Cindy King's International Business Blog » localization

Do You Need Social Media Localization?

Cindy King — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 23:00:23 +0000

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.

How to Connect Globally With Social Media

Cindy King — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 23:00:05 +0000

Cross-Cultural Social Media

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

Do you know how to use social media to target a global audience? After all, social media provides a low-cost solution to engage your prospects, customers and partners located in different regions of the world.

As Scott Monty, head of social media for Ford Motor Company, says, “U.S. brands looking to leverage social networks internationally know that while their messages need to stay consistent regardless of the region, the language, cultural reference points, platform and tactics, all need to be tailored for each market.”

He continues, “Whether it is customer service, IT, HR or product development, there are a number of uses for social media. And when you add to that all of our constituents—customers, employees, shareholders, dealers, retirees—it becomes a very complex assignment.”

Here’s a look at a few of the difficulties and how you can overcome them…

The Information Available

In the past, statistics on social media were difficult to come by and they were not always relevant. But there are more Internet statistics available today even for social media. McCann’s Wave 4 Power to the People report is one resource available to gain insights into how to use social media internationally.

The trouble with an international social media strategy, as Erik Qualman of Search Engine Watch points out, one size does not fit all. Having more relevant statistics does not get you very far. You still need to learn how to adapt what you do on social media to effectively connect with people in other countries. And before you can do this, you need to know a bit more about what social media is like over there.

Social Media in Different Regions of the World

A good place to start is to look for general insights into the social media environment in the places you would like to reach.

The Nielsen report Global Faces and Networked Places clearly explains why localization has won the day in many countries and says, “Succeeding in China takes more than producing a translated version; it requires investment in a local infrastructure and a mentality of running a Chinese social network that understands the domestic nuances of social network behaviour rather than simply rolling out a generic social network in Chinese.”

Here are more insights from two social media players well-known in their own countries:

Have a look at this interview of Laurel Papworth in which she gives an analysis on what’s happening in social media in Australia and Southeast Asia.

Fred Cavazza says, “The main differences in France‘s social media are based on the local offering and local players: Dailymotion, Skyblog, Viadeo, Dofus, BlogSpirit, CanalBlog, OverBlog… and there are 3 distinct groups in France around culinary, political and IT gadget blogs.”

Fred Cavazza raises a good point. Let’s have a look at the main challenges presented by local offerings and local players. These are areas where you will need to adapt to fit in with what works in the local social media environment.

Cultural Differences in How People Respond to Social Media

Cultural differences always impact how people use social media. Here are some insights from a few culturally minded social media players.

Engagement—Jack Yan says, “There seems to be a gap between Americans and New Zealanders on Twitter usage, for instance. Kiwis, for the most part, seem to engage a bit more and there are relatively fewer accounts, proportionally, made up of automated tweets. There seems to be more of a demand on American tweeters, for instance, to provide a lot of content, and I suspect that this drives the automation. This arguably comes back to the different cultures: one historically more collaborative, the other historically more individualistic.”

Hesitation—France shares a trait with many countries: hesitation and observation before engaging in new social media. Thierry de Baillon says, “Where Anglo Saxons are prone to quickly dive into new platforms and get new habits, Frenchies stick with old ones, watching others acting while taking their time.”

Networking—Lucy Chatburn sees more networking activity on both LinkedIn and Facebook in Turkey than in the UK. “This could be because networking doesn’t come naturally to many British people. And a LinkedIn profile is definitely not seen as an essential career tool in the UK.”

Shyness—Mixi, a leading social network in Japan, added a special feature to make it easier for people to make friends.

Of course, there are many more ways cultural differences impact social media. Before you can find the right way for your business to connect with people on social media platforms in different countries, you do need to:

Develop cultural awareness
Do your research
Adapt your communication and social approach

Evolution in Local Players

Other challenges in international social media are related to changes in popularity of social media platforms. A snapshot of the social media environment in any country may not remain current for long. Social media environments change.

Facebook’s growth has had an impact on many countries outside of North America. Orkut’s popularity in Brazil and India is changing.

This is why it is difficult for businesses to know how to:

Anticipate where to spend time
Identify the most relevant social media platforms for their business

Good monitoring practices and a local presence are keys to success.

Can Social Media Help Your International Business?

There are many reasons why this is a tough question to answer. As we have seen above, statistics do not always reflect how people use social media. There are also:

Different speeds of adopting social media
Differences in how locals use social media
Differences in how businesses can use social media in different countries

On the one hand, local statistics can be misleading. Another culturally minded social media player, Martin Lindeskog points out that “The broadband/high-speed Internet connection is very common here in Sweden.” However, he also notes that “you can’t find many examples of companies that have embraced a new type of media strategy in full scale yet. There is a lot of talk about Twitter, but you don’t see many companies microblogging.”

On the other hand, although statistics only tell part of the story, a detailed view of the local social media environment can give you valuable insights. According to Fred Cavazza, the social media market in France was evangelized long ago by local players, and this made the road to success easy to maneuver for Facebook in France.

