Building a blog takes a lot of work, and when you’re blogging for business it requires even more effort. In addition to blogging, you also need to make sure your blogging is aligned with your business model and you have to come up with a solid content marketing plan.

The trouble is many things are in flux.  Your blogging and content marketing will change as you learn more about your audience.  And blogging requires a high level of investment that is not always easy for to sustain. Because quite simply: life happens.

This is why the blogging journey is often bumpy.

Break From Blogging

For the first time in two and a half years I was forced to take a break from blogging here on this blog.  It was not planned.  But more than one thing got in the way in different areas of my life.

• It all started with my trip to Toronto last June
• Then I unexpectedly decided to travel so much that I’ve barely been home the rest of the year
• And health became a priority as I adopted a diet with over 80% raw food. But this meant less energy while I learned about nutrition all over again
• During this time I’m happy to say that my work with Social Media Examiner increased.

As my day-to-day activities changed drastically I was forced to put aside blogging here on my personal blog.

Better Content Marketing Strategy

But there is some good news about being forced to stop blogging.  My content marketing strategy needed an overhaul in order to integrate the changes in social media over the past year, and to adjust to my business objectives which also changed this last year. This break gave me the opportunity to refine my own marketing strategy.

Now that I’m ready to get back into the blogging seat once again my new business blogging plan is better than before.

But a plan is not enough to ensure blogging success.  When you’ve never blogged before or haven’t been blogging for a while, the first few months are critical.  So I also needed an action plan to ensure blogging success.

Better Business Blogging

This is why I’ve got a few activities planned to make sure my transition back into regular business blogging goes smoothly.

I’ve already established a business blogging plan within a content marketing strategy that’s aligned with my business. That’s all on paper. What I need now is a few activities to make sure I blog consistently over the next few months. And why not improve my blogging skills at the same time?

Here are three blogging courses I’ve signed up for.

Blogging Success Summit: (Affiliate link) This is an online webinar that takes place in February with 23 excellent presenters.  Just like the previous Success Summits it takes place over a period of several weeks and they’re recorded so there’s no excuse: I’ll listen to all of them!

But the thing I like most about all of the Success Summits is the private LinkedIn group.  It’s great to meet up and chat with fellow business bloggers.  And the presenters usually participate there too.

Although it’s only just opened people are taking advantage of the early bird rate and signing up.  That’s great news because this means the Blogging Success Summit LinkedIn Group is already open. So discussions in the private LinkedIn Group have already started.  This is just the kind of interaction I need right now.

Join me on the Blogging Success Summit to learn about current business blogging best practices and hook up with a community of business bloggers.

Web Content Café: This is a lovely little hang out run by the web copywriter Nick Usborne. It’s a paid membership site where Nick gives you a short daily content ideas to keep the creative juices flowing and your web content fresh.

What can I say? I like it.  It’s just the right “everything” for me: right length, right writing style and lots of small actionable ideas. Just what I need to improve my blogging in small, easy steps.

Join me at the Web Content Café to find ideas and daily inspiration to improve your bloging.

Spectacular Post Bootcamp: This is a new program put on by Stanford Smith over at Pushing Social.  Although I only recently discovered Stan I was hooked immediately. He works with big clients during his day job and helps the small business bloggers on Pushing Social in his spare time. Somehow his expertise comes through with just the right tone for business bloggers.

The Spectacular Post Bootcamp is a video a month and it’ll get me to review blogging basics in a way that I find motivating.  I like Stan’s approach.

Join me at the Spectacular Post Bootcamp to review blogging basics.

UPDATE:

Blog Topics:  Chris Brogan has just come out with Blog Topics where he emails you 10 ideas to write blog posts each week.

Chris’ vocabulary and communication style resonate with me. He uses words that put the gears in my brain in motion. So I’m giving this a whirl too.

Join me with Chris Brogan’s Blog Topics to get more ideas to write blog posts.

Tools For Good Blogging

That’s what I’ve planned to help me get through the first few months of blogging.  If you’d like a more in-depth review on one of these please let me know.

I’ll also be attending SOBcon in the Spring and hope to find a good blogging partner to share the rest of the year’s journey as part of the next phase.

What do you do to improve your blogging? What has helped your blogging most? I’d love to hear your story, so please leave a comment below.

