In relation to domestic customers, there is no doubt that social media can help you get the word out about your products, but what about international customers? The ability to communicate effectively with potential customers in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America all in one place is very attractive to many marketers.

But communicating with people globally is not that simple. To attract an international audience, companies need to understand regional cultures, laws and online behaviors.

Start with cross-cultural competency. Having your site translated into other languages is a huge advantage to marketing to an international audience, but having a deep understanding of your own and others' cultures is also important. Work with native speakers trained in search marketing to figure out native keywords in other languages that would be best associated with your website and its content. Including multilingual messages about your company on Facebook can also help you build brand awareness and education.

Also, choose the right search engines based on local usage. You can reach many English-speaking customers using popular search engines in the U.S. like Google and Yahoo, but use of international search engines varies. For example, in Russia, Yandex drives the most traffic, while users in China prefer Baidu to other search engines. When researching markets for your product, it is important to be aware of these differences so you can incorporate them into your promotional strategy.

Much of the technology is new, and as marketers run into problems such as how to tweet to customers in multiple languages at once, or how to customize their messages on Facebook so visitors from different countries view content targeted to their region, the popular sites are constantly introducing new features. Social networking tools have evolved and now can help you overcome these challenges, as well as provide good reports on audience demographics, activity, conversions, and more.

Be very careful when responding to messages automatically translated from other languages to English, because there is always the potential for miscommunication. Tools like Google Translate can help but should not be used as your only means of communicating with potential clients. Nothing is as good as a staff or consultant resource to manage communications with other countries, but these tools can support your communication with potential customers.

In the end, the idea of social networking is to get your products and messages out to a broader audience. Your message always comes with some responsibility, so some homework is needed. Whatever tools you use, whether it is Facebook,Twitter or a blog, make sure your content is up-to-date, and that what you are saying has an audience in mind.

More information on using social media to help your international marketing efforts can be found on SUSTA's Facebook page. Visit us there for links to more helpful articles, blog posts, and other content. You can also follow SUSTA on Twitter: @SUSTA_exports.

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