn’t thought about.
• A Popular U.S. Export, the $100 Bill - ”A big part of the demand comes from the use of American currency in stores and at street vendors in many countries, including some in which citizens have little faith in their own currencies.” An interesting look into the new $100 bill.
• Reverse Japan’s insularity - Are there less Japanese students abroad now?
• Eufeeds – over 1000 newspapers, updated every 20 minutes - An incredibly handy online international newspaper rack found via Adam Vincenzini

Facebook Business Page on Cross-Cultural Communication:

International Business

• Who Are America’s Exporters? - ”While forming the bulk of U.S. exporting companies, SMBs ship only a fraction of the value of U.S. exports.”
• Understanding Cultural Differences in Offshore Outsourcing - Here’s a look at cross-cultural challenges when outsourcing.

Facebook Business Page on International Business:

International Marketing

• What Was Tiger Woods Thinking? - Great points made by Elliot Polak of Textappeal (@CultureShocks on Twitter). Different cultures don’t have the same response to “personal scandals” of celebrities. It’s interesting how Nike played this out.

Facebook Business Page on International Marketing:

International Sales

• Size no barrier to export success - A look at how Australian small businesses are now selling more to China than to the European Union.

Facebook Business Page on International Sales:

International Social Media

• Skype By the Numbers: It’s Really Big - I use Skype daily and when I first started I lost lots of time dealing with French speaking North Africans who use Skype as a “dating chat tool” and who culturally take a long time getting to the point. I also notice how some people use Skype exactly like a phone, they just call whenever they see want to. … While others realize this tool is more than a traditional telephone when used in a new environment and send a Skype chat message first. What’s your experience of Skype as an international networking tool?
• How Tech Start-ups Like Foursquare and Meetup Are Trying to Overthrow Old Media - Several things stood out in the article, including adapting social media to different cultures within the same country and the lack of women in social media start ups. This is a bit long, but a good read. What stands out for you?

Facebook Business Page on International Social Media:

Now It’s Your Turn

• What interesting links did you find recently?
• What do these international and cross-cultural links inspire for you?
• Which international link is your favorite?

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

International Links: Week 16 2010

International Links

Here are the international and cross-cultural links found last week.

Cross-Cultural Topics

• Baidu Integrates Real-Time Translation into its Browser - Putting the Google/China story aside, this is proof the tools for International Marketing are getting much more interesting.
• Asia’s Expensive Restaurants - Part of the fun when travelling is trying the local food. I wonder what extra these restaurants have to offer.
• For Japanese Women, The Past Is The Latest Fad – Here’s an interesting read on Japanese culture today.
• Globish, Technology, and the Plight of the Japanese Language - A very interesting read on how Globish impacts other languages. Grab a coffee, there are lots of videos too.

Facebook Business Page on Cross-Cultural Communication:

International Business

• The India Way Of Doing Business - This is a fascinating read even if you are interested in doing business in a culture other than India. It highlights the cultural differences in doing business.

Facebook Business Page on International Business:

International Marketing

• Cross-cultural Communication Strategy – the 4 Building Blocks - Read Amadou M. Sall’s article on how to build a cross-cultural marketing strategy with a Global Mindset, Global Knowledge, Global Cross-Cultural Skills & Global Business Skills.
• One Piece Localization or Censorship? - Click through and watch this 4 minute video to see an example of a Japanese anime cartoon localized for the American market. What do you think of this?

Facebook Business Page on International Marketing:

International Sales

• A special report on America’s economy: Export or die - Do you think American businesses will need to rely less on selling to Americans and more on selling abroad?
• History of American Sales Culture - Here’s an interesting look at the American sales culture by Alen Majer. If you have insights about other sales cultures please let me know.
• SarahLacy.com: My Favorite Books about Emerging Markets - What are your favorite books on emergying marketing?

Facebook Business Page on International Sales:

International Social Media

• In Canada, .ca is replacing .com - Here in France most French websites use .fr What’s the trend in your country?
• Multilingual SEO: Things to Remember - This is a good read on Search Engine Journal to get you started with multilingual SEO. Do you have any other tips to add?
• Official Google Webmaster Central Blog: Working with multi-regional websites - Read this for guidelines on how to structure multilingual blogs and websites to reach different markets.
• How To Add Languages That You Speak To Google Chrome - Here’s a useful tip for multilingual Chrome users.
• What translation means for SEO – Blogs & Content - Here’s a look at the difference of translation for SEO and for advertising or marketing. What do you think of the translation solely for SEO purposes? We don’t usually do it in English. But it seems some websites need it to reach global audiences fast.
• Cause for concern – The Personal videos Campaign - Here’s a video case study of how an Israeli TV show used free social media as its only source of publicity. The results: 4.7% rating for the season debut and 1,800 mentions in blogs, social networks & newspapers in Israel.
  Do you have any other video social media case studies to share?

Facebook Business Page on International Social Media:

Now It’s Your Turn

• What about you? Did you find any interesting links recently?
• What do these international and cross-cultural links inspire for you?
• Which international link is your favorite?

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

International Links: Week 15 2010

International Links

Here’s another weekly roundup of all of the useful and interesting links I share on Facebook and Twitter.

Cross-Cultural Topics

• The rich cultural heritage that is Germany - Here’s the story behind the Gretschen Question and a look at German cultural heritage.
• 7 Habits of a Happy Expat - A good read to make a successful international move.
• A List of Free International Education Resources - David Comp over at the International Higher Education Consulting Blog shares his resources for information on international education. Do you have any others to add?
• How To Avoid Burnout Learning Japanese - Tempted to take up Japanese? Rainbowhill Language Lab advises to make a long term commitment.

Facebook Business Page on Cross-Cultural Communication:

International Business

• Taking Your Small Business International - Are you a small business and need some help in understanding the legal terms involved in doing international business? Here’s a short summary to help.
• Going Global: Is an Online Strategy Enough? - Here’s a good read on Bloggertone about remembering your whole marketing mix when using International Marketing online. I particularly like the warning about not jumpint into website localization too soon. How are you integrating your international web marketing with your offline marketing activities?
• Five myths about China’s economy - Here’s a look at some of the misperceptions about China and it’s impact on America and the rest of the world.
• Setting Up Your China Rep Office. What It Really Takes. - This is an easy read, good if you are just beginning to think of opening an office in China.

Facebook Business Page on International Business:

International Marketing

• DR4WARD: Wish I Thought of That (Ideas From Around The World Worth Sharing) - There is a good selection of videos here to get you thinking about international marketing. Which one is your favorite?

Facebook Business Page on International Marketing:

International Social Media

• Social Networking Habits Vary Considerably Across Asia-Pacific Markets - I just read something yesterday about how Malaysians need to empathasize with people and then I came across this press release by comScore. It’s really interesting to look at social networking stats with a deeper understanding of each culture. Are you surprised by any of this info?
• Have Indian IT companies missed the Social Media bus? - The author here notes the lack of use of social media by large IT companies in India. There are some interesting questions here and it highlights the cultural differences in being social.

Facebook Business Page on International Social Media:

Now It’s Your Turn

• What about you? Did you find any interesting links recently?
• What do these international and cross-cultural links inspire for you?
• Which international link is your favorite?

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

International Links: Week 14 2010