3 Best Ways to Expand Your Social Media Strategies Internationally
By Ginger Abbot
Taking your brand across national borders into the global realm can bring a lot of growth to your business. However, several challenges come with an international market, and knowing how to expand your social media strategy is one of them.
Asking the right questions allows you to construct a method that leads to growing success for your brand. Here are three of the best ways to expand your social media strategy around the globe.
-
Research the Market
The first step for how to create a global social media strategy is to complete initial market research. Consider the kind of people you’re trying to reach in this new market and how they are similar or different from your original audience. What about your company will appeal to both groups of people? What might be different, and how can you bridge that gap?
Language isn’t the only thing that changes when you cross national boundaries. Daily habits, idioms, cultural messaging about success and even the sense of humor will vary. Research can help you identify sensitivities and what will resonate most with your new market.
Types of popular social media also vary among countries. Market research will help you determine what your target audience uses and when they’re using it. Many marketing tactics are time-sensitive, so it’s also important to be aware of changing time zones.
-
Work With Locals
Although research will take you far, working with a local market expert is another valuable investment for taking a brand across national borders. Hiring regional workers is more expensive, but it will bring a more comprehensive understanding of the culture to your business and save you time in the long run.
Local employees can check your marketing campaigns for any cultural insensitivities, suggest innovative ways to connect with their community and give you a more complete picture of the area you’re trying to reach. The wealth of knowledge they bring to your company is well worth their investment.
One of the most reliable ways to grow leads and sales for your company is through interaction with potential customers. Local marketing experts can make this easy because they won’t have any difficulty with a possible language barrier. Because they live in the same time zone as your target market, they can run social media accounts and respond to comments in a timely manner.
-
Analyze the Numbers
Running an international social media campaign is only half of the process. The important part comes when you can look at the numbers and learn from your results. Because numbers are so important to your future growth, it’s essential to keep track of everything and organize this information so it’s easy to understand.
Before running a campaign, make specific goals that give a detailed outline of what success looks like. It’s also useful to write down reasons for the marketing decision you made. For instance, list why you chose a certain color or kind of messaging and why you thought your choices would appeal effectively to your target audience.
After your campaign, you can compare the final data with your initial goals to see how effective your efforts were. Asking questions about discrepancies between the two data sets can help you plan for more success next time. Consider completing a full social media audit to measure the success of various platforms in a certain market.
How to Expand Your Social Media Strategy Internationally
Although expanding your business across national borders takes a lot of time and hard work, it’s well worth the effort to engage with a new market. The success of your international social media campaign will depend heavily on the initial research you conduct and how connected you are with your target audience’s location.
With effort and dedication, you can learn how to expand your business on social media internationally. Follow these three steps to streamline the process and invest in growth for your company across multiple markets. Refining your social media strategy is an ongoing process, but it will continue to give back to your company.
Your Social Outsource Team
The Social Hire team never just do social media.
Our digital marketing managers are the wizards that can give you the insight you need to develop your business. Have you had enough of making complex personnel choices that don't work well for your digital presence?
Our group of specialists are an organisation that helps our clients boost their online marketing by offering social media management services on a monthly basis.
You might like these blog posts 7 Signs You’re Ready to Hire a New Team Member, Necessary Technologies for New Business, Benefits of an HR System for Small Businesses, and Jumpstart Your Performance Management.
