Social media translation strategies that strengthen your brand

Social networks have transformed the way we express ourselves. To make the most of this and stand out from the competition, you have to follow the rules unique to these networks. Although they can really boost your visibility almost overnight, these benefits come with risks: one false move, and your image can really take a hit. You don’t want to go viral because of a miscommunication in a language you don’t speak, do you? SwissGlobal can take care of your social media translation and transcreation to ensure your communication and brand image remain consistent.

Multilingual marketing on social networks

The immediacy offered by social networks means that you can be in contact with established and potential customers in real time. This means it’s easy to reach a wide audience without spending a lot of money, but there’s a flip side to the coin: users are bombarded with content on a daily basis, and it’s hard to make your voice heard in the midst of this jungle of information.

It is thus all the more important to create quality content, so that users remember your company. This is where professional social media translation comes in: because our translators are so familiar with your target audience, they can translate your publications and make them read just as well as in the original language.

Social networking platforms do have an inbuilt translation feature for publications, which can be useful for users who just want to know what the publications are about. However, if you’re a company that wants to do multilingual marketing on social networks, we strongly advise against relying on machine translation.

Literal social media translation will not reflect your style of writing, the tone of the text or the voice of your brand. You’ll be left with publications without substance.

Social media translation versus transcreation

Following a network’s unwritten rules doesn’t mean neglecting spelling and grammar. Your company needs to maintain its brand image in all circumstances, and the language it uses must be impeccable. Users are demanding when it comes to brand content, and mistakes will damage your image.

This is also why you shouldn’t rely on automatic social media translation options. Any poor translations or failures to adapt to a new target audience will be immediately obvious, and if your publication is misunderstood or the intention is unclear, you will not get your audience’s interest.

When it comes to informational content, a simple translation is enough. But when it comes to multilingual marketing, transcreation is the best option. Transcreation not only translates the text; it also adapts the message and the visuals to suit the new target audience.

The rules that shape successful social media translation

Social networks have their own rules, which have developed over the years and, in a way, have redefined communication.

Social networking platforms help to build a company’s image. These days, looking after your social networks is essential if you want to have a good online presence. This means professional social media translation for all the languages in which you communicate.

Professional translators will know the cultural references of the target audience and can adapt them if necessary to avoid misunderstandings. Here’s what they will be looking out for:

Tone and style

You need to adapt your tone and style to suit each social network. For example, a LinkedIn publication, which is rather formal, can’t be simply copied and pasted into Instagram, where the style is freer and more focused on the visual. The two publications must nevertheless be consistent and preserve the brand’s voice.

Cultural references

Both the text and the image must serve your message and correspond to the cultural expectations of the target audience. This means that you may have to modify the advertising images or even adapt the emojis in your publication. Certain emojis can be interpreted positively in one culture and negatively in another.

Hashtags

Hashtags are crucial to a publication, as they enable you to be properly referenced on social networks and increase your visibility. Translating hashtags literally doesn’t work, so you need to find out which hashtags perform well in each language for the subject in question.

Terminology

Each social network has its own peculiarities and therefore its own terminology: on LinkedIn, you can redirect your connections to your newsletter; on Instagram, your followers will be able to click on the link in your bio; and on X, you scroll through your newsfeed.

Character limit

Some social networks, such as X, are restrictive: you can write only 280 characters per publication. You need to be creative to get your message across in just a few lines.

Successful social media translation for global audiences

All these elements must then be translated into the different languages in which your company is published. It’s therefore a good idea to rely on language specialists to ensure that your message is consistent and effective.

Here are some of the services SwissGlobal offers:

• Translation of publications for LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.
• Translation of TikTok and YouTube video scripts, and translation of subtitles
• Localisation

The most important thing is to plan your publications. This is the only way to guarantee that every language version will be of good quality.

At SwissGlobal, we can translate your social networking content into all your business languages to help you conquer the global market! If your company has decided to strengthen its presence on social networks in several languages, contact us. Our translation and communication specialists will support your expansion, whether with marketing translations, translation of your website or SEO translation.