The way that social media encourages people to do business – by focusing on building relationships, caring what customers think, letting people get to know the people behind the brand – is a completely old idea.

It’s almost like the social media mavens read an international etiquette book and decided to implement it here, almost verbatim; it also explains a reason why many US businesses are hesitant to adopt social media because it’s “etiquette” and standards are just about as contrary to everything they learned in business school or on the job.

“It’s Not How It’s Done.”

At it’s heart, the idea that you get to know someone before doing business is contrary to “how it’s done” in America.  We have walls, and usually high ones. In American business culture, it’s just about the sale and whatever it takes for that sale is the measurement. Relationships are secondary, and many times used for advantage.  In a recent survey that showed why this doesn’t work, as trust in brands has collapsed. 52% of brands were trusted 1997; in 2008, only 22%.  The landscape IS changing.

I remember the other night talking to a friend (I shall leave them nameless) who his coworkers’ were talking about how the sale is all-important and it doesn’t matter if you lie as long as you get it done.  I’ve had that experience from a lot of salespeople – and my business experience the past few years dealing with all kinds of folks backs that up.  In some ways, being truthful is seen as weakness or an opportunity for exploitation by some.

However, the “social” way of doing business is different.  You know people.  They recommend you, you recommend them; you build networks not just on mutual business goals but commonalities.  It’s like doing business in a small town – you can’t let someone down, because everyone will hear about it.  You need to conduct yourself accordingly, because if you melt onto the bar floor most nights, everyone will know (and a hint: they won’t look upon you highly for it).

So How Is Social Media Etiquette International?

Here’s a couple examples of parities between the social media way and international business.

For instance, it’s rude to not give a personal gift in Asian cultures when meeting someone for the first time because they’ve honored you with a meeting and their time. They want to know YOU before doing business, and that gift had better not be your sales pack.  Same with social media; the unsolicited, repetitive, or noisy pitch is going to be not only turned off, but elicit negative reactions and can be counter-productive.

Testimonials on Websites in international markets are useless and in fact do damage because the average consumer does NOT trust testimonials and on top of it, they feel like the company is trying to put one over.  If you follow social media sites, there’s a major backlash by “average users” on paid tweets, paid posts, and everything of the like because it muddies the waters of trust.

Expand On This Yourself

What other etiquette points do you see that are international AND in social media?  What are things you wished more of those in business did?

Guest Blogger: Jeremiah Staes is the founder of Portage Digital Media and has been helping companies navigate the online space for over a decade.

We discussed the importance of women in making buying decisions today around the world and that many times businesses only market to people just like them, ultimately missing out on opportunities for success in the global business arena.  Kim discusses values for men and women in the purchasing items and how to market to those values.

Cindy King is a cross-cultural marketing and international sales consultant based in France. Her cross-cultural blog gives readers tips on better cross-cultural communication for more international sales. And she also provides small businesses with an 8-step international marketing plan to Get International Clients
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• By trading internationally and introducing an effective globalization strategy, companies large and small can stave off the effects of local economic slow-down.  This has helped  companies like IBM, Ford, GM, HP and other global players since the beginning of the credit crunch.  An effective method of avoiding the worst effects of national economic slowdown or recession is obviously to trade globally.
• Trading globally means more than selling products to other markets and shipping them there. From localization of the products, manuals and marketing collateral, to communication with the new customers in their language, there are many things to be considered at a linguistic and cultural level. There are many small and medium sized businesses in certain sectors who – using the Internet and support from some partners – can act globally at relatively little expense, and so soften the blow.
• The web seems the perfect and easiest place for any organization to sell its products and services to a global audience. This was certainly true while ‘global’ coverage and the reach of the Internet concerned a largely English speaking user base. Research does show that this is changing and that the English users are shrinking due to access to multilingual sites. 
• Build a sturdy multilingual foundation. Consider who in your organization needs translation and localization and how they get it now. There are obvious departments such as technical authoring, or software or product development and production,etc. that buy translation on a large scale. The chances are, however, that if you trade internationally every department will encounter some need for language services at some point. The second question then is how you manage these translation and localization needs effectively.  You can check out one of our sponsors at www.iterotext.com.  They specialize in technical documentation translation.
• Creating a website in as many languages as you can afford and hoping for the best is not enough. It is like starting on the housing ladder. Think first of all which are your most desirable target markets and in which countries —and thus which languages you must cover. It might make sense, for example, to begin with countries that are culturally similar to yours so product localization is easier to get right. Depending on what you are selling you might also have to localize your marketing collateral and legal documents. Start with one or two new languages and spend the extra money on marketing campaigns. It makes a lot more sense to enter markets properly one at a time than to ‘theoretically’ address many and hope your new target market will find you.
• Depending on the size of your organization you may have some sort of terminology management and translation memory (TM) tool(s) in place already. However, these are probably only accessible to certain people in certain departments, right? Have you ever considered creating and maintaining a centralized, multilingual terminology database, which you make available to your entire staff?  This will ensure consistency in your international communication.

