International social media in just 3 easy steps

Do Brazilians use Facebook? Are the Chinese on Flickr? Do Japanese tweet?

There is a whole world out there (pun entirely intended) beyond Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. As any marketer worth their salt should know, you have to do your research before diving into a new market — especially with social media.

But where do you start? Admittedly, there is a lot to think about, but it’s really not that difficult if you take it one step at a time.

Step 1: Research
This really is the critical step. In each country, look at which social media sites are available, and then which of those are actually being used. There are some great maps, like the one below, that help you in this stage. While Facebook may seem like the answer in most situations, that’s not always the case. For example, if you are launching a campaign in China and Russia, you should use QQ and V Kontakte, respectively. Choosing the right platform will provide visibility for your brand, but how you interact with users needs thought as well.

Step 2: Listen
As with any social media endeavor, you should always listen before you speak. It’s crucial that you understand what people are talking about and how they may be using platforms differently. It’s easy to assume that everyone uses Twitter to share information like we do in the U.S., for example, but in some countries, it’s used much more for conversation. These are the details you need to be aware of in order to stay relevant.

Step 3: Translation
It may sound obvious, but not everyone uses social media in English. There’s no easier way to alienate people than by requiring them to use a language they do not know or are not comfortable using. If you really want to be successful, this isn’t something to do on the cheap — invest in someone who really knows that language to be your translator-in-chief. They’ll be able to pick up on and use the right words, including slang. 

And this goes for different countries that use the same language, as well (think U.S./U.K./Canada, France/Haiti/Senegal or Germany/Switzerland/Austria, for example) — one size does not fit all. If you’re able to pick up on these language nuances, your audience will be more likely to interact with you.

This may sound daunting, but starting with your current resources will help. For example, Bader Rutter is part of the Business Branding Network (BBN), which means we’re connected to other agencies around the world that can help us tailor our communications to their local markets. You may have colleagues who speak foreign languages or have lived in other countries who can help with your planning. They are the secret to your success.

Well, there’s the quick and dirty of it. Of course, I should point out that you still need to consider your content strategy for each country (based on what your listening and research shows) and determine how you’ll integrate your branding. However, if you’re able to follow these steps, you can ensure your message will resonate with your audience.

If you really want to dive into this, here are some other great articles about launching social media internationally. Of course, I’m always up for talking about it, too!

SmartBlog on Social Media – “5 Tips for Social Media Success in Other Languages”

SocialFresh – “7 Steps for International Social Media Success”

Converge & Convert – “5 Steps to Launch Your International Social Media”

The unfortunate fate of cursive handwriting

A recent JSOnline.com poll about cursive writing in schools.
While reading the news online during my lunch hour, I learned that public schools most likely will not teach cursive handwriting to students in the future. Advocates of cutting this from curriculum say more time can be devoted to reading and math — subjects that are part of standardized testing. And, as schools develop and integrate more technology in the classroom, much of a student’s schoolwork will be done with a computer or tablet device, eliminating the need for work done with a pen and paper.  Standardized tests for

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No, but/Yes, and

Seth Goden strikes again. Take a look at this recent blog post, titled “No.”

He doesn’t take a position in this post. But it’s certainly thought-provoking, which was his point, I’m sure. It’s easy to see the allure of saying “no” and standing firm. If you say “yes,” you might lower the bar and have to perform limbolike acrobatics to achieve your

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B2B losing the laggard label in digital marketing — leads use of Twitter

Rally all you B2B marketers around this nice infographic from the 2011 Webmarketing123 State of Digital Marketing Survey because it’s a great peek into the changing worlds of B2B and B2C. Notably, this is the second data set I’ve seen in the last week where B2B can be classified as in the lead for some digital marketing segments.

SEO is King
It’s interesting that arguably one of the oldest and most mature segments of digital marketing — SEO — is cited as the one that both B2B and B2C marketers agree has the biggest impact on

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The lost art of the phone conversation

My family and I recently moved across town. Among our many decisions was whether we should sever ties with our land line phone. When convincing my husband that we are ready to go all mobile, I pointed out how rarely we actually use our land line, or even use our mobile phones as phones for that matter. But it made me wonder, is that a good thing?

