Ethnic Flavor in Social Media Marketing

As social media connects people from different countries, the world has become smaller than ever. Some countries have become multicultural as immigrants and other ethnic groups move in. 

Whether it's an Italian pizzeria, Chinese takeaways, or Indian curry houses, businesses have found themselves going online as there are lots of opportunities that have opened up. Many business owners have embraced digital marketing by using social media to market their products and services to customers of different ethnic backgrounds.

Imagine promoting Italian cuisine to Chinese consumers, how will you do it? Ethnic businesses should think outside the box by making sure that their social media marketing strategy focuses on attracting new and diverse customers and venturing outside their ethnic enclave. If you are interested in starting a Chinese takeaway business, try understanding what other customers think about your cuisine.

Entrepreneurs engaged in ethnic business should take a basic social media marketing course in order to maximize their chances of getting their business website known on Facebook or Twitter. Of course, one has to adjust to the needs and preferences of any ethnic group and conform to their social norms too. Adopting a diverse approach in multicultural marketing is the key to success in ethnic businesses wherever you may be.

Multicultural Marketing Strategy

Reach out to your customers by speaking their language so if you want to promote your business to Hispanics and other Latino communities, use Spanish as the medium. By adopting this approach, your social media campaigns should target that demographic and specific ethnic niches. Though this is a hit or miss strategy, you can adapt existing best practices from your previous efforts and apply them to your new campaigns.

If you're a business owner, you should expand their knowledge beyond their products and consider learning their customers’ language, history, culture, and cuisine. Aside from that, know their needs, their social environment, and their consumption patterns.

Celebrate their Cultural Heritage

Businesses encourage support from multicultural communities by having special events and promotions from a Chinese New Year sale or a Bollywood dance competition. The celebration of cultural heritage should be the center of your social media campaign. Get involved with the local community and develop goodwill with the different cultural groups and ethnic enclaves to raise the profile of your business. 

Avoid Stereotypes and Faulty Assumptions

One of the biggest mistakes in social media marketing to ethnic groups is the use of cultural stereotypes. Some may not be intentional but it is important to avoid them at all. Before you start your marketing campaign, do background research on sensitive cultural issues.

Before you make your assumptions about the marketing pitch for your business, you have to test it out with your employee and focus groups. A good line of quality tests should be in place before a disaster happens.

Before You Start

It can be a little bit challenging to do social media marketing targeting different ethnic groups because you need to be updated with all the cultural trends. Any fad may change overnight and you need to know what they want in order to keep your products and services relevant to changes.

Need fresh and original content for your website or blog on a regular basis? Subscribe to our Content Subscription Service so you can grow and expand your content marketing campaign right now.