Are you a Quebec businessperson? Have you been following the Delilah-in-the-Parc affair, and wondering how you can be sure your page on Facebook meets Office de la langue française du Québec requirements? Or do you just want to be sure you're catering to both your francophone and anglophone customers in the best and most efficient way possible? You've come to the right place. This step-by-step guide will help you navigate Quebec's linguistical waters when you're on Facebook. It's easy. All you have to do is take avantage of Facebook's language targetting capabilities when posting your content. Problem solved. Original blog post : http://michellesullivan.ca/2014/03/loffice-de-la-langue-francaise-delilahs-a-teapot-and-a-tempest/ IMPORTANT: Ensure your page settings on Facebook have the proper configuration, enabling this feature. Consult this Facebook help page for details : https://www.facebook.com/help/352402648173466

1. OLFQ-friendly Facebook
A step-by-step guide for Quebec’s social media
community managers on Facebook
www.michellesullivan.ca

2. Chelsey Quebec clothing store owner Eva Cooper received a letter from Quebec’s
Office de la langue française informing her that her page on Facebook contravened
Quebec’s language laws regarding the use of French in business.
She was told she needed to provide French language content when engaging with the
public through social networks like Facebook.
What’s a Quebec small business owner who wants to engage with anglophones to do?

3. It’s very simple

4. Facebook has a feature, accessible to all
Facebook page managers, which allows them to
target linguistic groups when publishing content.
It’s easy to use.
And l’OLFQ has confirmed that Quebec
businesses who use this feature appropriately
are in compliance with Quebec’s language laws.

5. This a step-by-step guide to ensure compliance
while maintaining your Facebook page as a
dynamic destination for your target audiences.

6. Step 1: familiarize
yourself with
Facebook’s language
settings.

7. Understand that Facebook users around the
world can set Facebook parameters to their
language of choice.

8. Step 2: Prepare content in
French as well as in English

9. Step 3: Upload your content but select
the Public option before you hit Post

10. Step 4: Select Location/Language

11. Step 5: Target by language
Note: it is good practice to select all
options when several present.
This way, you reach francophones
who have their parameters set to
Français (Canada) as well as those
who have set to Français (France).

12. Step 6: Check to ensure
your post is set to Custom

13. Step 7: Publish by clicking on Post

14. Et voilà!
OLFQ approved.
Only francophones will see this content, either
when they visit your page, or in their Facebook
News Feed.

15. And what about your English language content?
Rinse and repeat.
Repeat Steps 3 – 7 that is, uploading English
language content this time, and selecting to
target anglophones.
Again, this is OLFQ
approved.

16. Why do I see both posts on my page?
This is normal.
As the administrator of a Facebook page, you have
access to all content, which means you’ll see posts
in both languages.
Your users, however, will not.
They will view your content based on how they’ve
set their Facebook parameters.

17. What about comments?
L'OLFQ does not hold businesses responsible for
the conversations their Facebook fans may have
on their page ... meaning they don't need to ensure
that discussion is being held in French only ... they
only need to ensure that the content they
themselves publish is available in French. Which
then allows a business to also provide that same
content in English.
Business can respond to anyone who comments on
their posts in that person’s language.

18. The Fido brand is a good case study
(full disclosure : I know this brand well because I was a social media specialist in the employ of Rogers from 2012 to 2014)

19. Depending on your Facebook settings, you will
see Fido content in either French or English
when you visit their page on Facebook.
Fido is a national brand, with markets in both
English and French Canada.
Fido representatives engage with users in the
language of their choice.

20. www.facebook.com/fidomobile
What you see if your Facebook
parameters are set to French
What you see if your Facebook
parameters are set to English

21. www.facebook.com/fidomobile
Fido representatives in conversation
with a francophone
Fido representatives in conversation
with an anglophone

22. And there you go.
It’s easy to be OLFQ compliant when you
understand how to navigate Facebook’s
language tools.
Any questions?
ms@michellesullivan.ca

23. www.michellesullivan.ca

24. Sources
• Bonnes pratiques linguistiques dans les
entreprises. OLFQ, 2013.
http://www.francaisautravail.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Bonnes-pratiques-19-3-2013-complet.pdf
• French bulldog. Jurate Virkutiene.
http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=29265&picture=french-bulldog-nora-white-background
• English Cocker Spaniel. Pharoah Hound.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:English_Cocker_Spaniel_black_portrait.jpg?uselang=fr
• Fido on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/fidomobile