It seems our lives are so fast-paced we can’t be bothered to actually have a phone conversation anymore. We’d rather text, IM or email. And the cell phone companies have made it easy for us to do that — just think about the concept of an ignore button. How rude!

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Make it personal

Recently, I attended the annual meeting of our global agency network, BBN, in Paris. Mineo Kamiyama, CEO of Business Decisions in Japan, shared some very recent research on the impact of the tsunami on Japanese attitudes and behaviors. 

One of the more telling results was that a vast majority of respondents said they were going to spend more personal, face-to-face time with their friends, relatives and colleagues and would not overly rely on social media tools and other impersonal communications methods. The emotional impact was readily evident.

It really struck a chord with me. Fortunately, not many in the world have faced such a major catastrophe, but it is a reminder that we shouldn’t forget about the need to interact in person.

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The BR coffee bar. More than meets the tongue.

I hate coffee.

Seriously. I think there should be a class called “Starbucks Order or Ice Skating Combo?” Triple Swedish Salchow? Half-Caf Americano? I can’t tell what’s what. Nor do I care to.

But I will never turn down a chance to go out for coffee. Why? Because going out for coffee is never actually about the coffee.

At its core, the coffee shop is about putting all of life’s distractions aside and having a real conversation. Going beyond the surface level as a way to connect and recharge your mental batteries. Writers and businesspeople haul their laptops off to the coffee shop because it’s a place where they can sit and think without interruption. It’s a lot easier to get things done there than, say, at your desk.

And I like to think these truths have a lot to do with the new coffee bar area that sprung up on the third floor at Bader Rutter a few weeks ago.

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Marcom A to Z – U for u

I texted someone I consider an important business contact recently and spoke text-ese: “Are u available for a call @ 2?” Then I wondered if I should have used more formal language in the text.

For what it’s worth, I have a good relationship with the textee. Also, I’ve received similar texts from business contacts and haven’t placed judgment based on the use of shorthand.

To some degree, the formality of the relationship should determine language used, and the appropriateness of colloquialisms. Although texting in and of itself is an informal communication channel. And like a tweet, it’s an understood short means to an end. In other words, less is more.

So I ask you: Does it say something good that someone lets their business guard down to talk informally in a text? Is colloquial brevity a positive? Or does it reflect poorly on the texter?

I welcome your thoughts.

Lend an ear – it works!

Recently I was at a neighborhood party and found myself cornered with someone I hadn’t met before. After about 10 minutes of listening to him talk about himself, I realized he had yet to even ask a single question of me. And I had a hell of a time even getting a few words in. Ugh – What a turn-off. 

We’ve all probably found ourselves in a similar situation before, and not always in a social setting.  Some years back, a wise man in this business provided me with a valuable piece of advice that I’ve never forgotten. If you have not talked about yourself in the first five minutes of meeting someone, bravo. You have mastered the art of discussion. On top of it, you can learn so much about a person that can help you from a business perspective.

Here are a few more tips to keep in mind during business meetings. They may seem like common sense but all too often they are forgotten.

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Social media revolution in Egypt, literally

Last week, Hosni Mubarak stepped down as president of Egypt after hundreds of thousands had protested throughout Egypt for more than two weeks.

During that time, social media received significant attention around those protests and it is another indicator of the power and speed messages travel in social channels. For good and bad.

Kenneth Cole and Google are two brands that have social stories stemming from this event and it is interesting to see the implications unfold.

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Marcom A to Z – Q for Questions

Forgive the inner nerd a moment when I admit that a complex spreadsheet filled with data and metrics is an analytic’s dream. Similarly, a complex idea or marcom program can seem quite brilliant for its detail. In fact, it may be. But brilliance is best communicated with simplicity, and clarity.

And so, alongside more than a dozen New Year’s resolutions (go big or go home), I hereby resolve in 2011 to embrace clarity.

