Social Media Marketing may seem like an easy task.
It allows you to reach a much wider audience in what seems like very easy to follow steps.
However there are key differences between social media for the American market and social media for a Caribbean market.
In the video below I share one of the common myths about copying social media marketing from America for your business especially if it is not based in the US.
Why would I even talk about this?
Well if you’re new to my blog then let me introduce myself – I’m Hilary, from Trinidad and Tobago and I’ve been in the business of social media marketing for almost ten years now.
Here’s the deal. Social media is NOT the same across borders…. Or waters!
However you’ll discover that social media strategy can be duplicated.
Give me a few minutes of your time and I’ll discuss what I mean.
What impacts Social Media?
If you’ve ever followed a system or strategy for social media you’re always presented with two things:
Images and copy (or what we sometimes refer to as captions).
For example Viral Marketing Stars ® has a remarkable system that provides monthly templates and captions that go along with those image templates.
Now one might say that this is a steal and should be grabbed up and implemented into your social media immediately.
I would say, “Go for it!” if your business was based in the US, UK or Canada and your business was basically an online marketer, online influencer, online course creator or online business coach.
If however your business was based in Trinidad and Tobago (aka my home country) I would tell you that you need to do a social strategy before even looking at the templates Viral Marketing Stars ® provides.
Why?
What a Social Media Strategy will reveal.
When you conduct a social media strategy you will demonstrate whether or not you Know and Understand the audience that you’re trying to reach based on
- Their culture
- Their language
Culture and language impact the two main things that we spend most of our time on in social media content creation. And that is the:
- The Creative (video, images, pictures)
- The Copy ( the language)
Let’s dig in.
So what is culture?
The Oxford Dictionary defines Culture as
“the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group.”
It goes into a lot more detail but you can always go down that rabbit hole another time.
A look at Wikipedia defines Culture as:
Culture is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups. Culture is often originated from or attributed to a specific region or location.
Just by these definitions you can probably imagine that if you don’t infuse a country’s culture into your marketing you may not connect with the audience in the way you would like.
Ignoring the culture completely in your social media efforts can be detrimental to your business and social media brand.
If you don’t resonate with your audience on a cultural level they will not TRUST you or your business.
We already know that people buy from those they KNOW, LIKE and TRUST!
So getting your audience to trust you requires that you KNOW them and that’s (spoiler alert) is how you’ll GROW your social following.
Your online marketing for the Caribbean will make more sense if it has a flavor of the Caribbean.
Images of pine trees, snow capped mountains and or even barren desert do absolutely nothing to connect with your caribbean audience.
Show them beaches! Palm trees! Parties and Cricket matches!
The next important aspect of your social media is going to be the copy The way we say things in the Caribbean, using words like “liming”, for example, versus “hanging out” is not something you’re going to hear in the US market.
Using the “language” or dialect of your audience says, “Oh, you are one of us.”
So graphics and copy paly a vital role in how you’re going to show the audience that you know them.
And then they’d be more willing like you and do business with you.
So here’s what you need to start doing.
Ask yourself whether or not each post that you put out resonates with your audience?
Does it scream the culture of your audience visually and through words?
Or does it scream America.
There’s so much more to doing a social strategy so book a call with me today and let’s chat.
