Many businesses on the Costa Blanca and Costa Cálida face a choice that businesses in Bristol or Belfast never have to think about: which language should our social media be in?
If most of your customers are English-speaking residents and holidaymakers, English may be enough. But if you want to grow, there is a large local Spanish market on your doorstep — and many international residents who speak Spanish better than English. Here is how to decide, and how to make bilingual content manageable.
Start with your customers, not your comfort zone
Look at your last 50 customers. What language did they enquire in? Where did they come from? If 90% are British and Irish residents, posting mainly in English is perfectly sensible. If you are seeing growing interest from Spanish families, Scandinavian residents or Dutch holidaymakers, it is time to think more broadly.
It is also worth asking where you want your customers to come from in two years. Many expat businesses find the English-speaking market becomes crowded with competitors, while the Spanish market is under-served by businesses offering their particular service.
Option 1: English only
Best for: businesses that specifically serve the English-speaking community — UK tax advisers, English-language schools, removal companies serving UK routes.
This keeps things simple, but it does mean you are effectively invisible to Spanish-speaking customers.
Option 2: Bilingual posts
Write each post in both languages, with English first and Spanish below (or vice versa, depending on your main audience). A small flag emoji or a line break helps readers find their language quickly.
Pros: one account, one schedule, one set of followers. Cons: longer captions, and readers of one language have to scroll past the other.
This works well on Facebook and Instagram for businesses with a genuinely mixed customer base, such as restaurants, hairdressers and gyms.
Option 3: Separate accounts
Some businesses run separate English and Spanish pages. This lets you tailor content to each audience — different references, different offers, even different platforms.
Pros: cleaner, more natural content for each audience. Cons: twice the work and two smaller followings instead of one large one. We rarely recommend this unless you have the resources to maintain both properly.
Option 4: Visual-first content
Video and images often need very little language. A before-and-after clip, a plate of food or a beautiful villa photo speaks for itself. Add short bilingual text overlays and captions, and your content works for everyone.
Get the Spanish right
Nothing undermines trust faster than clumsy machine translation. AI translation tools have improved enormously, but they still miss tone, idiom and regional usage. If Spanish is not your first language:
- Use translation tools for a first draft, then have a native speaker check it.
- Build a glossary of the terms you use regularly, translated properly once.
- Keep captions short and clear — simple language translates better.
Spanish customers will generally appreciate the effort, and accurate, natural Spanish signals that you are a serious, established business rather than a seasonal operation.
Think beyond social media
Your social profiles will send people to your website, so consider whether that needs to be bilingual too. We explore this question in depth in should your website be bilingual? — and if you are thinking about the Spanish market more broadly, read beyond the expat bubble: marketing to Spanish customers.
Our recommendation
For most mixed-audience businesses, bilingual posts on a single account — with plenty of visual content — strike the best balance between reach and effort. Start with your top-performing post types, translate those well, and expand from there.
If you would like help creating bilingual content that sounds natural in both languages, get in touch for a friendly chat.