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

Better Business Blogging

The international aspect of social media can lead to some interesting discussions. Jessica Faye Carter over at Technicultr recently brought up the question of whether social sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn should collect information about their user’s ethnicity and she asked me what my thoughts were. You can read more here.

The Big Roadblock To Ethnic Marketing In France

Now I’ve spent many years in international marketing, I live in France and have a French company.  So my first thought was that a French company would not be able to do this.

There is a law prohibiting anyone from keeping any information related to race.  This law is widely regarded as a measure to prevent discrimination, but it also severely limits any form of multicultural marketing in France.

Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about it:

“It is illegal for the French state to collect data on ethnicity and race, a law with its origins in the 1789 revolution and reaffirmed in the constitution of 1958. Some organisations, such as the Representative Council of Black Associations… have argued in favour of the introduction of data collection on minority groups but this has been resisted by other organisations and ruling politicians, often on the grounds that collecting such statistics goes against France’s secular principles and harks back to Vichy-era identity documents. During the 2007 presidential election, however, Nicolas Sarkozy was polled on the issue and stated that he favoured the collection of data on ethnicity. Part of a parliamentary bill which would have permitted the collection of data for the purpose of measuring discrimination was rejected by the Conseil Constitutionnel in November 2007.”

The French Environment Around Ethnicity

When you live in a country with a law like this that’s been around for a long time and regarded by the general public as being something to be proud of, it’s easy to assume that a significant portion of the French population would not react in the same way as people from other cultures to the collection of information on ethnicity.

This is simply because they aren’t used to being asked these types of questions.  Their first response would probably be influenced by this cultural layer.

The French Cultural Environment Is More Complex

But it’s not the only factor at play here.  In parallel to this is the national pride the French have of being the country that wrote the “Droits de l’homme”, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which was a precursor to other international human rights documents.

This heritage creates a very unique environment in how the general population perceives anything remotely related to ethnic information, including collecting it and sharing it.

Different Cultures React Differently

Of course many other countries are active in combating racism, but how they go about doing this largely depends on their own cultural environment.  And what about the cultures where “combating racism” isn’t really perceived in the same way as other countries?

Different cultures approach this difficult issue from a variety of different angles.  So there is a variety of different cultural environments to deal with.

American Political Correctness

This makes me think about the wave of being politically correct in North America and how this has meant that I’ve had to change the way I refer to black people several times.  I grew up in a country which was 75% black when I was born and this percentage is now higher.

When it first became “politically incorrect” to use the word “coloured” which was what was used when I was young, well OK, I changed my vocabulary.

But the debate about what was considered the right word to use continued over the years, and I had to change my vocabulary yet again.  The acceptable word to use when referring to black people has changed too many times in my life time for me to follow any more.

And this got me to think about the meaning people associate with words.

Personal Emotional Baggage

Even though I may be considered “white”, my skin quickly tans to a very respectable deep shade of brown. Yes, brown.  Not beige or tan.  Brown.  And my skin is never “white”.

After following all of the changes in what is considered the right word to refer to black people, I looked at the colour of my skin and wondered if I should get upset about being called “white” because it’s not a very accurate word to describe my skin colour.  Of course I didn’t.  It’s just a word used in communication.  It would only become an issue if I were to take on some emotional baggage and assume that “white” isn’t appropriate, or if someone added their emotional baggage to the word when they used it.

Collective Cultural Baggage

The topic of ethnicity stirs up all sorts of baggage.  In addition to the personal emotional baggage, there’s  the baggage we acquire through the cultural environment we live in.  This is why anything related to ethnicity gets complicated.

It’s very easy to lose control… because you can never control the baggage other people have.

And to complicate things, most people aren’t even aware of the baggage they are carrying around. They don’t realize that they have cultural baggage acquired through the cultural environment they live in. They just assume the world they live in is the “real world”, the one that’s “right” and the one that should exist everywhere else.

So, it takes great wisdom to limit the risk of things getting out of control due to cultural baggage.

Ethnicity In Social Media

Even if there have already been social media platforms where people share information on their ethnic origins, the online social environment is different today.  Social media platforms simply have greater international reach than before.

Facebook has over 500 million people today across the globe, even if it is not used in the same way across all of the different countries.

And as social media develops further, will everyone across the globe be present on the same social media platform with the same mindset?  It’s highly unlikely.

Should Social Sites Ask Their Users To Share Their Ethnic Origins?

