It’s easy to assume that English is the predominant language on the internet. However, while Russian continues to be the most widely spoken language, Chinese, Spanish, Arabic and Portuguese are all gaining ground. As a result, multilingual social media has never been more relevant.
With Indian consumers expected to make up 35% of the next billion mobile connections worldwide, the use of Indian languages online is also growing, with 73% of Indian internet users expected to favour using languages other than English by 2023.
Forging long-lasting, meaningful relationships with your followers requires communicating with them in their language of choice. You can use the following suggestions to prevent your message getting lost in translation, or your brand making a bilingual faux pas, regardless of whether your goal is to connect with your current clientele or expand into new markets.
1. Know your audience demographics
Marketers should always be aware of their target audience. This includes being aware of the terminology used by their target markets.
Every social media site offers analytics dashboards with statistics on audience language. Pay attention to this part and adjust your material as necessary.
2. Don’t rely on translation tools
Although tremendous strides in automatic translation have been achieved by tech powerhouses like Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Amazon, humans still outperform machines in this field.
When Amazon tried to make a Hindi-language website, it was able to see first-hand the shortcomings of its translation technology. The Hindi produced by the machine was entirely illegible and failed to take into consideration the English loanwords that have snuck into the Hindi language.
3. Make use of visual content
Everyone speaks the visual language, and humans are drawn to visual content. Use images and videos to reach a wider audience with your brand’s message. Why not subtitle your video content in different languages to make it more accessible?
It’s crucial to be cautious of various cultural perspectives and traditions. For instance, the meaning of the thumbs-up emoji varies greatly depending on where it’s used. Additionally, some photographs, such as those showing people kissing or drinking, might not be acceptable in particular cultures. Before posting anything, it’s crucial to grasp cultural nuances; a simple translation is frequently insufficient to accurately represent your message.
4. Provide confidence for consumers
For online businesses, it’s important to create engagement to retain your customers. Consumers need to be able to access and understand your content – and the key is the language you’re using.
For fear of making an ill-informed choice, online shoppers will often steer clear of unfamiliar or badly translated items.
Having easily translatable content will encourage more people to get involved and engage with your content and your brand.
The world is full of misconception and everyday brands lose customers over a lack of inclusivity. Taking extra time to ensure your social platforms are accessible for all audiences can work wonders for your business. Following these steps will enhance your content to match the audiences you’re trying to reach, and your brand will easily be noticed across nations.
If you would like some guidance on how to improve the performance of your social channels, book your free communications review here.
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