Look Before You Leap: Social Media Around the World

We welcome Katie Corbut, account coordinator, in her first post for The Schism.

It’s no secret that social media use is growing exponentially. It seems as though new platforms pop up every month and at times it’s hard to keep up with this ever-changing medium.

Some say it started with AOL and instant messaging, others say they jumped on board with MySpace in the early 2000s. Regardless, it’s easy to see that any company wishing to engage with key audiences today, must do so on the Internet in some fashion. The same holds true for international businesses.

Organizations wishing to reach audiences in foreign countries, whether the company has roots there or not, must be guided and encouraged to follow the documented and undocumented rules.

We all know there are certain nuances that are not appropriate here in the U.S. It’s not okay to hold up your middle finger at someone, and people will always look at you funny if you say words backwards. So you wouldn’t go to the Middle East and give the “thumbs up,” or go to Saudi Arabia and say “hello” to a man if you’re a woman.

In the U.S., we enjoy a level of freedom of speech that some countries do not allow – and this must be taken into consideration for countries with strict speech laws.

In a New York Times article, the Chinese government was quoted saying: “Companies that do business in China must follow the laws of the land.” China recently set in motion legislation to further regulate the “spread of harmful information.” Such harmful information will be banned by the government immediately – so be sure to tailor your client’s messaging without using the list of banned keywords.

Christian Arno of Lingo24, a translation services provider, recently wrote a blog post about how to be successful when venturing into the social media realms abroad. Here are his top five tips, plus my commentary against each:

1. Choose the right social networks.

Facebook has over 700 million users (up from 600 million in 2010), but there are still other social media platforms used globally. In China, Qzone is the biggest network for teens and is popular with casual users, while Renren is used primarily by college students. Kaixin001 is like LinkedIn, but for the Chinese network. V Kontakte is also similar to LinkedIn, but is used by Russian professionals – and this network reportedly dominates all other social networks in the country. Orkut, owned by Google, is the biggest platform in Brazil and is also used heavily in India.

2. Find out what people like.

According to Arno, Asia uses social media primarily for sharing and downloading music and videos. In India, games and music sharing dominates social media use. Western Europe mirrors North America the most, as social media is used to share content and information.

3. Develop a [localized] strategy.

Is it more cost effective to develop and execute social media strategies yourself, or would hiring a specialist who lives in the demographic area in which your client is trying to market make more sense?

4. Localize your content.

This is what I was talking about earlier. Don’t walk into a black and white party wearing polka dots and plaid. Read the news, know where you’re going and who you’re talking to. For example, when American fast food giant Kentucky Fried Chicken opened their first restaurant in Beijing in in 1987, they accidentally translated KFC's famous slogan, “Finger-lickin' good” to “We'll Eat Your Fingers Off!” in Chinese.

5. Interact.

The purpose of social media doesn’t change on different continents. Platforms might be different but the idea remains the same: two-way communication is key.

When it comes to using social media around the world, it's important to really do your homework. Sometimes cultural norms are determined by years of tradition, and other times by a legislative entity. As the old saying goes, look before you leap.