As a cross-cultural marketer I would love to have the information. But on a more personal level I believe this is not easy to do on social media sites with such a wide international reach… assuming the social media sites want to continue growing their international markets.

Although I do think it’s possible to incorporate some ethnic information on certain platforms, the challenges are great when looking at this from an international perspective. You must not under-evaluate the risk of things getting out of hand or being used wrongfully at some point down the line.

Now it’s your turn…

• Do you know of any other problems when asking for ethnic information on social media sites?
• What is the top benefit of social media sites asking for information on ethnic origins?
• Do you think social media sites should ask for your ethnic origins?

Please leave your comments below.

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

Ethnic Origins On Social Media

Twitter

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

According to the 2010 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, Twitter is one of the social media tools most businesses want to learn more about.

If your business is not yet on Twitter, this article is for you. Creating a Twitter profile is quick and easy to do; however, you want to make sure you take the right steps when setting up your Twitter accounts.

This is the first of a two-part series of tips for creating Twitter profiles to both facilitate engagement with your Twitter audience and build a strong brand online.

#1: Set Up Your Twitter Account

You should always try to secure Twitter accounts for your real name and your company name to ensure no-one else grabs them. And businesses should also consider getting Twitter names for any major brands they own. This choice of Twitter names raises some other questions when setting up your Twitter account.

Should you consider having multiple accounts? Twitter can be time-consuming. This is why it’s easier to have one main account. But if you have different conversations with different audiences, it makes sense to have different Twitter accounts. Two common reasons for having multiple Twitter accounts are to:

• Separate professional and personal tweets
• Tweet in different languages

Should you use a company account or a personal account? Or both? It depends on your company, how you intend to tweet and whom you want to interact with on Twitter. Watch this video to hear how Ann Handley tweets under @marketingprofs. And this one in which Scott Monty talks about how Ford uses Twitter.

Ann Handley tweets under the Twitter name @MarketingProfs for www.MarketingProfs.com and openly associates her name to the Marketing Profs Twitter profile.

#2: Choose Your Twitter Name.

Here are some guidelines to help you choose your Twitter name:

• Your Twitter name is limited to a maximum of 15 characters.
• Although Twitter names are not case-sensitive, Twitter will save the name exactly as you enter it when you create your Twitter profile. So although you can create your profile with “JohnSmith” and be listed as @JohnSmith, your Twitter fans will be able to find you by using @johnsmith.
• Avoid names with numbers, uncommon abbreviations and names that are difficult to remember. Keep mobile users in mind and avoid underscores, which require extra steps to type in on mobile phones.

Are you still wondering which Twitter name to choose? Look for a name easy to relate to who you are and what you represent.

Use your real name or company name? Most people open up more to the Twitter names they recognize as a real person’s name or a company name they trust. If you’re using Twitter for brand management, you will probably want to use your website name (without the “.com”). You can also use a pen name you use regularly.

Doreen Iannuzzi at Diversity Media Services combines both her name and the abbreviation of her company name.

Seesmic.com uses their name for their Twitter handle.

Keywords. A Twitter name with a keyword may work well for you if you make it obvious who you are. But for most people, a keyword Twitter name is also associated with spammers and those who push unwanted sales pitches.

Gabriella Sannino uses keywords to target her primary audience.

#3: Upload Your Picture

It’s important to change the default picture to show others you are a real person and not a spambot and you can get a little creative to show your personality.

As Denise Wakeman points out, you may want to use the same picture on all of your social media profiles. This creates stronger online branding as people will notice the same photo on different social media platforms.

Dan Waldschmidt’s photo matches the “outrageous vision” mentioned in his bio.

#4: Use Your Best Link

You only have one active link on your Twitter profile. And before choosing this link, you need to give some thought to your overall online web marketing strategy. Why are you online? Where do you want to lead your Twitter followers? For most people, the link you have on your Twitter profile will go to your website or blog. This link can easily be changed.

You should also give some thought to the exact page your Twitter visitors will land on when they click the link on your Twitter profile.

• You can create a specific page for your Twitter followers. A good way to do this on your blog is to create a list of people you recommend others to follow on Twitter.
• You can link to a social media profile such as OneForty like @AmyPorterfield.
• If you’re a blogger, linking to your blog is a good option.

