Table of Contents
International Facebook Ad Campaigns
If you are about to embark on an international paid Facebook ad journey, take a look at some quick, actionable tips below which will make your life a whole lot easier.
1. Speak the language of your target group: Dynamic language optimization
Facebook’s dynamic language optimization greatly facilitates the multilingual implementation of advertising campaigns. The feature now makes it possible to no longer create a separate ad group and budget for each language. Ads can be created and played in up to six different languages. Facebook automatically optimizes the budget for the ads in question.
Google Premium Partners can use Google’s Expert Service to tailor the ad texts. In collaboration with Google, the ads are not only translated, but also adapted to the market in terms of tonality.
Simple example: This avoids missteps, such as those of Kentucky Fried Chicken. The slogan “finger licking good” was accidentally slightly modified during the translation into Chinese and received the false meaning “eat your fingers off”.
It’s really worth investing in a professional website translation agency who can ensure none of your ads give anyone red faces!
2. Access to international insights: Cross Border Insights Finder
Facebook’s Cross Border Insights Finder makes geographic boundaries more permeable. Based on the performance of Facebook and Instagram campaigns as well as the Audiences network to date, comparisons are created to identify untapped international market potential for companies.
3. Multi-City Targeting & International Lookalike Audiences
If you want to reach metropolitan areas with your campaigns in general, Facebook’s multi-city targeting can curb a lot of research effort. With international Lookalike Audiences, it is possible to search for the same or similar audiences in several countries and create them in parallel. It is important to ensure that the audiences in the new markets have an advertising-relevant size.
4. After the click is usually before the conversion: Landing page optimization
After the campaign has been translated, adapted and optimized, it should lead to an equally good translated, customized and optimized landing page. If the user lands on an unsatisfactory page after clicking on the ad, the user quickly jumps off.
5. Culture & Religion
Culture and religion are a big part of the world for people all over the world. They convey values and a sense of life. In some societies, culture and religion are of particular priority. There is plenty of room for fat cups to be used against a company. Especially due to the high importance of identity and culture or religion, false communication can cause great damage.
Fatal example: Heineken 1994 Heineken has printed all the flags of the countries on its bottles, which have qualified for the football championship. But since the flag of Saudi Arabia contains a religious verse, many Muslims protested against the beer manufacturer, as the verse was depicted on an alcoholic beverage. Heineken had to cancel his campaign and remove all affected bottles from circulation.
6. Note other seasonalities
In addition to the classic different national holidays, there are countless different seasonal differences between nations and cultures. Not everywhere are the same festive days also cause for joy or sorrow. It is also possible that the same holidays take place on different dates. The new year does not start in China as in Western cultures on 31.12 to 01.01 but depends on the new moon between January and February. Especially with such seemingly universal holidays as New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Eve, misunderstandings can quickly occur when “Happy New Year” is on the wrong day.
7. The right imagery: Create identification
Representation matters – this is especially true for the imagery of the campaigns. Like the texts, these should be adapted to the requirements of international markets and target groups.
8. Legal regulations
Certain wordings of advertising messages may be illegal if they are not correctly labelled, as it may lead to misleading consumers. Z.B. moon price advertising, where the unrealistically high discount is given, the apparent “original price” is unrealistically high and unclear to which periods the prices and discounts refer. Generally difficult terrain is in sectors such as alcohol, tobacco and eroticism.
The Wrap
Even supposed little things can have a big impact in the international context. For example, a little more time should be invested in examining content and target groups, especially in campaigns that go beyond national borders.
