What’s the context?
Posted in Social MediaHow many of you have fans on Facebook and Twitter and really have no idea who they actually are? The Social Media realm of the internet is one of the most interesting digital places in the world. In some ways I view social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter as new countries where all nationalities have been merged together. This is primarily where a problem presents itself. The elements of culture in each of these nationalities collected into once space make it difficult for marketers to connect with its audience.
To not have a proper understanding of the cultural framework of your audience could be disastrous.
Not having an understanding of cultural context limits your capability to communicate. Effective communication in itself requires that both parties have a frame of reference or a context from which words are being expressed. For example: Let’s say you are from the United States promoting a fresh line of designer jeans to a new market in Britain. You decide one way to break into that specific demographic would be by using a Facebook fan page. A few months pass and you notice that a British girl is wearing your new pants and posts a picture of her on your fan page. So you thank your British friend for wearing your “pants”. But in England “pants” are what we would call “underwear”. The frame of reference for the understanding of the word pants from a British perspective is entirely different from the American perspective.
The British social context requires that in order to complement a British lady that you adapt your language in order to fit. This is just a trivial example of how cultural context plays into social situations. But imagine a place where as a facilitator you have to contextually adapt to multiple cultures across the entire world. As brands enter into social media marketing they must be aware of social context. Ok, maybe your brand isn’t international yet. Maybe it’s not even national. Even so, you can’t escape cultural contextualization.
Even micro cultures require a level of contextual understanding from both parties. The music industry is full of sub-sets of micro cultures with their own unique understandings of words and ideas. Many of these words and ideas become popularized and eventually become buzz words. For example the word “boo” was originally used as an interjection to startle or frighten. “Boo” is now used in the hip hop sub-culture as a word to describe a boyfriend or girlfriend.
Here are a few points to think about:
1. Social media is not limited to one culture.
2. Understanding your audiences’ context will bridge the digital gap.
3. Relating to your audience in this way will foster more authentic relationships.
4. Understanding cultural context should be part of planning your social media marketing initiative.
And thus a great irony should have been exposed in reading this blog post. I don’t know who you are. And I may have not been contextually relevant. Please drop me a line and let me know who you are, I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic too.
July 13th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
First I just feel that I need to point out that Twitter should be title case just as Facebook is in the article since it’s a company name and it’s Britain, not Britten.
I have to disagree about context playing such a large role in communicating with different cultures. For English speaking countries I think its fine to ignore differences in the definitions of words, unless the word can be taken in a negative manner. Your “pants” example would never occur on a Facebook fan page; if the girl in this example is wearing the jeans you are promoting, then you’d more than likely refer to them as jeans. Your British customers are going to know you’re a US company when they interact with you, they’re not going to take offense if you say pants instead of trousers.
If you’re marketing your new product to a country that’s primary language isn’t English, you would have a dedicated Facebook page or Twitter account for that market being run by someone who is fluent in that language which should remove any potential context issues.
At the end of the day it’s not about context, it’s about actively and honestly engaging your customers, community, or audience.
Comment by Josh KendallJuly 13th, 2010 at 1:07 pm
Hi Josh,
Thanks for the comment and the catching some needed corrections. From my observation not all social media marketing is being facilitated by a dedicated individual with an understanding of the indigenous language, its customs or cultural ideals.
I agree that at the end of the day its about engagement. But I would challenge you that by definition engagement requires that communication take place. Thus the process of effective engagement requires effective communication. As far as how people communicate on a fan page, a brand message must be contextualized in a way that is accessible to that culture. I personally have lived in England and witnessed situations where the pants/trousers situation created tension. To not say that context is important is like saying your audience is irrelevant. At the end of the day a prerequisite of actively and honestly engaging your audience requires that you understand who they are. Would you want to be engaged to someone you didn’t know?
Comment by Rick Hennessey