Using Welsh on social media

One bilingual account is better than two separate accounts. 

Why? Having all the engagement on one account helps you get more visibility. 

How? The algorithm favours accounts that get greater engagement, because they want people to spend more time on the app. If you’re creating content that gets high engagement, the app will make sure more people are seeing your content.  

Make sure you have bilingual bio. This is one of the first things people will see when they arrive on your page. It tells your audience that you’re open to bilingualism from the outset. 

Use bilingual graphics and images. 

Have a lot of text? Create Welsh & English versions to share on the same post. 

Use different colours for the Welsh and English text to make it easy for your audience to find the text in their chosen language. You can find out more about separating languages in our Bilingual Design Guide. 

Hashtags are a great way to be discovered by your target market. 

Use hashtags in both languages to reach a wider audience, e.g. #welshbusiness #busnescymraeg 

Running a campaign? Create your own Welsh and English hashtag or better still a bilingual one! 

Emojis are a great way to add personality and life to your social media posts. 

Use the Welsh flag emoji before the Welsh language text in your posts, this makes it easy for Welsh speakers and non Welsh speakers to skip and discover the part of post in their chosen language. 

GIFs are a great way to add fun and encourage engagement in your social media stories and posts.  

How? Go to your Instagram stories and search for Welsh words or place names and you’ll find lots of options. You can also create your own GIFs to bring your bilingual image to life!  

Reels and videos get the greatest amount of engagement on all social media platforms. 

Some social media platforms like TikTok are solely a video-based platform.  

Adding titles to your video and reel covers is important to ensure your audience can find content that’s relevant to them.  

Include bilingual titles.  

Have a long title? Be creative and use a Welsh word at the start e.g. ‘Sut - How to support our appeal?’ 

The key to posting bilingually on social media is to plan your content in advance. You could create bilingual templates on apps such as Canva (which is free!) to save time. 

On Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, post bilingually rather than in separate posts. 

Why? This ensures you get all the engagement on one post. This makes the algorithm happy, which means your reach will increase as the app will make sure more people see your content. 

With X you may sometimes have to create separate posts as the word count is much less. 

We encourage you to use Welsh first. If you choose not to do this, make sure that you note the Welsh is below. Welsh speakers can then avoid reading the English version unnecessarily.  

Separate your Welsh and English messages. Use a line of emojis or use the Welsh flag in front of your Welsh content. Once again, this makes it easier for your audience to find the content that is relevant to them.  

No! The content and message needs to be communicated in the best way for your target audience. Using keywords i.e. the words they are searching for, to ensure they discover your content. 

Employing Welsh speakers within your team is the best and most cost-effective way to ensure your social media posts are in line with your brand voice and values. 

Need to get your posts translated externally? Helo Blod offers free translation into Welsh. Up to 500 words a month delivered within 4 working days.  

Have a translation budget? Visit Cyfieithwyr Cymru for a list of accredited translators. Some offer same day translations. https://www.cyfieithwyr.cymru/en/  

Remember! Google translate and AI platforms such as ChatGPT are not currently reliable sources for accurate translation services.  

Video content performs better than any other form of content on social media. Making sure your videos are accessible in both languages means you’re more likely to get the best results.  

85% of online users watch social media videos on mute. Subtitles are essential. 

Subtitle videos in both languages. 

Use different colours for the Welsh and English to make it easier for the audience to identify with your content in their chosen language. 

Auto generated captions on social media platform don’t currently include an option to caption in Welsh. When you speak Welsh on your social media videos and switch on the captions, it will create very strange words based on what it hears.  

On Instagram, you can manually change or add the Welsh words in the captioning by holding down the word you want to change. This can be time consuming. 

The best way is to create your videos outside of the social media app in a free video editor platform such as Zubtitle. These platforms allow you to manually add subtitles and then export and upload the video onto your social media platforms.   

Welsh speaker? Present your lives in Welsh or bilingually. 

Live Comments. Make sure you answer your audience members questions or comments in chosen language.