Multilingual Facebook Fan Pages strategy for websites in English only.
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| Article by Mathias Levarek Consultant for MSEO.com |
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Classic SEO is not sufficient any longer in itself to deliver optimum traffic. It needs to be complemented through the interaction resulting from language specific Facebook Fan Pages. In fact, developing a serious corporate profile on Facebook is not just an option nowadays, but rather, it has become an obligation for any website seriously committed to their online presence.
If your website is in English only, creating Optimized Multilingual Facebook Fan Pages is by far the most cost efficient approach to generate global qualified traffic:
For example, if your company was located in the US or in the UK, and that you were trying to reach the German online market, you would need to develop a Facebook Fan Page in German. Such German Facebook Fan Page should feature your company’s profile and inform the user that your website is in English, and that all communications (e-mail, phone etc.) should be addressed in English as well.
Think about it this way: we know that according to Google, over 99% of all users will conduct their initial search using your keywords in their mother tongue. You need at least one German Facebook Fan Page in order to be found when someone is searching in German.
However, it is not because someone is searching in German on the German Facebook, or on the German version of Google, that such person does not speak English.
We all know that every single qualified prospect which you might have on a global scale, is expecting to deal with your company in English at one point or another. Come on! A true potential customer from Germany will never look at English as a deterrent when working with a company in the UK or in the US! It is obvious that when a German company communicates with a business in Mexico, or even when a Russian company deals with China, international negotiations are always conducted in English.
Developing a significant multilingual presence on Facebook allows your website to be found efficiently on a global scale - while targeting your international presence according to language specifics.
The name of the game consists of being found in the language of the users when they search with your keywords in their mother tongue, and to deliver a culturally correct corporate image.
Back to our example, when someone accesses your German Facebook Fan Page, such individual should find your company’s profile in German, stating what you do, what you have to offer, how long you have been in business etc. At this junction, you can tell your prospective customers in German that when contacting you, it should be in English (or in any of the languages in which you can conduct business).
Once again, it is not just about being found internationally and increasing traffic, it is also and mainly about delivering a culturally correct image in the language of the user. In fact, the corporate greeting protocol in Chinese is totally different from what is advisable to do in Arabic. In today’s global internet context, being culturally correct is the whole difference between traffic and conversion!
When developing an international presence through multilingual Facebook Fan Pages, do not discount the crucial relevancy of cultural correctness: the do’s & don’ts from one culture to another might be very significant.
Chances are that when searching with your keywords in their native tongue, your international prospective customers will find your foreign language Facebook Fan Pages as the first introduction to your business & website.
Your Multilingual Facebook Fan Pages should be considered as portals allowing you to greet your potential international online customers, while inviting them to your website to do business with you in English: this is truly the most cost efficient way to reach globally.
Just as a reminder, it is not because someone in Germany is searching in German for your products and/or services that such person is not willing to do business with you in English!
When international traffic happens to transit through Multilingual Facebook Fan Pages prior to access a website, due to the prime rankings which Facebook Fan Pages receive in conjunction to the cultural correctness of such online marketing approach, in most cases, it enhances the business transaction conversion rate.
Go global! Go multilingual through Facebook Fan Pages in as many languages as possible! Communicate in English! There is no need to translate your website!
Mathias Levarek, Ph.D.
SEO Consultant for http://www.mseo.com
1250 Connecticut Ave NW Suite 200, Washington, DC 20036 USA
Tel: +1 (202) 787-3989 • Fax +1 (202) 318-2453 • E-mail