At LiNC, the Lithium community announced our Language Translator Integration, which translates existing content on our forums and blogs into langauges like German, Italian, Spanish and French.    Multilingual content is key to improving customer experience   Marketing strategy is undergoing a shift away from the product-focused marketing to improving the customer’s inbound marketing experience. To capitalize on that shift, community forums have become a place where customers can engage with companies that old outbound marketing could not provide. Forums are becoming essential for assisting and shaping the customer’s buying journey.   Localizing community forums is critical in a global digital marketplace that relies on customer experiences, reviews, and feedback to promote branding and drive awareness. It’s hard for your customers to feel an emotional connection to your company if you’re not speaking their language. Research confirms that it’s not enough to offer places for your global customers to engage, those tools have to be in their native language to be effective. (2014 Common Sense Advisory  survey)   There are many benefits to localizing your community engagement content: Attracting more customers to your site Increasing customer engagement Inspiring brand loyalty Saving on expensive customer service calls Improving SEO Your customers want do-it-yourself tools for engagement   Digitally-savvy customers are already looking online for the information, searching FAQs, and asking questions in community forums. A 2015 Aspect Software report   confirmed there is great demand among consumers for self-service information tools:   73% want to solve product/service issues on their own. 90% expect a self-service customer support portal.   Companies that provide a place to find information, ask questions, and talk to fellow customers are laying the groundwork for increased customer loyalty and greater engagement. You’ve got to engage them in their language To be truly successful in a competitive global marketplace, you’ve got to translate and localize your customer engagement tools. The 2014 Common Sense Advisory  survey discovered just how important it is-- more than 3,000 global consumers in 10 countries surveyed said that 75% prefer to buy products in their native language . Companies that localize their content will broaden their customer base, increase revenue and profits, and gain greater exposure for their brand and messaging.  Giving your customers the information they need in their own language, is going to create better, more meaningful engagement. The advantages of multilingual customer engagement Multilingual customer engagement platforms are great for customers and great for business. A call to a customer service department can set off a daisy chain of expenses. Helping consumers solve their own problems in their own language can free up time and resources for more important, revenue-generating activities. It creates a positive customer experience that can lead to return business, referrals, and good reviews in community forums. Multilingual self-service knowledge bases, FAQs, and product information can also help reduce the cost associated with traditional customer service hotlines and call centers. Localizing community engagement presents a strong business case for delivering a customized brand experience to the end-user -  no matter where they live or what language they speak.   Read More About Lingotek - Inside Lithium Connector Lingotek Blog: Lithium Users Get an Innovative New Tool for Streamlining Translation     About Calvin Scharffs   Calvin Scharffs, VP of Marketing at Lingotek, is a dedicated executive with over 20 years of experience managing products, sales, marketing, operations, and personnel. His experience ranges from work with a Fortune 500 companies to small start-ups. ... View more