(The Director’s speech wild by Mary Linley, on Flickr)

Those of us who frequently engage in social media in our personal lives and for our business can easily fall back into the habit of seeing our world as we see ourselves. This behavior can diminish our effectiveness in engaging our audience because there are some distinct differences in which differing cultures and even generations interact with social media.

Following is a brief synopsis of the article posted in Sprout Social Insights entitled, Cross-Cultural Business: How to Reach Across Borders With Social Media.

Start by determining the digital level of engagement and levels of usage and attitudes towards digital. Use tools like, Discover Digital Life to survey your audience.

Find out what your audiences are talking about online. In countries where there is censorship, the audience might be discussing brands of products rather than politics and current affairs.

Peer to peer networking is the basis for spreading new ideas and increasing user engagement with your brand.

The ultimate goal is to spark a conversation that is user generated so that the community carries on that topic without being prompted.-Melissa Talon

Who is your audience and how are you tailoring your message?