Expanding Social Media Projects Overseas? Study Your Market

Expanding Social Media Projects Overseas? Study Your Market:by WriterAccess

Business theory education and practical experts both agree that before entering a new market, a company should research all potential factors to understand the related opportunities, risks, threats and advantages. Not surprisingly, the same rule applies for Internet activities expanding into new international areas.
Study, Study and Study Some More
Regardless of whether one is using social media or setting up an assembly line factory, understanding the target country and its demographic diversity is fundamental to success.
Research involves learning a target country’s culture, behavioral expectations, norms and taboos as well as learning a new language. For those looking to expand their social media audience, these elements are critical for an international website or Internet channel’s success. Misguided research can easily and unknowingly sabotage a project before it begins to gain a foundation with a new country’s audience.
A powerful resource to study ahead of time is a target country’s recent history. It can have a powerful influence on how foreign audiences behave, think and react to issues in communication. Political history especially can dictate whether topics generate hot discussion or not in social media arenas. Knowing what these hot topics are ahead of time can avoid pitfalls and embarrassments. Learning from others’ mistakes also helps to avoid such troubles as well, at least accidentally.
Methods of Virtual Entry
One approach website managers can bring in involves the same approach traditional company’s use when establishing a foothold overseas. They bring in overseas experts. In the case of social media communications, it means hiring or contracting for communication help and content services from a native citizen of the target country. There are some risks involved since this approach means trusting the expert to communicate messages correctly. Ultimately, a website manager will need to adapt and learn both language and nuances on his own to ultimately have full control. However, for an immediate start-up, hiring out for foreign expert help can be essential.
Alternatively, a social media push can benefit from forming a partnership with an existing target country’s group or similar website owner. By sharing strategy, access, collaboration and content, both groups in different countries can benefit from each other’s work and efforts, forming a synergy that delivers to a combined, larger audience. However, this approach also requires trust and finding the right group to partner with. It’s not always successful the first time out. However, those who are persistent will eventually find the right mix that helps expansion.
Conclusion
Building a social media presence for a foreign country’s audience is like building a business brand – it takes time, patience and careful movement. Especially early on, a social media presence can make big mistakes just out of ignorance. Those website owners who make a point to study and research their new audience before starting out can gain huge advantages in terms of knowledge and awareness. In an environment where mistakes can go viral, stepping carefully into new foreign environments on the Internet will pay dividends later on with large audiences.
Tom L is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.