Online Hispanic Trends

Social Media and Mobile Internet Use of Hispanic Teens and Young Adults

The Pew Internet and American Life Project recently published a report entitled Social Media & Mobile Internet Use of Teens and Young Adults. 

A few of the more interesting findings on teens and young adults in general include: 

• Blogging and commenting on blogs by teens and young adults has decreased since 2006 while it has increased among older adults (from 28% to 14%),
• Both teen and adult use of social networking sites has increased significantly, but the sites where teens and young adults maintain their profiles are different, with 66% using MySpace compared to 36% of those 30 and over, and most interesting....
• Only 8% of Internet users age 12-17 use Twitter.

With respect to Latino teens and young adults, the results of Pew's research show that:

• Although not as often as White teens and young adults, Hispanic teens and young adults report going online once a day or three to five times a week.

• Although laptops have overtaken desktops as the computer of choice, Hispanic adults are less likely than White adults to own a desktop or laptop computer.

• Along with young adults, Hispanics and African‐Americans are more likely to go online wirelessly. According to the report "Half of all African‐American adults (48%) have used their cell phone to access the internet, compared with 40% of Hispanic adults and just 31% of white adults."

Flock, Univision's Highly Customized Web Browser for the Online Hispanic Audience

Univision Interactive Media recently launched Flock, a highly customized web browser for the online Hispanic community.

Responding to Latinos' social nature and use of both social networking sites and email to communicate with friends and family, the browser offers entry points to these key online destinations. Easy entry points to these popular destinations has been astutely positioned with Univision's web content to create a uniquely branded experience for the online Hispanic market, both in English and Spanish, with the goal of keeping this important market close to home.

 

Source: Hispanicad.com

Hispanics More Optimistic About the Economy and Open to Advertising

A recent research brief written by Jack Loechner in MediaPost blogs highlights the findings of recent research from Experian Simmons and Univision.

The research shows that Latinos are more positive about the future of the economy, are shopping more often than the general market, and are more open to advertising and brands.

Key findings from looking at data from a 65 week period since September of 2008: 

" - 29% of Hispanics are more positive about the U.S. economy in the coming 12 months vs. 21% of non-Hispanics

- Hispanics average consumer confidence rating is 11% higher than non-Hispanics, and has remained constant since 2005, while non-Hispanics confidence rating has declined."

The study also found the following factors that contribute to why Hispanics are less affected by today's economic climate:

"- Only 45% of Hispanics have/use credit cards vs. 71% of non-Hispanics

 - Hispanics are 44% more likely to use cash to pay bills than non-Hispanics (Index 156 to 91)

 - Hispanics are almost 2x as likely to rent their home as non-Hispanics (44% vs 23%), and are less likely  to be impacted by the high percent of mortgage foreclosures."

The report also highlights why Hispanics should be a key target for advertisers, citing the following:

"- Hispanics are consistently more frequent shoppers than non-Hispanics (34% vs 29%).

- Twice as many Hispanics are willing to pay for branded prescriptions as non-Hispanics (31% vs 15%)

Hispanics are 38% more likely to buy from an advertiser than non-Hispanics (Index 131 to 95)."

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Read the full research brief at Mediapost or view Univision's press release on this research.

Boy Scouts Targeting the Latino Community to Ensure the Organization’s Relevance in the Future

As part of their effort to increase their Latino numbers, the Boy Scouts has launched a million dollar pilot program to target boys and adults in six U.S. areas. Currently only three of every 100 Scouts are Latino.

The campaign approach will be to get Latino parents to see Scouting as “something that aligns with their hopes and dreams for their kids." and will involved radio commercials, public service announcements and messages on such social networking websites as Facebook.

