In its infancy, few could have predicted the revolutionary effect social media would have on the brand/consumer relationship. Never before has a business had such a powerful, direct line of communication with clients, both new and existing. Conversely, users have scarcely commanded a business’s attention as powerfully as they do now.
Social platforms are real-time conveyors of your brand’s voice, so it’s incredibly important that nothing gets lost in translation.
A new level of brand accountability
An open line of communication means that users expect fast responses to their queries and complaints. In fact,
84% of consumers expect brands to respond within 24 hours of posting. And if you think that’s fast,
72% of Twitter users expect to be answered within the hour!
Indeed, having consumer grievances aired on a public forum — especially one as transparent as Twitter — can easily put businesses under pressure. This is indicative of the new consumer expectation; one that drives a “call-out” culture online, whereby brands are expected to take quick ownership of any perceived mistakes.
Sprout Social notes that:
“Even more telling about this era of engagement is the fact that only 8% of people would simply stay silent if they saw inappropriate behavior from a brand — showing that regardless of the medium they choose, consumers feel empowered to take a stand against brands.”
So what can brands do to mitigate this? First of all, a response strategy needs to be implemented across the board, to all of your business’s social platforms in their respective markets. Furthermore, a proactive attitude that takes ownership and provides transparency can help temper the heightened emotion a user may be experiencing at the time.
This is where Global Content can help align your messaging and create an effective response strategy across all of your multilingual social streams. Each platform needs to reflect your brand identity, communicate your unique voice, and feedback into the core values of your business. No location should exist in isolation!
Create a community online
Know your followers, listen to your followers, and communicate openly and often with them. These factors will determine whether your online community grows, or fades away.
Social media offers the ideal platform to cultivate and nurture a loyal community online. When a person feels they are genuinely part of a journey — someone whose voice and opinions matter — they develop loyalty towards the brand. This consumer kinship converts into the positive word-of-mouth that’s essential for growing your online community. Ultimately, you want these social media followers to become brand ambassadors.
A case (study) in point
From small-town beginnings to one of the largest, most recognizable companies in the world,
Amway has millions of Amway Business Owners (ABOs) in many different markets. All of whom have exclusive access to a catalogue of high-quality nutrition, beauty, and home products. With such a vast network working towards the same goal, Amway saw an opportunity for communication and collaboration on a global scale.
To realize this ambitious idea, Amway turned to Rubric for Global Content assistance. Together they created The Voice, a digital platform for ABOs to connect with one another, in over 60 different languages. The results speak for themselves: a 220% increase in engagement across the platform, with around 37% of ABOs regularly commenting, voting, or submitting ideas.
To read the Amway case study, and to get a better understanding of how an effective Global Content Partner like Rubric can optimize your business’s communications,
click here.
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