#5: Write an Interesting Twitter Bio

It’s important to tell your Twitter followers who you are and what you’ll be tweeting about. Unfortunately you only have 160 characters to do this in your Twitter bio. It’s usually best to write short sentences to engage the people who read your bio. But you should also weave in a few important keywords relevant to the people you want to meet on Twitter. Keywords will help the right people find you.

Judy Dunn creates an engaging picture in her Twitter bio.

It’s easy to want to take up the offer Mike CJ makes in his Twitter bio.

Mari Smith suggests you mention the link to your Facebook Fan Page in your Twitter bio or on your Twitter background as mentioned below. Although this will not be an active link, it should be easy to remember if you have a vanity URL, and it will help grow your Facebook activity.

After completing these five steps, there’s one final step—creating a Twitter backdrop. In the second part of this series of tips covering your Twitter profile, you’ll find out how to use your Twitter background to create a more engaging Twitter presence.

Do you have any Twitter advice to add? Do you use your personal name or your company name to tweet for your business? Please share your tips below.

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

5 Simple Steps to Getting Your Business on Twitter

Twitter

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

Twitter is a great platform and it truly rocks for person-to-person networking. But what if you want to grow your network or find more people to connect with offline? This is where Twitter events can be very useful.

Twitter events allow you to network at specific times with larger groups of people through the use of hashtags.

Twitter events can help you find people to build your own Twitter network. And as you participate in these events, you will increase your Twitter authority on the topics you discuss. You can even create your own Twitter events to drive your networking and social media marketing.

6 Types of Twitter Events

First you need to identify the groups of people you want to network with. Then you should choose the types of events where it’s easy and comfortable for you to network with these people. This is how you can slowly build up meaningful one-on-one relationships with people who matter to you and to your business.

Fortunately there are several different types of groups gathering around specific topics on Twitter at specific times.

Here are events that take place offline where people use Twitter as a communication tool to share their experience of the in-person event.

#1: Live events. You’ve probably seen Twitter hashtags used by people tweeting from conferences. People can tweet about any kind of live event. If you want to get the most out of your Twitter networking at a live event, you should do as Adam Vincenzini says and plan ahead to ensure viral Twitter coverage of live events.

#2: Tweetups. Tweetups are when you meet your Twitter connections in real life. Tweetups can be impromptu events or with slightly more organization. And they’re a great way to do some traditional offline networking.

What is a Tweetup?

#3: Large-scale offline Twitter events. Some offline events such as the Twestival fundraising event are organized on a wider scale and bring a large Twitter community together. These are also interesting places to expand your Twitter network if the community is a good fit for your business.

Twestival gets people on Twitter to meet up all over the world.

Here are some events that only take place on Twitter:

#4: Current events. Many businesses can benefit from staying current on trending topics and participating in relevant Twitter conversations. Some current events or breaking news may give you reason to create your own Twitter discussion or chat event.

#5: Twitter Interviews. You can conduct Twitter Interviews with different communication goals. You can do the interview like a journalist or, as this is on Twitter, you can conduct it more like a game show, with a short set of questions aimed at having more fun. Choose the kind of Twitter interview to use to give you the networking environment you prefer.

You can also find the Small Business Buzz chats on their blog.

#6: TweetChats. There are a number of regularly scheduled TweetChats. Small Business Buzz, or @sbbuzz on Twitter, holds chats every Tuesday to discuss small business topics. Another interesting regular TweetChat takes place on Thursdays, @lrnchat to discuss learning and social media. It’s easy to see how you can expand your Twitter network by finding TweetChats with your preferred audience.

Variety in Communication

It’s important to note that people use multiple social media platforms for communication. Conversations are not limited to Twitter. There are also interesting events to look for outside Twitter and then come back and follow the contacts you meet there on Twitter.

Facebook. Many events are shared on Facebook. Be sure to follow the people you meet on Twitter, find them on Facebook and have a look at what they share and discuss there.

LinkedIn. Be sure to check out LinkedIn events too.

Although it requires a little bit of research, it’s often easy to create strong relationships when you connect with the same people on different social media platforms. It’s interesting to note that one-on-one networking is usually easier to initiate on Twitter.

Tools for Twitter Events

Hashtags. Hashtags are key. They enable people to gather into groups on Twitter. This is how you find others interested in similar topics. You can read more about how to follow hashtags in this previous article.

