Vol.42 – How to Leverage Twitter to Reach and Engage Glocal Audience

The previous 2 articles were about effectively reaching and engage global and local (glocal) audience and manage online reputation for business success. In this article, the author would like to continue the discussion focusing on Twitter.




1. Create multiple accounts



The first thing that needs to be decided with clarity is concept of multiple account and languages, which is about targeting based on customer segmentation,



1) Different accounts to be made for different brands and customer segments



It is better to have separate accounts to effectively target global and local audiences like global companies, although managing multiple accounts requires additional resources. Multiple accounts is possible for Twitter and aligning with their business and brand strategy many (global) companies have multiple accounts, each accounts for specific brands and objectives/target segments etc. Dell is perhaps one of a very good example. For the very same reason i.e. having different twitter account for different customer segment, different account is usually used for different country.



2) Language settings to be performed according to customer segment (global or local)



One thing to note in having different accounts not by brand but by language is language setting, especially when the Twitter backgrounds are the same (like a mirror pages). In order to avoid confusion, it is advisable to ensure that language setting is performed in accordance with the target language of the page. In fact, the author often distinguishes which Twitter account she is working on by the language of the top bar etc. She confirms that she is working on English account targeting global audience from the English top bar texts and that she is working on Japanese account targeting Japan local audience from the Japanese top bar texts.



2. Leverage multiple languages



Managing to leverage multiple languages is one of the biggest challenges in managing different accounts for global and local audience.



1) Try to keeping languages separate in line with the target audience



Unlike websites and blogs, it is more difficult to keep languages (e.g. English and Japanese) separate on Twitter but it is advisable to try to clarify which language is the main language for each Twitter account. This would help delivering the message and clarifying to the audience what kind of customer segment are being targeted. People usually do not follow tweeps whose bio and tweets are in the language they do not understand. They also usually judge from the language of the bio and tweets which geographical segment is the target audience.



Having made Twitter accounts with target language setting, the first step to keep the languages separate on Twitter is completing the bio in separate languages, English and the local language such as Japanese. The next step is to tweet content meeting the needs of the target audience in the language of the target audience, such as English for global audience and Japanese for Japan audience.



2) Mixture of language used is not a big problem



In reality, despite the above 2 steps, the languages of tweets can become a mixture of English and local language (Japanese). This is mainly because of interaction with mixed audience of global and local audience attributing to mixed followers of global and local audience. This is the very case of the author and a few of her online friends, with two accounts, one targeting global audience in English and the other targeting Japanese audience in Japanese. However, it does not seem to be a big problem.



3) Some reasons for the “mixture” of languages seems to include the author’s unique way of tweeting



The primary reason for the “mixture” of the language is the fact that the followers of her English Twitter account started to follow her Japanese Twitter account when she opened the Japanese Twitter account and started tweeting. Her good online friends from the English Twitter account were the first non-Japanese people to start following her Japanese account, which is quite natural; however, she was surprised to find a few, including social media guru, starting to follow her Japanese Twitter account at an early stage. They might have found the account by hash tags such as “LinkedIn” “Twitter” “Facebook” that she included in her bio.



Another possible reason for the “mixture” in the case of the author may be how she tweets some contents. When she introduces information in English to Japanese audience in through her Japanese Twitter account, she includes English headline and links with her brief comment/explanation in Japanese. She does so to introduce first hand information on IT, Internet and social media from western countries that are most advanced in these realms. She also does so to inform her tweeps that she posted an article for her English blog.



Although the percentage is lower, there is a similar phenomenon in her English account; i.e. some Japanese tweeps tweeting in Japanese follows her English account.



3. Result: followers from around the globe would be engaged



As a result, people from around the blog, regardless of location, followers the author. Also, some Japanese followers of social media experts paying attention to up-to-date Internet and social media information have been retweeting with additional comments and western followers have been retweeting the “unique” tweets of the author. The author has been enjoying such interaction and engagement with global and local audiences.



Thus, it can be said that the language mixture is not a big problem and it is the quality of the content (tweet) that counts; i.e. whether the tweet is of value to targeted audience. This may well be highly related to the previous article Vol.39 – Should All Content be Translated For Global and Local Audiences Whatsoever?.