Now that we have learned that Google and Bing use information from social media sources like Facebook and Twitter when they are ranking pages, it is time to put much more emphasis on social media marketing-especially in the international arena.
One problem with international social media sources is that they can vary greatly between nations and cultures. For 1 thing, you should incorporate multilingual postings into your social media campaigns. You also need to be cognizant of the reality that some countries all over the world are extremely social-savvy, while other people aren’t.
For instance, in Brazil about 25% of the population uses social media to stay in touch with pals, household, and business acquaintances. This translates into 55 million people every spending an typical of 5 to 8 hours on social media websites each month. This indicates the average Brazilian spends twice as much time online as they do watching TV. So brush up in your Portuguese within the event you wish to start using social media to market to this audience.
Russian is another country with a population that is very social media savvy. They use social media sites for both business and pleasure. For business communications Russians typically communicate in Russian, but for personal messages your average Russian will communicate in English. So it isn’t necessarily required that your social media ads are translate into Russian. The important thing to note is that you are aware of where you plan on posting your ads. For business sites like LinkedIn, you’ll need to communicate in Russian, but for personal sites like Facebook English will suffice for your ads.
India is still taking shape. Computer-based internet usage is still growing slowly due to infrastructure issues, but internet-enable cellphones are making it possible for a large majority if Indians to get hooked in on social media sites. The estimate is that 72 million users will be accessing the internet through their mobile device by 2014. In India, Google’s Orkut has 15.5 million users while Facebook is a close second with 9.6 million and closing. Facebook is expected to take the top spot in 2011. Blogger, Twitter, and YouTube also garner significant audiences in India, as do Bebo and more niche social networking sites such as Ibibo, which is designed around online games, music sharing, and self-promotion.
The Chinese completely adore social media, utilizing the highest online engagement rate in the globe – 92 percent of online Chinese use some type of social media. And seeing as China is the world’s leading nation in Web use, that means if you are looking to break into the Chinese online market, then dabbling in social media is truly a must-do.
If you are looking to expand your marketing efforts internationally, then social media is the way to do it. Just be aware of the various cultures and online customs to ensure that your messages reach the largest audience possible. For some social media sites, you’ll need to translate your messages into the native language, but for others English will do just fine.
TBS Media is a Las Vegas search engine marketing firm that can help your company expand its brand awareness through social media management.
