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Do your audience in other parts of the world fully grasp your message?

With cultural norms, slang, emojis, and even English variation, it’s easy to confuse or alienate your international audience.

This doesn’t mean you can create content that speaks to a universal audience. You can, but there are nuances to it.

And it’s more than just using simpler words; you’ll have to be aware of cultural differences and be more intentional.

Read on to learn strategies for creating global-friendly content.

1. Really Know Your Audience

You might wrongly assume that your audience is a single group. After all, they have a common interest in your content; this isn’t true.

Your audience is a diverse group with different beliefs, locations, and languages. 

This is important because certain words or gestures can cause a disconnect, like location-specific slang.

Use the following steps to know your international audience.

• Check analytics like Google Analytics (for websites) or social media insights to know your audience’s location. This gives you places to focus on.
• Study the cultural differences and common habits. This will help you know what topics are relevant, inappropriate, or will be misunderstood.
• Find out the popular content formats (short videos, text, infographic?)

Will your content still retain your unique voice or brand voice with these considerations? Yes, it can; your writing tone is still yours.

Learn how to analyze your audience for better content.

2. Write Clearly and Simply

Using simple and clear terms reduces confusion for both other English speakers and non-English speakers.

• Use short sentences and avoid complex sentences and jargon
• Go with universal words that most people know, like cars rather than automobiles.
• Format your writing by breaking text with subheadings, lists, and bullet points for easy scanning.
• Use less sarcasm, slang, and idioms to increase global appeal. For example, it’s a piece of cake can be “It is easy,” and idioms like “kick the bucket” may confuse non-native English speakers.
• Improve your content clarity by using simpler words like use instead of utilize or join for embark.
• Make your paragraphs short, 2- 4 sentences.
• Add captions and subtitles to videos.

Hemingway Editor is a useful tool for checking the readability of content. Grammarly can also help with clarity and tone.

 See Strategies to Improve Readability and Content Tips for Fast Scanners

3. Be Mindful of Your References and Jokes

With a better understanding of your audience, avoid cultural references that will divide or confuse them.

It could be sport, holidays, trends, metric units like miles or meters, Celsius or Fahrenheit, or currency.

It’s best to use universal experiences and inclusive examples in your content.

However, if you use a specific regional reference like the Super Bowl, you can add a brief explanation.

These will help make your content more respectful and inclusive.

4. Add Inclusive Visuals

Visuals increase the appeal and comprehension of content. However, do you know that certain gestures can repel your audience from specific cultures?

For example, while the thumb-up gesture is often regarded as a positive hand gesture, it is considered rude in some cultures.

Always include visual analogies that resonate with people in other regions.

Additionally, use diverse settings, skin tones, and various clothing styles. Duolingo incorporates this well. And stick to universally known emojis like 😊.

Before you publish your visual, ask yourself if it suits a local or global audience.

 Also Read: The Benefits of Visual Content: Why Images and Videos Matter

5. Format for Translation and Accessibility

Your posts and videos will likely be subtitled into other languages, and format is also useful here.

For instance, languages like Arabic are read from right to left, and so a good format improves the accuracy of translation.

Similarly, be mindful of fonts that can translate well.

Additionally, it is crucial to optimize your content for mobile users, as online searches on laptops are decreasing.  

Save images with proper titles, whether for social media posts or blogs, to ensure they are accessible to screen readers.

Translation-friendly content reaches a wider audience and supports accessibility.

Examples of Popular Global-Friendly Content

Here are some examples of brands that create content with global appeal.

BBC’s Global News

From their blog posts to news, the BBC selects universal topics and uses clear, concise English words.

Their simple words and culturally diverse visual phrases are easy to understand.

National Geographic

From short videos, magazines, to hour-long documentaries, National Geographic brings a universal theme to a global audience with ease.

The visual storytelling does a good job even with little and clear captions.

TED Talks

Can you recall why you sometimes watch TED talks? I will guess it because the topic was relevant to you. It is likewise so for many.

TED talk focuses on globally relevant issues that apply to people worldwide and are subtitled in over 100 languages.

Related Post: How to Conduct a Content Audit

Connect Better

Writing for an international audience ensures that your message reaches a broader audience.

It helps you build trust while showing care and respect for your audience.

However, you don’t need to be a global expert to reach a global audience; you only need clarity, research, and cultural awareness.

Start creating global-friendly content today, but stay true to your tone.