Online content is leaning towards a model that generates a much more engaged experience with the user, changing the way companies communicate with their community, and how this implicates users.

Why use your customers to translate your content? Here are 5 benefits:

Users are engaged from the very early stages of a product launch in their local market, generating brand awareness.

Tier 2 markets (smaller markets that are pursued after launches have been successful in other markets) can be targeted at an earlier stage. Developers can test the waters in these markets where a full internationalisation budget is not available.

Internationalisation costs can be reduced – involvement of the user-community in the process significantly reduces the investment required.

More languages can be covered and the community can act as the reviewers and language experts.

A lower number of internal resources are required for internationalisation. It is possible for publishers to handle over 20 languages in a single-person localisation department by interacting with the community as their translators, reviewers and sometimes even as testers for local products.

Although this approach brings many advantages, there are still some challenges that are worth considering when evaluating a community-driven localisation model:

What about quality and brand compliance?

A quality programme across the community would need to be implemented, with clear style guides and reference materials for the volunteers working within the community.

How do you control time to market?

Users within a community cannot be pushed for deadlines. It is all about planning and having a comprehensive workflow that allows for assurances that time to market deadlines will be met.

Is Intellectual Property secured?

In today’s cyber-security aware culture, allowing users in our community to access content early in the process needs to be carefully managed. Setting up translation environments that are protected from transferring data can help to improve security measures.

How do you obtain the maximum benefit from user engagement?

It isn’t all just about obtaining a free translation, but it is also about generating engagement and involvement with the international user community. Therefore, the process has to become part of the wider business strategy for it to be successful.

Will translations be consistent within each market?

Volunteers will generally not be specialised translators and individuals will have different levels of language fluency, quality, engagement or commitment to the translation process. It is important to assess and recognise these differences and address any inconsistencies within a long term plan.

Looking towards users for interaction at such early stages presents an exciting and a potentially revolutionionary new phase in the localisation process. If challenges are mitigated and the benefits realised, language service providers will continue to add value to their customers.

Do you currently use online user communities for translation purposes? Or are you part of a user community carrying out online translations? We’d love to hear your point of view. Join the discussion on Twitter.