When we started a Spanish page for the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR), they already had a thriving English page. With the Spanish page, we were starting with zero…and then a pandemic hit. And then a state-wide rebrand.

Bad time to start a Spanish Facebook page, right? Actually, wrong. It turns out it was a great time to start one.

When we wrote our first welcome post and launched it in May 2020, the first post got 2.2k likes, 407 comments, and 235 shares. The post didn’t have a fancy graphic or campaign – it was just a hello, quick intro of the brand, and an invitation for people to share their fishing and wildlife pictures with us (all in Spanish). It turns out the data was right. There was a Hispanic audience that was hungry for content that was written and meant just for them.

So when should you get started? The answer is not to wait for a perfect economy but to start when there’s a gap you can fill for the Hispanic community.

In short, you need someone dedicated to your Spanish page that drafts content that makes sense for your Hispanic audience. Some of your English content can be transcreated into Spanish. However, we recommend that most of your content is original and addresses your Spanish audience on things they care about, not just things you care about.

For instance, the general market audience had a great understanding of how to get started fishing, enjoyed hunting, sought to expand outdoors expertise, and loved anything about wildlife preservation. In contrast, our data told us that the Hispanic audience also loved wildlife and fishing, but we also learned as we began posting that they weren’t nearly as comfortable knowing how to get started fishing or where to fish. They were also more likely to share wildlife they saw in their backyard than join a broader community cause to save an endangered species like the English page. Additionally, there was a low interest in hunting and high cultural attraction to messages that centered around the family unit. We also found that the biggest attraction for the page was community. Even we were surprised by how many Hispanics resonated with a page where they could share their fishing pictures, backyard wildlife shots, and ask each other “Where’d you catch that fish?”

As a result, we focused more on beginner fishing tips, where to fish, automating answers to questions about how to get licenses, and continuing to encourage interaction between members by featuring audience original hashtag submissions of wildlife and fishing shots.

Yes. Research shows that marketing to Hispanics is a long-term play that will pay off. From our census data and Facebook demographics research, we knew the hot spots for Hispanics in Virginia and we knew we were looking at large numbers of a missed audience. We also knew that many of these Hispanics were young families and Spanish was the primary language spoken at home.

Remember that first post we published for the Spanish page? It eventually reached over 93,000 Hispanics in Virginia and had over 12,000 engagements. Within a month of starting the page we were beginning to have conversations with the client about how to respond to so many messages and could point out top fans who regularly interacted with the page (these were often people who had been featured and kept coming back to share more).

The answer is yes and no. No, you do not need a translator. Yes, you do need a transcreator. Just like you would not hire just anyone who speaks English to teach your kids English, you want to make sure you hire someone who specializes in “transcreation.” When you translate, you are taking the English content and word for word switching those words out for Spanish (think: auto translating via online dictionary), whether or not it resonates the same with the Hispanic audience. In contrast, when you transcreate, you are taking the idea communicated in English and making sure the idea is communicated well in Spanish.

Transcreation is important. Take it from the California Milk Processors, who once decided to translate their motto, “Got Milk?” into Spanish but ended up with what sounded like, “Are You Lactating?”

That’s the million dollar question! Let us share the process we use and maybe that will shed some light on the process you can set up for your business.

• 1) Topic selection: Our social media account manager who speaks English and Spanish first researched, proposed and got approval from the client to write about 4-5 major topics each month.
• 2) First draft: Each month, that same manager writes the first draft of an entire month of content in English and sources images.
• 3) Grammar check: Our grammar expert does a thorough check and edits as needed.
• 4) Client review: The client reviews the entire month of content in English during a recurring monthly screenshare call. During this call, we will often give a summary of the conversations we’re seeing on their page, alert them to any spammers, disclose frequently asked questions, and get approval for topics for the next month. It usually takes 30 minutes a month and we frequently email the content in advance of the call to make it even quicker.
• 5) Transcreation: After edits in English (if needed), the content goes to our professional translator for transcreation.
• 7) Graphic design: Our creative department then reviews the images and recommends any changes to images.
• 8) Scheduled: The Spanish content is queued up for our digital director to schedule out the entire month of content one day each month using software that targets our audience at their ideal time of engagement. We have one short internal monthly call with our digital director to make sure everything is running smoothly.