Twitter tools. Many Twitter applications come and go, but they often have some great features and make Twitter networking easier and more fun. Unfortunately, there isn’t a solution to fit all of your needs in following or creating Twitter events. So it’s always worthwhile doing a little research to look for what’s useful for you. Here are some Twitter applications you may find interesting: TweetChat, Tweetvite, and TweetMyEvents.

Event tools. Sometimes you simply need an event management tool. There are a variety of online tools to help you: Eventbrite, Amiando and meetup are popular event tools. But again, you’ll need to check them out to find the one best suited to your particular needs.

Social Media Networking

Twitter is only one social media communication tool. Other social media platforms work well when combined with Twitter networking. For example, many people share photos from events on Flickr and they often share the links to their photos on Twitter. The comments on these photos are also a great resource to help you find people to follow and grow your network. You can also do the same research with YouTube videos, Posterous pages and any other social media platform your audience frequents.

In addition, Foursquare and other geo-location applications are making it easier to create events and bring people together in person. This is why more and more businesses will be including event networking in their social media marketing plans. And Twitter plays a key role in developing your network, thanks to its ease of real-time one-on-one networking.

What other events on Twitter do you use to grow your Twitter network? Have you participated in a Tweetup? If so, what was your experience? Please share them in the comments below.

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

How to Use Twitter Events to Grow Your Network

International Social Media

How do you use Twitter? There are different ways businesses can use this social media platform:

• Branding
• Customer outreach
• Customer support
• Long term lead generation
• General business networking
• Strategic business networking for a specific goal
• Or as a social media tool to support other social media platforms

I mainly use Twitter as a strategic networking tool to build my international business network. Like most busy professionals it took me a long time to see the value in using Twitter. And even after I started rather reluctantly it took me a full two months to really understand what Twitter could do for my business.

But when I finally got over my own mind blocks something strange happened: within a week it brought in valuable contacts for my business. As soon as the light bulb turned on in my head, I spent an afternoon developing a tweet plan for strategic networking to build my business, and it worked immediately. My email inbox was literally flooding with businesses wanting to know more about my business. What surprised me was that these email were from the types of businesses I wanted to find through Twitter.

I thought I’d just been lucky, but later I realized there was probably more to why I got this Twitter marketing exercise right the first time. You see, I have a background of over 25 years field experience in traditional international business development. This enabled me to develop strong cross-cultural people skills and international business development skills.

• The cross-cultural skills are in-depth people skills and, when you use them in international business, you also learn to maintain a strong focus on the business results you want while connecting with people who are different to you. Twitter is about connecting with a wide variety of people and it can sometimes be challenging to find the right balance to use it successfully for your business.
• The international business development skills mean I know how to operate in a business capacity in “unknown” environments, where there’s a high level of risk, where you need flexibility and where you need to cultivate feedback, listen to it and then adapt your communication to get things right.

With hindsight I believe these skills helped me to “get it right” the first time round. I have since tweaked my orignal tweet plan and integrated different tactics make Twitter work even better for my particular needs.  Twitter is now a key tool in building my international business network.

Below are a variety of links to help you use Twitter successfully for your business. Remember to follow me on Twitter @CindyKing.

How To Get Started On Twitter Resources

Here’s a series of articles to help you get the most out of Twitter.

#1: Listen to what people are saying on Twitter
8 Easy Twitter Monitoring Ideas

#2: Set up your Twitter account
5 Simple Steps to Getting Your Business on Twitter
How to Create a Custom Twitter Background Design

#3: Find people you want to connect with on Twitter
How to Market Your Business With Twitter Lists

#4: Create a great tweet plan
8 Simple Steps To Grow A Quality Twitter Following

#5: Reach out to people on Twitter
12 Tips to Engage People on Twitter

#6: Start with networking great basics on Twitter
8 Easy Ways to Network on Twitter

#7: Find the best meeting places on Twitter
How to Use Twitter Events to Grow Your Network

#8: Take Twitter connections one step further
7 Steps to Successful Twitter Interviews

More Twitter Resources For You

Cross-Cultural & International People On Twitter
Are you interested in developing your cross-cultural skills for international business? Then here’s a list of people I recommend you follow because their Twitter feeds have interesting tweets.

Cross-Cultural Twitter Interviews
Here’s a series of Twitter interviews with some of the people on this list.  Have a look at what I did after reading the article in step 7 above.

