Social Media Marketing: Using Visual Communication for Language/Cultural Barriers

Introduction

The way you communicate information about an idea affects how it impacts your audience. Your presentation style and technique can determine how one views your concept. However, cultural and language barriers often hamper the process. This is why visual cues in social media marketing matters.

Visual aids are necessary for better information processing. Furthermore, with decreasing attention spans, visual information help reinforce data. Thus, brands must take visual social media marketing seriously and invest resources into it.

In this article, we discuss how visual aids help break down communication barriers and the types of aids we can use to convey our message to the brand’s global target audience.

How Does Visual Communication Help Overcome Barriers on Social Media?

Social media revolves around visuals as opposed to text. Moreover, as is evident from YouTube’s popularity, people prefer watching videos and infographics compared to plain text. But, why exactly do brands use visual communication to overcome cultural and language barriers via social media marketing? Let us read and find out more about the same.

Information Processing and Overload

Most people process information differently, and combining different visual aids, such as graphs, tables, and media, increases the chances of the audience understanding what is presented. Moreover, most people cannot stay focused for long, making it difficult for them to grasp all the information in one go. Brands use graphics to condense the information to be conveyed into smaller but more effective parts to avoid information overload.

Helps to Break Language Barriers

You do not need knowledge of any language to understand visuals. When you encounter graphic content, you automatically use your deductive reasoning to grasp the information present. Thus, visual aids help convey the information to all, irrespective of the language.

Easier to Explain Cultural Differences

Surely everyone has heard the famous saying, “a picture speaks a thousand words.” Explaining cultural differences through text is difficult, but pictures can help show that what is offensive to some cultures might be a tradition for others. Thus, visuals help people understand others’ perspectives, and brands reach target customers without offending them.
Thus, visual communication plays a key in social media marketing and helps eliminate cultural and language barriers.

What Kind of Visual Aids Come Handy in Overcoming Cultural and Language Barriers?

Visualisation has revolutionised the world of communication, making it far more important than language. Social media is a proven example of how visual aids help transfer information to people all over the world. Some frequently used models, materials, and tools help communicate information to people with limited effort. Let us look at some materials that you need to include in social media marketing campaigns to overcome cultural and language barriers.

Images and Videos

Studies suggest that images receive 94% more views and help bring in more engagement. Moreover, they can be easily shared, and SEO guidelines can be implemented for better brand recognition. Another study suggests that videos are shared 3x more times than text content. Thus, people find audio-visual content effective. It keeps them interested till the end.

GIFs

GIFs are animations that help people communicate their feelings. They do not serve as informative content, but their immense popularity shows their effectiveness. Most brands use GIFs in their stories and posts to communicate with their audience. You could use GIFs to add an exciting twist to your posts.

Live Streaming

Live videos are really popular nowadays and have given rise to dedicated platforms like Twitch. Traditionally, news channels and reality shows used to operate in the same format. These sessions are a great medium to showcase behind-the-scenes footage and much more.

Is Visual Content Really Important in Overcoming Cultural and Language Barriers?

A study led by expert scientists suggests that our brain processes an image 60,000 times faster than text. Moreover, social media connects people all across the globe, overcoming several cultural and language barriers. You need to put out content that is accessible and understandable to all. A great visual strategy will help you stay relevant and elicit responses from your target audience. Some other important points are as follows:-

• Showcase Diversity - Most brands are taking to hiring a diverse team, meaning showcasing people from different races, ethnicity, gender, and social backgrounds. During product promotions, remember to be inclusive and create products for all.

Maintain Your Brand Aesthetic - Every brand has its own identity, which includes fonts, colours, and the aesthetic showcased on its feed. Inconsistent brand aesthetics across different content can end up confusing your target audience.

Conclusion

Relying on smart visual communication as part of your social media marketing gets greater engagement on social media. Videos, charts, photos, and graphs are beneficial in sharing information seamlessly and encouraging people to take action.

Make sure that your photos present a clear and consistent brand story to help humanize the brand. And, as said before, always remember that emotions and visuals are more valuable than text in eliminating cultural and language barriers via social media.

Contact Fashinza experts to streamline your marketing process to draw in more people belonging to your target audience. Use Fashinza’s services to take your brand to new heights!