From a planning standpoint, I think clarity can be achieved by answering seven questions well. Six of them we learned in kindergarten. The seventh is my personal favorite and often the arbiter of good, better, best. As with achieving clarity itself, these questions seem deceptively simple.

I resolve to inch toward an Apple-esque philosophy for living and working. For one, I’ll create more pictures, fewer words. Here’s picture number one — with questions. Can you answer them for your latest initiative?

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BR Sponsors 'World Champions'

We know a great opportunity when we see it. I am pleased to announce that Bader Rutter is the official sponsor of the Carmel/Clay, Indiana Parks & Recreation Coed Dodgeball Championship team, the Team Bus Drivers. Now, I’m not going to tell you this sponsorship was the result of painstaking research and planning to determine what sponsorship was going to provide us the best ROI to meet our business goals. But I will tell you how we became the official sponsor and how we plan to leverage our connection to this winning franchise.

Like any good BR marketing engagement, this one started with a Brand Asset Management (BAM) workshop. Some of our client partners at Dow AgroSciences had just received a BAM T-shirt after participating in a workshop, and realized the BAM logo would be great for their dodgeball team. Following through like an ace dodgeball hurler, I immediately offered to outfit the team with our BAM-logoed shirts, customized with the team logo. The other part of the offer was that we would promote our sponsorship of their team on the front page of our website if they won the championship. 

Sponsorships can be rewarding from several aspects. Your company gets its name out to a target audience that you know skews high for the activity you’re sponsoring. It provides entertainment and relationship building for employees and customers and it also connects your brand to a winner.

We’re proud to support, and be connected to, the “World Champion” Team Bus Drivers.  Congratulations, team. I just hope this doesn’t mean the cost of our sponsorship is going up for next season!

Understanding data visualization

Cows are tweeting, time travel is real and science is art. All thanks to data visualization.

Visualizing.org writes, by some estimates, we now create more data each year than in the entirety of prior human history. Think about that statement for a minute. It’s pretty astonishing.

Data visualization is literally the visual representation of data for the purpose of communicating information. Examples can range from a gorgeous hand-crafted infographic to a PowerPoint pie chart. They can also be generative and interactive.

We’ve already told you about tweeting cows on a Canadian dairy farm (thanks in part to RFID technology). But did you know Bing maps is using augmented reality to see what users’ real-time location looked like 100 years ago?

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The importance of connecting

I was 15 years old and my dad, just a week from my birthday, was dropping clues on what my present was going to be. Now, I don’t remember exactly what I was expecting. But I can tell you what I wasn’t.

And that was, a bright orange hunting suit and gun safety course lessons. Yes, this was my dad’s attempt at connecting with me.

So last week, when at the age of just 60 he passed away, it got me to start thinking about just that — connecting.

See, my dad grew up a hunting, fishing, eat-what-you-catch kind of guy. Me? I was anything but. You could say that in marketing terms, my dad failed to recognize his audience

But my dad wasn’t a marketer. He wasn’t strategic in his thinking. He didn’t care about target audiences, demographics or brand platforms. And as a side note, I’m pretty sure up until his final days, he still didn’t fully understand what the hell I do for a living.

What he did know, was what he wanted. And that was for us to be close.

So as I sat with him at his bedside for the final time last week, I started thinking about the parallels that exist with what I do today.

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6 tips for writing like an industry expert

In the agency world, many of us appreciate the opportunity to work with different companies and organizations. The variety we many times encounter within agency walls provides a patch-work of knowledge and experience.

However, it is paramount for communications professionals to become staked in their clients’ organization and industry. Often associates are assigned one or maybe two key clients on which to focus their talents and attention, something that is necessary for the growth of a successful and steady campaign.

How does one become a pseudo-expert in the chemistry of plastics or the biology of animal health? A veterinarian recently inquired how I could write so astutely about vaccination protocols when just last year I was working with a chemical company. In contemplation, I realized that being a chameleon practitioner oftentimes revolves around a few key characteristics.

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