Now, It’s Your Turn

• What challenges do you face when using Twitter for your business?
• What Twitter tactics are you using successfully for your business?
• What successes have you had using Twitter for international marketing?

Please leave your comments below.

Tweet Plan

Are you stuck in figuring out how to use Twitter for your business? Create a tweet plan as mentioned in step 3 above and run it for a couple of months to get the feedback you need to figure out what would work best for your business. Need help in setting up your tweet plan?

Find out more about how I can help you set up your tweet plan

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

Twitter Guide

International Links

This week I came across a number of interesting links on cross-cultural topics, international business and international social media. Please let me know what you found recently. And be sure to share your comments either here or on the Facebook… the links are below.

Cross-Cultural Topics

• China’s Gray Revolution – China always fascinates me. Here’s a look at the changing demographics there and what this will mean for them.
• Google, Bing and Babelfish – What’s the best translation engine?
• Country Codes of the World Cup – There are 32 countries participating in the 2010 FIFA World Cup — which means 32 ccTLDs! You can download the free poster.
• The difference between race and culture; what is a microculture? – From abroad, it’s fairly easy to see some of the consequences of the confusion Americans have with Race & Culture. This article gives some insights.
• The New Americans: Bilingual, Bicultural, Global – Joe Kutchera provides some great insights on into globalization and how the US demographics are changing.

Join the Cross-Cultural Communication Business Page on Facebook

International Business

• The Best Countries To Do Business In – It was fun to see that I’ve live in 3 of these countries, visted 3 more and I’ve had regional business responsabilities at some point for all except New Zealand and Iceland. I don’t have a favorite though, although lots of great memories of Switzerland. What about you? Where do you like doing business?
• Leveraging Baidu to Reach the Chinese Audience – some great tips here for businesses who want to open ecommerce opportunities in China.
• The Most Important Leadership Quality for CEOs? Creativity – This study was done across a wide range of countries and talks about the differences in what people think is important to a successful business. Of course, creativity is important in international business too, sometimes it’s the only way of getting beyond difficult cultural barriers. But do you agree it’s the most important quality for success?
• Cross-cultural M&A Communications in China – A look at the cross-cultural challenges in mergers and acquisitions. It’s always interesting to see just how deep these differences can go.
• Case Study: Attempting a Global Merger – A great story of making an idea work through strategic collaboration.
• 6 Ways to Be Innovatively Global – In the words of Pulitzer prize-winning author Thomas Friedman, sometimes “Just doing it” works in the world of global business.
• Special Report BRIICS economies facing different challenges amid a global economic recovery – Here’s a look at the business opportunities and challenges faced by Brazil, Russian, India, Indonesia, China and South Africa. The overall share in world trade in these countries is expected to continue to rise. Are you monitoring your business opportunities here?

Join the International Business Page on Facebook

International Marketing

• Targeting by Language or Country: What You Need to Know – This is a great read for anyone interested in web marketing to different countries.
• Can This Bicycle Save Lives In Africa? – A good story on how one company adapted it’s business to serve new international markets

Join the International Marketing Business Page on Facebook

International Sales

• Global e-tailers pinch local fashion dollars – are you worried about losing local sales to e-commerce sites abroad? Do you think European e-commerce sites will sell more to the US as the Euro remains low?

Join the International Sales Business Page on Facebook

International Social Media

• Facebook Around the World – Brian Solis has a great review of how Facebook is doing around the world and says, “Facebook is far from reaching its potential and as its new “Like” architecture hits the WWW with over 50,000 publishers already in place, its 400 million strong army of social curators will only increase its relevance around the world.”
• Mapping global mobile telephone subscriptions: the world’s biggest markets – Developing markets still have room to expand their mobile markets. And world mobile phone subscriptions will reach near universal levels in 2015-2020. Some interesting stats here.
• Tweet In Local Language To Ensure Worldwide Twitter Success – Is this your experience too?
• Beware English Keywords That Aren’t Really English – Search Engine Land shares why you need to get your keywords right before investing in an international marketing campaign. What other examples of English words used differently in other countries?
• World Economic Forum – Global Information Technology Report – There’s a lot of data by country here for those interested in comparing the “networked readiness” of other countries. Thanks to Amadou M. Sall for sharing this report.
• Groupon Europe! – Great news for European businesses that want more options in their social media strategy. Groupon is now in Europe.
• Internet-inspired drinks parties spread panic among authorities – A look from Scotland at the dark side of the new trend in Twitter meetups in France. Are there other trends highlighting cultural differences in Twitter meetups?
• A Five Step Guide to Cross-cultural Web Design « Web-kreation – Of course these tips also apply to blogs and many of them should be applied to social media marketing. Do you try to integrate cross-cultural design in your social media profiles?

