How To Build Desktop Publishing Into Your Social Media Marketing Translation Strategy

Social media is a highly visual medium. It’s not just Instagram that is so image-obsessed; Facebook and Twitter users also use imagery to gain more exposure for their posts. Translate this across to the business world and it’s easy to see why companies are so keen on using graphics to connect with consumers through social media – in short, more images mean more engagement. This applies to both domestic businesses and those courting an international client base. As such, any social media marketing translation strategy worth its salt needs to factor in desktop publishing (DTP). 

Where does desktop publishing fit into the marketing translation process?

Translation is, at its core, about working with words. Skilled translators convert copy from one language to another, often localizing it to suit the target audience’s cultural expectations as part of the process. 

But translation is not limited to words alone. Ofer Tirosh, CEO of translation agency Tomedes, points out that marketing translation also involves working with infographics, charts and images with copy included, as well as layouts for leaflets, fliers and even entire brochures. This is why desktop publishing services have become such an integral part of marketing work, including producing posts for social media. It’s an area where skilled marketing translation professionals can really shine. 

Desktop publishing is all about using design expertise to make things look more appealing. Marketing translation professionals have the opportunity to do this in several ways. In some instances, all that will need to be done is to translate a sentence or two and add it to an image, usually in place of the original language. In others, the translation will be more complex and may involve adjusting the copy to fit the image in a new way, as different languages use different numbers of words to convey the same point. 

A conscientious marketing translator might also advise on localization. This could mean changing the colours used in an image or querying the choice of image itself. The goal at all times will be to make the content as appealing as possible in the target languages. 

Should your translation agency also be your desktop publishing service provider?

There was a time when social media marketing translation and desktop publishing were two distinct and separate disciplines. However, as our use of social media has evolved, so too has the way that a translation agency will tackle the delivery of translated posts. Now, desktop publishing has become an intrinsic part of the offering of many marketing translation agencies. 

This is not a trend that is limited to social media translation alone. Far from it. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment of desktop publishers between 2019 and 2029 is projected to decline by 19%. This is due to graphic designers, web designers and others (such as marketing translation professionals) increasingly incorporating DTP work into their own disciplines. 

Tips for making DTP a cornerstone of your social media marketing translation strategy

If you’re ready to start marketing to audiences who speak other languages through social media, you’ll need a strategy in place to guide your work. A key part of the task will be understanding the cultures of the locations that you’re targeting. 

This cultural awareness will need to flow throughout your marketing activities. That includes that language you use on social media and the images that you choose. It’s not enough simply to create your social media marketing campaign in your own language and then translate your posts en masse. Successful marketing – and successful marketing translation – is far more nuanced than that. 

Instead, sit down with your translation agency and discuss how well both your posts and your imagery are likely to go down with the target market. Localization specialists at the translation agency should be able to provide clear guidance on what should hit the mark and, just as importantly, what is likely to miss. 

Once you’ve identified that, it’s time for your marketing translation professionals to show off their DTP skills. Translated posts should look and feel as though they were created specifically for the audience in question. This will help to maximise their impact and will also ensure that you’re receiving the best possible value for money from your translation agency. 

When building desktop publishing into your social media marketing translation strategy, it’s essential to focus at all times on the purpose of your design, just as it is when you use DTP to market in your native tongue. Just because the work is being undertaken in translation, the same core principles of marketing still apply. Keep this in mind when deciding how and why you are using imagery in your social media posts and you should remain on track with your DTP/marketing translation work, no matter which language you use.