YouTube remains one of the most popular platforms businesses use to promote their products and services. Over 2 billion people worldwide use YouTube every month and watch over 1 billion hours every day which is one of the main reasons why many companies continue to invest in creating YouTube videos.

Many of the top brands in the world are localizing content in various degrees across multiple languages, making them more and more multilingual. When you build a multilingual social media marketing strategy, it can expand markets and open up new opportunities. Multilingual video production requires a little more work than multilingual written content, but it makes sense for marketing purposes.

Why Businesses Have Multilingual YouTube Channels

YouTube operates in 80 different languages, from German and Spanish to Hindi and Azerbaijani, offering language coverage to 95% of the world’s Internet users with local versions of the platform in 91 countries. It’s not hard to guess that using the right language helps to attract new audiences for any business that has a presence on YouTube.

For a variety of reasons, brands have many YouTube channels. They might have extra channels that cater to particular industries, community groups, or verticals. Creating specialized content categories and compiling them into a distinctive feed can also aid in the search.

Multinational corporations benefit from more exposure and credibility when they produce material in their language. For individuals who conduct searches within a nation or in particular languages, multilingual channels on YouTube will be simpler to locate.

Do You Need a YouTube Channel in Different Languages?

If you are an international company or sell your products to non-English-speaking people, you have several options.

1. All of your YouTube content can be created in one language, like English, and then have subtitles added in additional languages. For individuals who speak other languages to readily find the videos, you will need to tag each one separately if you choose to do this. Technically, this is not difficult, just takes time and effort. If you’re on macOS, use iMovie as it’s simple and free; otherwise, there are many iMovie for Windows 11 alternatives that can help you with that. To prevent being labeled as duplicate content, you will also need to slightly alter the duration of the videos, titles, and metadata.
2. Translations of your videos can be made in the languages spoken in the areas you want to reach. Although more labor-intensive, the local audience is probably going to respond favorably to this. Speaking to someone directly in their language of origin helps to avoid any potential misconceptions that can result from translation and indicates your commitment to providing high-quality service.

It’s crucial to gain the client’s trust and get to know them when you are engaged in business development and building a company brand. Offering content in the client’s native tongue makes them feel more at ease conducting business with you. Someone whose native language is not English, for instance, might be concerned that they won’t receive the support they require from a support group where everyone speaks English. If they learn that you endorse his language and use it in your videos, this will immediately increase your credibility. It will inspire the customer’s trust and give the client greater assurance while they choose whether to buy your good or service.

One effective tactic being used by some businesses is to split YouTube channels depending on the language. Users may quickly access other videos in their preferred language thanks to the grouping of videos that are all in the same language.

Positives and Negatives of Multilingual YouTube Channels

When you make YouTube for business in different languages, there are benefits and drawbacks to it, as well as in any aspect of multilingual app marketing. Your choice must be based on how cost-effective your efforts are and how crucial the market you are attempting to break into is to your company’s objectives.

Pros of Multilingual YouTube Channels

Distinct languages and civilizations have different ways of doing things. Despite being slight, the nuances might nonetheless be significant. The production of information in many languages aids in recognizing regional or global disparities. Communication tailored to a particular culture can build trust. People who speak other languages have better and simpler access thanks to inclusive marketing.

Because it is the most frequently spoken language in the world, English is referred to as the ”language of business.” But not everyone can speak or write English well. If you don’t give information in the customer’s language so that they can readily grasp your message, you might not even be able to contact them at all — especially if your rivals do.

Compliance with local requirements could also raise legal concerns. You must make sure that whatever you advise or discuss with clients in foreign nations complies with their local laws, customs, and regulations.

It’s simple to set up many channels on YouTube providing links from the channel home page. However, there is more labor involved in setting up multilingual YouTube channels.

Cons of Multilingual YouTube Channels

The cost is the major drawback of having many channels in various languages. To produce pertinent material, you must employ multilingual authors or translators who are also knowledgeable about your brand’s culture and product range. To voice or create your content, you might need to find or hire native speakers from within your company.

Generating numerous versions takes more time and money, even if you are creating the same material in a different language. For instance, you could need to provide various iterations of visual content, etc.

You are also establishing viewer expectations when you produce material in another language. You need someone to subscribe to the channel who can respond in their native tongue if they post comments on the video. A crucial step in lead generation is starting a discussion with potential or existing clients on YouTube.

The same thing takes place when clients phone or email. Someone ought to be able to answer suitably in that language, in other words, you need to provide multilingual customer support. Due to the possibility of consumers who are in different time zones, the call center employees may change as a result.

How to Attract Viewers in Different Languages

YouTube is committed to linguistic diversity. You can take advantage of this and publish content in multiple YouTube languages to get maximum reach and numerous subscribers.

Here are some of the most important tips for having a successful multilingual YouTube channel:

• Turn on automatic subtitles so that YouTube gets additional information about your video and can recommend your video in the Suggested “Videos” section or search. In addition, it automatically translates your video’s automatic subtitles into other languages so that viewers who do not speak that language can also understand your video.
• Write captions manually (you can hire freelancers), making them as correct as possible for the audio and video sequence. This ensures that from the very beginning your video can get the highest possible traffic on Google search.
• Translate the title and description. This will help you increase your international audience.
• Consider time zones when you schedule video publish time to get the maximum number of views.
• Respond to fans in their native language so they feel the same as your English-speaking audience. This will encourage them to comment on other videos and encourage others to do the same.
• Feel free to use available tools for a modern and beautiful picture, like free intro maker, etc.
• Use background music without copyright to avoid problems with publishing videos on YouTube and negative consequences from copyright holders.

Finally, an interesting fact. Here are some amazing stats from Verizon and Publicis Media: 83% of consumers watch some videos with the sound off. Half of them rely on signatures. Therefore, if you want to attract multilingual viewers, accurate subtitles and captions in the correct language are essential. Getting title tags and meta descriptions in native languages will greatly improve search results in your favor.

Conclusion

A clever strategy for reaching leads and consumers more successfully in their local tongue is to create multilingual YouTube channels. Making more content will take more time and money as a result, so you need to be confident the ROI is there.