There are still many people who think a website alone opens their business up to global markets and brings in international sales. Unfortunately this assumption often leads to disappointing results. Part of the problem is in the different definitions we have for an “international business”. Let’s think about this first.
What does “international business” mean to you?
It is easy to dream of foreign currency appearing in your bank account. But an international business has more to do about you than the money an international can bring you. Selling to international clients impacts all aspects of your business.
- You may need to adapt your products and services to different markets for optimum sales.
- While maintaining a strong brand across all markets, you must also adapt your sales and marketing enough to make those sales possible.
You see, you will always need to adapt something, simply because people are different in different cultures. They respond to different emotional hot buttons and different communication.
In amidst all of these adaptations, there is a balance to find within your own business. This is also why it is important to know exactly what you need to do to get the international business you are looking for.
And this is exactly where international social media can play a very interesting role. It is a great opportunity to connect with your international markets. This in turn leads us to the question of creating an international business blog. The truth is, within an international social media plan a blog can be a great option for businesses hesitating to expand abroad. An international business blog can serve as an international hub, or even a regional outpost, to learn more about how you need to adapt your business for more international sales. [click to continue…]
It’s part of the nature of social media. Cultural differences will always impact social media communication. And how you deal with these cultural differences will impact your international social media success.
This is an important point for businesses to remember. Social media can be used to help businesses connect with different international audiences… but only if the communication is getting through effectively.
One example of how cultural differences impact social media is to have a look at the most popular social media platforms. Although many of these popular platforms are American, they are also very popular outside of America. But if you listen closely, you can see different cultures using the same social media platform differently and you can hear cultural friction between different cultures. This cultural friction is not only between English speakers and non-native English speakers, but it is also amongst native English speakers from different countries.
Our cultural backgrounds impact our interactions on social media. Let’s take a closer look at this. [click to continue…]