Successful International Social Media

If you are serious about using social media within an international marketing strategy, you will need:

Strong cross-cultural skills
Local professionals

The right people will help you through the complexity in finding:

Preferred offers
Communication preferences
Use of different platforms
Where and how the people you want to reach use social media in their country

A Source of Inspiration

In addition to connecting with business networking partners abroad, there is another good reason to keep an ear open for what is happening in international social media: there is richness in diversity. And this can help you stay in tune with social media as it evolves for everyone.

Monitoring how businesses in other countries use social media helps you to:

Get ideas for new things to try in your own country
Spot new trends in other areas of the world which might, in time, affect your own industry

As different people around the world adapt social media to their own cultural tastes and the driving forces in their local markets, we are sure to see:

More innovation
Different uses for social media in business
Opportunities to adapt the strategies and tools we are familiar with to new international markets

Observing these changes and understanding why they fail or succeed increase our understanding of what social media is all about. Although North American businesses are using social media more than businesses elsewhere, there are many examples of innovation and inspiration to be found outside of North America. This alone is why following international social media is useful to many businesses.

Now, over to you…

What have you learned by observing social media in other countries?
What is the most interesting difference in international social media to you?
What anecdotes can you share about social media in different countries?

Please share your comments with us below.

Do You Use English Or American Spelling?

Cindy King — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 23:00:05 +0000

Culturally Customized Content

John Yunker on Global By Design wrote an article last month about different labels for different English spellings. Apparently the acronym “ENU” was used to mean “English – US”.

Another article raised the question of “International English” versus “American English”. I found this article slightly misleading simply because there are so many ways to use the term International English today: Global English, Universal English.

It does make me smile when an American says that “American English” is in the lead.

This reminds me of the all of trips to Canada, where Canadians would come up to me and say that Canada had been voted the best place to live in the whole world. After two different trips, I asked who carried out the study… well it was Canadian studies. The French go “coccoricco” often enough too.

There are quite a few interesting comments in this thread. I never thought the term “British English” could be considered false. And apparently Adobe uses:

“International English” (IE) = “American English”
“Universal English” (UE) = “British English”

Before you get into how you label your choice of English language, let’s look at how to choose the one you want to use.

There are in fact two business decisions to make.

Translations Or Not?

Are you writing for one broad international audience and would like to prepare the work for translating your content into different languages?

If you will need to translate your English language content into more than one language, you will save time and money by learning to write for an international audience.

If you strive for an International English you will also improve communication across a broader non-native English speaking audience.

Spelling

Are you targeting an American audience or a British, European or former British colony audience? This decision is fairly easy to make.

Although I was brought up with the Queen’s English, I have worked with American companies. I chose American spelling on my blogs because of software. I did not want to continually maintain the Queen’s English on American software. There is no major conflict for my business, so the decision was easy.

I still write in a style that is easy for non-native English readers. It is only a question of spelling and some grammar.

Clarity And Consistency

Whatever spelling you choose, remember to be consistent. This means that you should use the same spelling throughout all of your content, no matter who you are targeting. This makes your communication clear. Everyone knows how to identify you.

Do not create your own acronyms and keep your English labels simple and consistent with what your readers expect.

“EUS” does not mean anything to anyone
American English is not International English
British English is not Universal English

Localization Is A Door To Innovation

Cindy King — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 08:00:09 +0000

Website Localization

I am always amazed at stories of product innovations when companies develop their international markets. These stories are inspiring. And when they are stories in countries I’m not familiar with they often completely take me off guard.

In his book “Redefining Global Strategy”, Copyright 2007, from Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, Pankaj Ghemawat, gives a few examples of how everyday products were changed to adapt to local market demands in India:

Detergent bars for people to wash their clothes by hand.
Toothpaste made to be used with fingers instead of toothbrushes
A bar of soap with one side coated in plastic so it would take longer to wear down
A special shampoo and hair oil product

Hearing about such stories gives us all valuable insights into the cultural differences in our foreign markets. It makes us realize that other cultures have basic needs and desires different to our own. Other people live very differently than we do.

How can we use the inspiration from these stories in our own business?

Continue Localizing Your Online Businesses

Businesses targeting international markets mainly through online sales and marketing activities should be inspired to persevere with market research.

Opening your online international development by localizing your websites can lead to increased interaction with foreign markets. Ongoing research and market feedback will lead to adjustments to adapt your products to foreign markets.

Pankaj Ghemawat explains that large multinationals have the choice of:

Coming into a country and simply skimming off the narrow top level of the market, or

Expanding their products through innovation to meet local cultural needs.

Not all companies developing overseas will have the luxury of making this choice.

Localization Is A Tool To Understand Your Foreign Markets

An intimate understanding of each of your foreign markets will be a major factor in innovating your products to different cultures.

By stimulating feedback from your foreign markets, even if it is only online, you will acquire valuable foreign market knowledge. Combine this knowledge with the right mindset. Try to look at your products through your foreign prospects eyes, and experience your products as he would experience them.

The question is will you simply skim off your market or will you be inspired to innovate your products to local needs and desires.

Will all of the research and analyzing your products “results” in foreign markets keep you from being truly inspired and seeing the opportunities for new product innovation?

If you follow these tips your web site will be friendlier for all of your international visitors.