There’s a little bit of a problem with the way people think about digital content localization.
Apparently, if a company has a website in different languages or creates multilingual social media posts, it’s considered to be a great example of content localization.
Not exactly, if you ask me.
While the fact that someone translated content is certainly a step in the right direction, we can’t really call it “localization.” Although translation is a major part of localization, it’s still insufficient to reward someone with the status of a truly international company.
Others go even further to disregard the importance of localizing content they put on social media. This is a critical mistake for international businesses because everyone uses it these days. For example, Taiwan has a 90 percent Facebook penetration rate; this makes a lack of localization a very bad idea for international companies operating in the country.
In this article, we’re going to give you 5 excellent reasons why you should make localized social media posts an indispensable part of your content marketing strategy:
- Localized social media content makes a business look more customer-centered
- Localized social media content directs more traffic toward your website
- Localized social media content increases engagement
- Localized social media content builds trust
- Localized social media content increases sales.
Reason #1: Localized content Makes a Business Look More Customer-Centered
Customer focus is everything for businesses these days. By putting themselves in the situations experienced by the target audiences, you’re much more likely to understand things from their perspective. In turn, this makes you better understand them, so it’s likely that you’ll be able to create relationships with them easier.
What role do localized social media posts play here?
Any localized content, be it a social media post or a blog article, improves customer experience. Offering content in a form customers prefer makes it easier for them to connect with you, thus helping to build trust and credibility.
That’s why customer experience has become a huge differentiator for modern businesses. In fact, studies have confirmed that companies consider this factor as “the most exciting business opportunity.”
As you can see, customer experience even overtook such important factors as video marketing and social media. With 86 percent of customers willing to pay more for great customer experience, localizing your content would definitely be a step in the right direction for you.
Not only does it make your brand look more customer-focused and professional, but it also says that you’re willing to invest in something that makes your target audience feel more special.
Reason #2: Localized Content Directs More Traffic Toward Your Website
This one is pretty simple: a customer would be much more likely to click on a localized social media post rather and go to your website. If they see that the content is tailored to their unique circumstances, preferences, and experiences, their confidence to click would be greater.
For example, you can start by including a local website’s URL in your social media profile, just like Starbucks Mexico does below.
Also, if you create a post about a sale in a store in a specific location, you’ll maximize the relevance of this content for your target audience residing in that area.
The Polish subsidiary of Jysk, a well-known Danish retail chain, often shares social media posts with discounts. To get them, you need to go to their regional website, of course, as shown in the screenshot below.
As you can see, the post contains multiple offers and provides a short link to the website. By sharing similar posts, the company drives more people to their local online store. Even someone who’s interested in browsing the products would be compelled to go to the website because Jysk gives an additional 10 percent discount on top of holiday discounts.
The main reason why posts like these get a lot of clicks is that they provide a positive customer experience. There’s evidence to support this, too: one study found that 73 percent of buyers considered customer experience important to make purchasing decisions.
So, by increasing the relevance of the content, you’re also improving people’s experience with it, so a lot of them will be able to go to your website and check out more stuff.
One more thing: keep in mind that consistency is key to driving website traffic continuously, so consider using social media automation software to ensure that your posts get published on time.
Reason #3: Localized Content Increases Engagement
This one is obvious at this point: if people consider content relevant and easy to understand, chances are more will engage with it somehow, like:
- click on a link in a post and go to your website
- share content on social media with their friends
- convert, i.e., start a free trial or sign up for a newsletter.
Let me cite a study that showed how powerful localization can be for engagement.
In this article, the CEO of an ad distribution network says they compared the performance of ads in English and three other languages, namely German, French, and Spanish. The network displayed the ads in a local language and English for a period of time and found some pretty interesting results.
Performance indicator/Languages | Ads in English | Ads in Local Language |
Click-through rate | 2.35 percent | 3.34 percent |
Conversion rate | 7.47 percent | 9.08 percent |
The localized ads performed much better compared to their English counterparts, suggesting that localizing customer experience is totally worth it. In other words, people are reluctant to buy a product or service they don’t understand (or understand them partly).
Don’t forget to keep time differences in mind when posting for international social media accounts. If you can’t be online on Facebook due to time differences but need to publish posts, be sure to use social media automation tools to reach local customers when they are most engaged.
Reason #4: Localized Content Builds Trust
We’ve touched this area a bit already, but it deserves a separate section. When your social media followers see that you’re trying to ensure that your content is easy to understand, they will definitely appreciate it. Moreover, they will understand that you’re making an effort to communicate in a way they prefer.
People often buy from companies that they like and trust, so localize your content to foster trust and make them feel like you understand their needs.
Reason #5: Localized Content Increases Sales
There are many ways in which social media content localization can help you improve sales. First and foremost, it makes your offers more relevant and interesting for customers; as the ad study described above showed, this really works.
For example, what may seem like a good deal in one country can be too expensive in another (there can be differences between regions, too). This also means that your business should consider the percentage of coupon codes, special offers, and discounts.
The Bottom Line
You need much more than translated social media posts to say that your strategy is truly localized. As you can see, there are things like buying power, cultural appropriateness, customer experience, localized offers, and others to consider. Doing so is definitely a challenge, but taking advantage of localization to increase the relevance and quality of your content makes perfect sense.
Hopefully, these five reasons have been convincing enough for you to try social media content localization. This brings us to the first sentence – there’s a misconception about location, so if you do it right, chances are you’ll get ahead of the competition.
About the author
Erica Sunajo has a Creative Writing degree from South Texas College and works as a freelance writer, and proofreader at BestWritersOnline. She writes about content marketing, artificial intelligence, chatbots, and other topics for small and medium-sized businesses. Erica wants to have a popular blog one day and help other aspiring writers to share their expertise.
Renita Dutta says
I have gone through your blog, and it’s really very informative, the way you described different strategies.
Elaina M says
That’s good to hear, thanks for taking the time in checking our blog.