Join the International Social Media Business Page on Facebook

Now It’s Your Turn

• What do these international and cross-cultural links inspire for you?
• Which of these reads did you most enjoy?
• What interesting links on cross-cultural topics did you find recently?

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

International Links: Week 20 2010

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
• Ethnic Origins On Social Media

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

Cross-Cultural Blunder On Latest Facebook Change

Twitter

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

Are you a newcomer to Twitter? Do you need a little help crafting tweets to engage people in meaningful conversations?

You can start a conversation on Twitter in many different ways, but they all come back this: be yourself and find the right tone to engage with people you want to get to know better.

In this post I’ll explore some easy ways to start Twitter conversations. You’ll see just how easy it is to take this first step in networking on Twitter in fewer than 140 characters at a time.

Social Media Examiner’s Facebook fans recently shared some great ways to engage people on Twitter. Based on their recommendations, here are 12 tips to better engage people on Twitter:

#1: Publish Useful Tips or Facts

One of the first ways you can contribute to the conversation is to share useful information. This is always welcome when it’s given from a fresh perspective. And it’s a great way to grab the attention of the people you want to reach.

Cyndy Hoenig offers about five PR tips a day… Notice how she used the word you in this tweet to grab readers’ interest.

#2: Retweet to Acknowledge Others

Retweeting other people’s tweets is a form of acknowledgment. Why not add a comment at the same time and add more to the conversation? Simply being social is a great way to get people to notice you and begin making connections.

Jonathan Saar is simply being social.

#3: Reach Out With Follow Friday

Although Follow Friday (#FF) has been around a while, it can still be a good way to initiate conversations when you put a little thought into it.

#4: Answer Other People’s Tweets

Another easy way to engage people is to respond to others’ tweets. Whether it’s a question or something that grabs your attention, try to respond in an authentic voice. People recognize sincerity and are more likely to respond to it.

Janice Campbell shows us how natural conversations can be on Twitter.

#5: Respond When Something Grabs Your Attention

When responding to something that interests you, show it. Show you care about what people have to say.

Cheryl Garrett adds a personal touch to her professional Twitter presence.

#6: Introduce Yourself to New Followers

Give your new followers a personal welcome that shows you care about getting to know them better. Some people do this in the public Twitter feed and some people prefer introductions in direct messages. Find out what’s best for your audience.

#7: Introduce Yourself at Twitter Events

You’ll notice people following live events on Twitter with a hashtag. When you attend your first event on Twitter, don’t get distracted by the tools and forget your social manners. Remember to introduce yourself to everyone. And why not follow up personally with a few of the other attendees after the event? This is a great way to meet new people with similar interests.

#8: Let People Know When You Add Them to Your Twitter List

As you add people to your Twitter lists, give them a shout-out to let them know. Everyone enjoys this small sign of recognition.

#9: Ask For Help

Many other people on Twitter are also looking to engage in meaningful conversations. Make it easy for others to respond to you and tell them what you are looking for.

Daniel Casciato uses Twitter to find sources to interview for his articles.

#10: Say Thank You

You’ll find many different reasons to thank people on Twitter.

Notice how Amy Porterfield is connecting with this person on both Facebook and Twitter.

#11: Say Thanks When Others Add You to Their Twitter Lists

The people who add you to their Twitter lists are often good connections because you share similar interests. Reach out to thank them and introduce yourself personally.

#12: Ask Questions

Questions work wonders on Twitter. With a little thought you can come up with great questions to find the people you want to engage with on Twitter.

Katie Fox asks a specific question to engage conversation of interest to her.

As you can see, it’s easy to start conversations on Twitter.

Now it’s your turn. What other Twitter conversation starters do you use? Please share your comments below.conversation starters do you use? Please share your comments below.

Copyright Cindy King 2006-2010 - International Business Blog

12 Tips to Engage People on Twitter