Social media growth is a unified want for all business, brands and influencers globally. Every social media marketing strategy will have a section dedicated to growth goals associated with their online social media presence in the many different formats available to their target users.
Naturally international growth and expansion overseas is a huge goal for most people and businesses operating online. If you are able to hack into a new market in a different country then you have more revenue potential and a whole new segment to target.
Nevertheless, this growth takes time, money and a lot of market research if you want your social media strategy to work well. Below are some key pointers that will help to learn how to grow your social media internationally.
Strategy Development
Strategy relies on two things, your vision and your budget. If you have a lack of creative direction or an ever-dwindling budget you may not be able to convey the correct message to your audience both locally and internationally.
Devising a strategy can take some time; this is because it should be the blueprint of your social medias goals so it is important. It is for this reason that some companies hire in social media managers to help them devise succinct plans and strategy’s to follow.
You can also choose to create these strategies yourself to make it more affordable and personal. This means that you will need to be aware of the change or need to edit your vocabulary when writing content and picture content when posting in certain countries. This way your message will be more receptive to many different people.
Developing global strategies can sometimes be considered as mass marketing, this is not really ideal if you are a smaller brand or business that are only targeting specific target markets. By adapting your strategy from country to country, or different territories historically you receive a better response from consumers, as it is more targeted and effective.
Translation and Language
The expectation to be able to gain information in your native tongue has become a constant want globally. On many different social media outlets, they now offer free translation services for content, writing and posts to a variety of different languages.
Ensuring that your social media adheres to this want and can utilise as many different languages to reach as many different audiences as possible is vital for a business or brands success.
When discussing social media marketing and strategy that can reach an international audience language and translation is very important. This will allow you to reach a larger audience rather than solely focusing on your country of origins social media outlets and language.
You can use an outside entity to ensure that your copy has been written correctly, or that the best writing has been used and translated. This might be beneficial as your brand or business continues to grow and you have more of a budget.
Diversification of Social Media Outlets
Social media has an automatic link with certain online media outlets like Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. This is an archaic view of online social media as there are so many different outlets native to certain countries that if targeted correctly would allow your business or brand to grow massively.
These can be seen as untapped markets for many of your competitors, getting to these markets before them can be really beneficial to your social media growth and revenue streams.
If you take Asia as an example there top three media sites are ones that most of the western world have never heard of. If you were able to tap into this market through the use of their more favoured social media outlets then you could completely diversify your offerings and grow beyond belief.
The success rates you would experience simply by operating and expanding your social media into these various other channels could make or break you.
Interaction and Engagement is Key
As always with social media growth, the way you interact and engage with your audience is a key determination of a businesses success. You should look into untapped markets and demographics, identify the best ways to communicate with them and grow your audience this way.
It is obvious that the new demographic that you are hoping to connect with through increased engagement must fit your businesses ethos. If you can get into a previously untapped audience, such as the aging population who are getting more and more involved and interested in social media now, then you could see a huge growth potential in your social media following.
There are many different forms of engagement or interaction that you can choose to focus on with different audiences. If you are looking to encourage an aging population having more friendly, easy to use adverts or opportunities to speak with representatives personally might work best.
For more Internet savvy audiences you will need to be more inventive and responsive to issues or questions.
It is true to assume that interaction and engagement are the most important part of any online social media strategy. If this element of your social media presence is crisp then naturally you will be able to grow a loyal and attentive international audience.
Conclusion
Growing your social media internationally can easily be done with some time and dedication. You need a clear understanding of the markets you hope to expand into, the ability to properly engage with them through correct language and content context.
It is also important to ensure that you have an open mind to explore various different social media avenues and channels that may seem strange or not conducive for all markets.
It is important to diversify your offering based on your location and market expectations. If you approach every market with a mass marketing strategy it will make it harder to connect with your audience on a more personal level.
Most of the more successful brands and businesses offer their customers a specific and tailored approach based on geographical, locational and target markets age, you should do the same to see a growth in your social media.