Online Hispanic Trends

Share Your Ideas on How Federal Websites Can Better Serve Limited English Proficient Latinos Online

If you have ideas regarding how the government can improve federal websites, please join the discussion and share them in the National Dialogue on Improving Federal Websites that started today!

It's a two week online dialogue, from Sept. 19-30th, and the government would like to hear your ideas and suggestion on what it should do to improve federal websites in the following areas: 

1. Creating better user experience, navigation, and design
2. Improving content to make it more readable, engaging, and useful
3. Improving how services and transactions are delivered
4. Providing universal access to government content online, regardless of device or technology
5. Optimizing the way the public is able to search for federal content, via federal websites and commercial search engines
6. Ensuring content on federal websites is integrated with social media and other third-party websites
7. Improve how federal websites protect privacy and security
8. Reaching global audiences and people with limited English proficiency 

You can access the general discussion here, and if you'd like to comment specifically on how the government can improve its communications with limited English proficient Latinos and other multilingual audiences (Point #8), share them here. 

There will also be a mini-dialogue specifically dedicated to the last point - better serving multilingual audiences and limited English proficient audiences - on September 26th at 1:00 pm EST, so save the date and join us in a real-time, interactive discussion on the topic.

 

 

Online Multicultural & Hispanic Marketing Courses Offered by Florida State University

Starting August 29, Florida State University will offer for the first time an online course on Multicultural Marketing Communication. Multicultural marketing is one of the newest horizons in US marketing but there is little consensus as to its meaning, implications, and scope. The job of this course is to attempt to conceptually and pragmatically clarify the field and assess the boundaries of this growing discipline.   

Also starting on August 29, FSU offers its well established online course on Hispanic Marketing Communication. This course has been taken by several hundred students and professionals and has received excellent reviews for the information it provides and for being a forum for students and professionals to share their experiences and grow as seasoned marketers working with US Hispanics. The course focuses on strategic considerations for reaching out to US Hispanics and emphasizes a cultural connection. 

Both courses last 16 weeks (classes begin August 29 and end December 16, 2011), and they are asynchronous so that students can work at their own pace. Professionals receive a certificate of completion, and eligible students can receive three hours of undergraduate/continuing education credit. 

These two courses are part of the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication at Florida State University. 

Registration is open now and you are encouraged to apply soon. These affordable online courses are part of an ongoing effort of the Center to provide continuing education and serving the community. 

To inquire and register write to: Inquiries@campus.fsu.edu 

How the CDC and the March of Dimes are Effectively Engaging the Online Hispanic Community

Please join us on March 23rd at 1:00 pm for a free webinar on the topic of how government agencies and nonprofit organizations are using social media to reach and engage Latinos online. 

 

For more information and to sign up, please visit Bixal's Blog.

 

Expanding Markets through Educational Initiatives - ING's New Interactive Site

ING has recently launched an interactive educational site in Spanish (www.INGEspanol.com) that was designed to educate less acculturated Latinos about life insurance, helping them learn about the product and determine the correct amount suggested for their particular situation. 

The press release highlights data from a study by the industry association LIMRA, which shows that Latino households are much less likely to own individual life insurance compared to the general population (36% vs. 54%), and that they are likely to be underinsured due to the difficulty of determining just how much insurance they should have. 

The site uses Hispanic actors and culturally-relevant references, and is a good example of a company developing a unique and interactive site to educate potential Hispanic clients in order to expand its market.

Source: PRNewswire

Best Practices for Engaging the Online Hispanic Market: An Interview with Best Buy’s Ana Grace

Best Buy has long been a leader in successfully reaching Hispanics across multiple channels. The retail chain currently maintains a complete Spanish language site while also leveraging successful mobile, online, and traditional elements in their Spanish language marketing mix. 

Bixal had the pleasure of interviewing Best Buy’s Hispanic Initiatives Site Manager, Ana Grace, to discuss the retail chain’s strategy in engaging the Hispanic market.

Now that the site has been up and running for three years, Ana Grace describes the site as......

Read the full blog on Bixal's website

The Hispanic Mobile Opportunity

The ever-increasing sophistication and accessibility of web-ready mobile phones has made using a phone for information and entertainment needs an essential part of everyday life for millions of Americans. However, not everyone is connecting to the mobile web in equal measure. Demographic data on mobile phone usage reveals that U.S. Hispanics, especially younger Hispanics, have been over-indexing in mobile media usage for years.....

Read the full article at HispanicAd

Unum Insurance Takes an Original Approach to Reaching Spanish-Dominant Latinos

Elena del Valle posted a very interesting blog on Unum's efforts to reach the Spanish-dominant segment of the U.S. Hispanic population. 

Instead of taking their English materials and translating them into Spanish, they developed original materials designed specifically to inform and educate Latinos who, as Pew data shows, will more than double to 31 percent of the American workforce within the next two decades.

Read the full post at HispanicMPR.com

Creative Hispanic Mobile Marketing from Nestle

Recognizing that the Hispanic is more mobile that the general market - if there is such a thing these days, Nestle has launched an innovative IPhone application to promote sales of Carnation Evaporated Milk. The mobile site and app draw recipes from Nestle's http://MiCocinaLatina.com website and puts information in the hands of consumers where they are most likely to use it...at the point of sale.

The article points to research done by the Pew Internet & American Life Project indicating that "in 2009 more than 47 percent of Hispanics used a handheld device to go online, compared to 28 percent of Caucasians."

The bilingual IPhone app offers a very creative and innovative feature that allows users to shake their phone, like they would the evaporated milk before cooking with it, to generate a random recipe.

Read the full article at: Mobile Marketer

How Telemundo is Creating a "Hispanic Digital Water Cooler"

In an interview conducted by Laura Martinez, Peter Blacker, executive vice president of digital media and emerging business, explains how Telemundo is using social media to leverage the power of social media to engage, as the article states "the throngs of Hispanics who are active on Twitter, Facebook and other platforms.  

Peter explains that this effort is part of Telemundo's five-year digital plan centered around "super serving" their audiences. Telemundo currently has over 180,000 followers across 17 different platforms, including Facebook and Twitter.

One component of its five year plan is to help its clients, who tend to be a bit uncertain about how to get involved in social media, begin to experiment. To do this, Telemundo is using actors and writers from its studios to develop additional storylines that Telemundo clients can sponsor to promote their brands in the social media space.

Importantly, Blacker and Telemundo recognize that it is important to provide interesting and engaging content with the goal of creating a "digital water cooler," and not just spam their social media audience with sales pitches.

Read the full interview at:  Multichannel News

Public-Private Collaboration to Increase Latino Academic Achievement

Univision, the Department of Education and the Gates Foundation have recently teamed up on an exciting three-year, multi-platform national education initiative called "Es El Momento" (The Moment is Now) aimed at improving academic achievement of Hispanic K-12 students. The campaign is focused on improving the high school graduation rate, which is currently at 55 percent for the Hispanic population as compared to 69 percent for their non-Hispanics peers.

In addition to PSAs, TV and radio, the campaign is offering a comprehensive web presence and mobile resources, including questions and answers with the popular motivational radio personality Dr. Isabel, a school locator widget and weekly mobile text alerts with relevant educational tips. Visitors will also be able to find local resources through website feeds in the future. 

This is a terrific example of public private partnerships creatively coming together to address the pressing needs of the community. We should see more of this happening on a regular basis.

Check out the online presence here or by clicking the image below.

Source: Hispanicad.com