Social media networks have flattened the world, and brands need to consider the whole world as their marketplace. Below are some big-picture ideas and tips that will help you take your brand to the world.
1. Determine Your Channels
Find out which social media channels the customers you want to reach use the most by determining which networks are carrying the traffic you want to be part of in the regions you want to reach. For an overview of the dominant networks worldwide, see Vincenzo Cosenza’s annual World Map of Social Networks.
2. Global, Local or Something in Between?
As you build your brand across an international marketplace, you can take a top-down approach by developing a centralized marketing message that is then tailored for specific countries or regions. Or if you’d rather, you can work from the bottom up, creating or hiring local teams that craft a brand strategy specifically for their local markets.
3. Translating Your Brand Message
There may be important regional and ethnic variations in your message when you are speaking to a global community. Social media marketing has to take both of these ideas into account. Style, terminology, local/regional language, units of measurement are just some of the factors you need to consider. Adapt your style of presentation so that your social media posts fit the culture of the customers you are trying to reach.
4. Culture, Custom and Policy
Once you have crafted a campaign and had it translated for your social media networks in your targeted markets, you also have to make sure that it meets local customs, policies, and laws for advertising and e-commerce.
It’s not impossible to launch your brand into new global markets. With careful research in preparation and informed input from local experts, your craft brand can engage with new customer audiences and grow into a global leader.
Read the full article in the Winter 2018 issue of Gradient.
Stitchcraft Marketing is a niche agency specializing in craft-centric small businesses. Contact the owner, Leanne Pressly at 719-539-3110 or email Leanne@stitchcraftmarketing.com to learn more.