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By CHRISTIAN ARNO published SEPTEMBER 24, 2012 EST READ TIME: 7 MIN

Create Content that Effectively Crosses Cultural and Linguistic Borders

As more of the world gets online, the potential audience for your content grows. More brands are reaching out to customers around the world through websites, social media, blogs, and videos. The rapid growth in internet use in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America is opening up unprecedented opportunities for content marketers.

For global brands, multilingual websites are becoming a necessity. A recent study found that 58 percent of Fortune 500 companies have multilingual websites, and 70 percent of America’s biggest companies have some localized content. If a company already has a presence in a foreign market, content marketing is an obvious next step. But communicating effectively across national and linguistic borders can create unique challenges.

Here are a few steps you can use to create content that won’t get lost in translation.

Identify your core message

Your core brand messages should stay the same worldwide, but may be adapted to fit other cultures. Every company has its own style, brand image, or tone of voice it wants to sell to its customers. Whether it’s young and edgy, or classic and traditional, this should stay consistent.

Coca-Cola recently announced its ambitious new content marketing strategy. While its key values and message — to “refresh” and “create moments of optimism and happiness” — remains the same on a global scale, the substance of its content will vary among cultures.

McDonald’s is another good example of a company that successfully adapts its message, as well as its menus, to different cultures. The same slogan, “I’m lovin’ it,” is used globally, but on the Swiss site, it’s paired with an image of a woman relaxing, alone, listening to music through headphones. On the more colorful Indian site, the same slogan is associated with a family enjoying an outing to the supermarket.

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