Content marketing is now a vital element of PR, SEO, digital marketing and Customer Relationship Management. With business increasingly being done across borders, the need to translate and localize content is now becoming more important than ever.
Providing engaging content in different languages, in a consistent manner that reflects well on the brand is the ultimate goal of any outreach initiative. However, this rarely happens if stakeholders approach content marketing like any other translation. Just as one would prepare for and carry out a legal, or financial translation, it is also important that content to be used as part of any sort of external communications also receives special treatment.
Here are some translation factors to consider.
1. Work with experienced translators
Please do not use Google translate. It’s fine if you want to understand the gist of an email but for good quality content it will only let you down. You need professional linguists who understand the topic at hand as well as the basics of SEO, good writing, style, etc. Your translator could be an in-house linguist, a freelance translator or a translation agency – whichever it is make sure the person doing the translation knows your aims, objectives and understands the purpose(s) of content marketing.
2. Pay attention to SEO Keywords
When translating your content into another language, research what keywords people are using in that language or location. This will inform what keywords you would use in your title tag, headers and of course the content which will all go towards improving SEO. For example, if you sell jeans and you decide to target the Spanish speaking world, you would stick with the keyword ‘jeans’ across much of Latin America but in Spain the keyword would be vaqueros. Use this in Latin America and people will think you are selling cowboys.
3. Beware of language differences
Following on from the above, it’s important to be aware of differences in a language. Just as the US, UK, Australia and South Africa might all have differences in the English they use, the same applies to languages like Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, French and German. Decide who your audience is and adapt the language accordingly, or similarly, if you have translated an article into Portuguese for a Brazilian website, make sure it’s been translated by a Brazilian not someone from Portugal who may not appreciate the subtle differences.
4. Look out for taboos
Not all your content is going to work the whole world over. Sometimes an innocent mistake can lead to headaches. Pay attention to local conditions, the culture and potential banana skins in the form of taboos. For example, using the wrong name for a piece of land, wrongly naming a sea, or positively speaking about the wrong country could all lead to a backlash. Make sure you are targeting and adapting your content to that target market, country, region or audience.
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