Tapping into international markets means that you are spreading your risk and creating potential. It does not have to be as difficult and as expensive as it may seem at first. On the other hand it is not as simple as putting your products and services on the web.  Global business and multilingual communication may have nothing to do with house prices, but it can certainly help you create a customer base which is not wholly affected by the next credit crunch, bursting bubble or wave of foreclosures. Even though a lot of people are struggling right now, there are those who are doing well thanks to smart planning. With the right global strategy you and your business can do well to.

In this discussion, we talked about the current state of the Auto Industry and how Ford is riding higher than GM and Chrysler these days and why. 

Scott talks about his teams efforts to use a clear social media strategy and the right tools in the right markets to spread the Ford message. 

I hope to have Scott back in the future to hear more about how his global social media strategy develops. 

To my listeners:  Do you have any tips/stories you would like about how social media can help take your business global?

Be sure to check out the interactive graphic that breaks down international spending on the following global business areas:

1.  Clothing and Footwear

2.  Electronics

3.  Alcohol and Tobacco

4.  Household Goods

5.  Recreation

You can roll over each geographic area to see total spending figures. 

If your company provides one of the products mentioned above than this is a must read article to add to your market research. 

I have utilized LinkedIn for marketing, business development, connecting to resources worldwide and market research.

If you are considering taking your business global, LinkedIn can be a great tool in your arsenal. To view the power point slides, scroll down to the bottom of the post.

If you want to hear the entire presentation visit Automation Alley and click on the podcast.

The stars are aligned to take your company overseas.  With the weak dollar, foreign markets are enjoying a high quality products at garage sale prices.

How do you get started:

1.  The Government has plenty of resources to help you make your footprint around the world, with the U.S. Commercial Services, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, local foreign chamber of commerce and many foreign consulates/trade commissioners stationed around the country only to help you take your business across borders.

2.  Do any of your current clients, vendors or other business partners have an international presence.  You might be surprised by how many of your contacts have gone global.  Ask them about their experiences and if any of the their international contacts can help you get started.

3.   The internet will be a great resource for you to do research and learn more about potential target markets.  Sites like www.ciafactbook.com are great places to start.  In addition, sites such as LinkedIn can help you connect and get advice from folks all over the world. 

4.  I am a huge advocate of actually getting your feet wet by visiting the places you are thinking about targeting.  By meeting people face to face, assessing operations and cultural issues you will have more information on how to do business successfully. 

Diversification of your business just makes sense.  Don’t put all your eggs in the domestic marketplace. 

1.  The global web is the most affordable, hardest-working sales force you will ever put together.

This works while you sleep in the native language of your potential clients.  Time zone issues become less of an issue. 

2.  The global web helps you save on support costs.

If you do this right your need for hiring native language speakers for support work will be reduced if non-existent.

3.  The global web with local content brings you a local presence.

Google, Yahoo and many other search engines give strong preference to Websites that contain local language content.  In addition, for SEO purposes – you will be found in the native language of your potential clients.

4.  The global web facilitates innovation and learning by delivering training to corners of the world that physical classrooms cannot reach. 

This real time when people want and where they can learning opportunity is an asset. 

5.  The global web helps build corporate culture.

By providing multilingual content you are showing your employees how important diversity is to you and your organization.  This is a true step in walking the talk. 

Harnessing the full capacity of the web’s technology and power today will spell the difference between global business success and failure.