Feb
2
2010
Searching for Canada’s cultural communities online
Author: Robin BrowneBefore I get into the meat of this post I offer an apology.
I try to provide value by keeping my blog posts short, clear and focused on one new idea. However, my last post “Why you should never target the general public” broke two of those rules: it had two ideas, one of which I had mentioned in the post before it. When I realised this I had a choice to make: delete the post or write this one. I chose to write this one because I don’t like deleting posts just in case someone has linked to it . Links – the currency of the Web – lend credibility. If someone has linked to my first post and I delete it, they are sharing a dead link and that doesn’t make them – or me – look good.
So the post stays and this one repeats some of it and builds on one of the ideas it raised: targeting niche audiences, particularly Canada’s diverse cultural communities.
If the target audience for your product or service includes some, or all, of Canada’s diverse cultural communities (like the federal government is mandated to do) then developing communications plans should involve questions like:
•are Canada’s diverse cultural communities talking about our product/service/issue?
•if so, where are those conversations happening?
•if they’re not sharing on the major social networks like Facebook, YouTube or Twitter are they doing it somewhere else?
•do we have a presence in the places where they are sharing and if not, should we?
I asked if anyone knew how to find out where people of different cultures share online.
Well, I did a little research on that question and I have to say, it’s slow going. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:
- The National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada’s Web site has no social media elements at all, not even RSS feeds.
- The Vancouver-based South Asian Post online news site has no social media features.
- A search for “ethnic marketing Canada” returned top links from way back in 2005 and 2006.
- The South Asian Life Facebook fan page has 3289 fans and bills itself as “the largest ethnic site in Canada, with original daily coverage of politics, personalities, entertainment, fashion and food”.
Still looking for a comment from anyone who has specifically targeted different cultural groups using social media.
