Do you have a company page on LinkedIn and regularly share relevant content? Excellent, because a company page is a free way to give your organization more visibility.
But what language do you use for company updates? The native language of the majority of your target audience? Alternating between the languages of your followers? Or English, since almost everyone understands that language? And if you choose multiple languages, how do you handle that on LinkedIn? You can find out all about it in our blog.
In which languages do you want to be seen?
Strong content appeals to the reader. By writing in the language of your target group, you increase the chance of winning over your followers.
“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”
Nelson Mandela
If you have a product or service mainly for the Flemish market, then a company page in Dutch is undoubtedly enough. Most of your customers and future customers probably speak Dutch. Communicating in the same language as your customers to build a strong relationship is essential.
But, let’s be honest, many Belgian organizations have a target group that speaks multiple languages. In this case, setting up your company page in different languages is beneficial. Your company profile is then available in the language preferred by your visitors. It is a great way to show that your business respects the language preferences of your customers and potential customers.
Setting up your company page in different languages can help you reach a larger audience. It can also help to make your brand stronger in other language communities. This can, in turn, lead to greater brand recognition and possibly more customers for your business. And isn’t that what we all want, right?
A multilingual business page in 3 simple steps
Setting up your LinkedIn business page multilingually might seem time-consuming at first. But it also expands your reach and helps you strengthen your brand in different language communities. And it’s simpler than you think.
Follow the steps below to give your organization even more visibility:
1. Click on ‘Edit Page’ in the admin view and then on ‘Manage languages’.
2. Add a new language.
3. Fill in the information fields about your company. You can always choose which language you set as standard.
Multilingual posting on LinkedIn, no ready-made solution
Posting in different languages on LinkedIn is not easy. There is no option to post in multiple languages automatically. So, for each post, you must decide which language or languages you will use. This requires a well-thought-out strategy, considering your target audience, the message of your post, and how the message can be interpreted in different languages.
It is crucial to measure how the language choice affects the engagement and reach of your posts. You can tailor your posts better by understanding which language choices appeal to your audience. This knowledge is valuable for improving your content strategy.
Improving your content strategy based on these insights is a continuous process. It requires constant adjustments and experiments to see which method is most effective. Although this may be time-consuming and complex, it can increase your reach and engagement on LinkedIn and convey your message more effectively to your target audience.
How our clients approach multilingual posting on LinkedIn
We love to inspire you with the approach of some of our clients, who have Dutch and French-speaking followers.
Flora by Ethias translates their updates and alternately posts in French and Dutch
For our client Flora, the rebellious daughter of insurer Ethias, we address the followers alternately in Dutch and French. Status updates are written in French and translated to Dutch, and vice versa. This way, all content is available in both languages and can be alternately posted in French and Dutch.
Tips
💡 Try using different visuals for the translated updates. This way, you avoid the feeling of ‘duplicate content’ and maintain an engaging company page.
💡 Alternate your content over time. Don’t post the Dutch version immediately after the French one, but allow some time in between and vary your topics.
Bosch Belgium posts updates in Dutch or French, depending on the context and region
For our customer Bosch Belgium, we tailor the language choice of the updates to the content. A press release from the Mechelen region is written in Dutch, and an interview with a Walloon stakeholder is written in French. In this way, Bosch Belgium deals with language in a very natural way, and both language groups are addressed.
Tip
💡 You can show your posts to a specific audience without paying for them. This way, you can push a Dutch post towards a Dutch audience. But… You do need at least 300 people in the target language. In addition, many users have their profiles set in English. So, you won’t reach all Dutch speakers. Want to test? Click on ‘everyone’ before publishing and adjust your audience.
Multilingual posting on LinkedIn: what works best for you?
Now, we could ask ourselves: which of the above customers handles language use on LinkedIn best? But a more interesting and perhaps more relevant question might be: which strategy works best for you?
Finding the right strategy is a process of searching, experimenting, and measuring. It’s also important to measure the impact of your choices. These results allow you to make well-informed decisions and adjust your strategy. It requires a certain degree of flexibility and a willingness to trust your instincts and the data you have collected. Nothing is wrong with a healthy portion of ‘gut feeling’, but decisions based on data and actual results can strengthen your strategy.
Have you noticed you are not getting the desired response to your messages? This is no reason for discouragement. Instead, it’s a signal to reconsider, measure, and possibly change your approach. Our motto: jump, do, measure, and learn! It is a continuous process of adjustment, growth, and data-driven decision-making, and every ‘mistake’ is just a step towards improvement.
Some questions that influence your choice of language use on LinkedIn:
- Which languages does my target audience speak?
- Do I want to reach foreign language markets?
- Is my target audience open to foreign languages?
- Do I have enough internal power to have my content translated smoothly?
- Do I have the budget to have my content translated?
Do you want to gain insight into the impact of your language choices on your LinkedIn content? Do not hesitate to contact our team. We offer a thorough content analysis that will comprehensively overview how your content performs in several languages. These insights are invaluable for future decisions about multilingual posting.