4 Tips For Global Social Media Campaigns

Social Media plays a crucial role globally in terms of covering international developments. Facebook pages help to bring global attention to important events across different countries.

Approximately 70% of Facebook users are said to be from outside of the U.S. The social media site has more than 70 translations available to users. About 50% of the tweets on Twitter are also said to not be in English. These statistics demonstrate that marketers who are wishing to expand their campaign to reach out to new audiences should have a look into creating a global marketing campaign. It is important to consider that not every brand will work with this strategy. A brand may for example have great marketing success in the United States, but this does not guarantee the brand will have such luck overseas.

With this in mind we have the following tips and best practices before beginning to implement a social media global marketing campaign:

1. Familiarise Yourself With Your Environment
All regions of the world are different in terms of their behaviour in terms of social media, and not every country resembles the social media usage patterns of users in the U.S.  Business applications for social media across different areas of the globe can be in some cases very significant.

It is important to bare some factors in mind, such as the fact that in some areas of the world, Facebook is not the preferred social media site. For example, in China, a Twitter-style social media network is the network of choice.

For these reasons, when you decide that you wish to use social media on a global scale you need to have an understanding of the environment that you will be working within.

2. Listen Before You Begin Implementation
It is important before initiating a social media program to listen. This becomes an even more important factor when it comes to implementing a global campaign. You need to consider factors such as what they are saying about your brand, what members within a certain region are discussing, what the cultural differences are, etc.

Listening will enable you to gain a full understanding of the types of discussions that are taking place in reference to your brand or industry, and therefore assist you in determining trends. This will in turn significantly help you to develop a good strategy to use for entering the market.

3. Create A Plan
In order to be successful within a global environment, it is not sufficient to simply change the language of your efforts. You will also need your international social media strategy to be in line with your domestic social media plan, although it will need to be adapted to depending on the knowledge of the particular region.

Once you have some knowledge of the global landscape you can form a plan of action. The plan will begin with identifying your goals, such as what you wish to achieve and how you will measure how successful you are being with your campaign. Once these are determined, you can then work on creating a strategy which will enable you to achieve those particular goals.

4. Localise Your Communication
Whilst you are taking your efforts to a global audience you can still localise things. It is almost necessary to be local with your message when attempting to reach out to an international audience. It is very important to understand cultural and language barriers and adapt your message for each market. It is also crucial to understand all cultural references and events and holidays that are significant to the particular region.

Connecting with consumers on a global scale becomes far more effective when you use the best practices above. Several brands are doing it successfully on a daily basis.

If you would like some help with maximising the effectiveness of your social presence, then why not give us a call and have a discussion with one of our digital strategists.