February 13-17 is Social Media Week in cities around the world. We’ll share some learnings from events held in Toronto throughout the week.
Social Media Week has provided us with some valuable information on new trends and how we can better share with all of you the work we’re doing in Canada and around the world.
As a bilingual Red Crosser who frequently interacts with our volunteers and supporters in both English and French, I was particularly interested in a panel discussion about managing bilingual brands on social media.
The speakers represented VIA, the National Film Board and the St-Ambroise Fringe festival in Montreal. They shared their wealth of knowledge about navigating the challenges that can come from having active communities in both English and French. Some of those challenges include a lack of resources, translation and cultural differences.
The panelists all agreed that great content created for an English audience will not necessarily translate well to French. It’s not just a matter of the language or the quality of the translation, but the content itself may not always elicit the same kind of response. For example, what’s funny in French could be offensive in English or vice-versa.
It’s something we’ve found challenging as well at the Red Cross. When we’re facing a large international disaster such as the Haiti earthquake, it’s critical that we communicate information in both languages. But should we create separate blogs, Twitter accounts, Facebook pages to reach our French and English supporters? What about bilingual updates? Or separate English and French updates using the same account?
Perhaps it’s a matter of sharing great blog posts, videos and other updates about our work in whatever language is most used to the community that’s directly impacted. That being said, we’ve already created ways to share information with our supporters at the regional or provincial level and that may be part of the solution.
We’d love to hear your thoughts.