Additional campaign measures include:

• Hiring more Latino staff to mirror the community they want to serve and facilitate recruitment efforts. The Boy Scouts have set a goal for doing recruiting bilingual and bicultural professionals by its 304 local councils across the U.S. Currently less than 10% are bilingual and bicultural.
• Providing access to more Spanish materials, including the Cub Scouts’ Wolf Handbook
• Recruiting high-profile Latinos to server on local boards
• Creating a Scouting and Soccer program to connect Scouting to the already very popular sport in the Latino community

Some Latinos “see such groups as an indulgence of the well-to-do in their home countries” and are uncomfortable with the official looking uniforms and complex applications that require social security numbers.

John Richers, the director of Fresno's Boy Scout council, says "It can't be all Norman Rockwell Caucasian guys like me," and hopes that “Scouting tomorrow looks more like Marcos Nava than John Richers. He adds that “We have to make sure we still have relevance in the new America, if you will."

"The vast majority can honestly say their grandfathers, fathers and uncles were not in Scouting as youths," says a fact sheet from the Scouts' marketing division. "This is an unfortunate reality when one takes into account that Hispanic Americans/Latinos are among the most 'brand loyal' consumers in this country."

Read full article in the Los Angeles Times

Best Buy and Walmart Expanding Their Markets by Reaching Out to Immigrants Online and Off

Instead of leaving the market to ethnic-focused stores that traditionally serve immigrants, Walmart and Best Buy are actively pursuing these growing audiences via multiple channels and multiple languages. 

Best Buy and Walmart now have Spanish-language websites, and Walmart has launched special holiday sections of its site for its Vietnamese and Chinese customers.

Best buy is hiring staffers with language skills in Spanish and other key languages, including Korean and Chinese.  

Both Walmart and Best Buy are both putting up bilingual signage and displays that appeal to these immigrant communities. Specifically, Best Buy has signed a contract with Mexican soccer star Cuauhtemoc Blanco to be a brand ambassador, and will put up bilingual signage at 350 of its more than 1,000 stores.

 

According to Hispanic Business, Inc. Latinos currently spend more than $870 billion on consumer products and this figure is expected to increase to $1.3 trillion by 2015 or 12% of total U.S. purchasing power.

In terms of results, Best Buy executives claim that activity on the Spanish site has since far exceeded that of the original site.

Are these companies going to benefit from their comparatively early efforts in this area? We shall see...

Read full article - Los Angeles Times

Advertisers taking notice as Latinos, African Americans, and Asian Americans increase their numbers online

An article written by Douglas MacMillan for BusinessWeek presents some key findings from a recent eMarketer report, including the fact that even in a poor economy advertisers are likely to increase their efforts to reach growing minority audiences online.

Targeting of all three minority groups has increased since 2003, from 86% to 95% for the Latino audience, from 60% to 76% for African Americans, and from 35% to 38% for Asians.

Lisa Phillips of eMarketer highlights the importance of making marketing messages culturally relevant for new customers. She says “To be effective, advertisers "can't just translate their mass-market campaign into another language. You have to have an understanding of their cultures and traditions."

The article also discusses Microsoft’s experience of successfully adopting a multicultural approach to sell its products. Jose Piñero, Microsoft’s Multicultural Marketing Director says that “Online, it's easier to measure which campaigns work with different ethnic groups.”

Another important point relates to how those companies that get in early are likely to gain loyalties with these groups by being the first movers, citing Absolut Vodka’s experience of being the first vodka to establish a strong position with the gay and lesbian markets.

In addition to reflecting cultures and attitudes, the article points out the importance of considering language, citing Home Depot’s recent launch of a fully functioning, Spanish-language version of their e-commerce site. Jean Niemi, a spokesperson for Home Depot said that "One of the things we realized was that home improvement for anyone in general can be difficult, so for Hispanics to go on and not do it in their own language it can be [especially] intimidating."

Read full BusinessWeek article

Methods to Target U.S. Hispanics Online

In an excellent article by Joe Kutchera of ContextWeb on the MediaPost website, Joe shared a number of techniques being used by various experts in the field to more effectively target U.S. Hispanics online. 

The specific methods that he covers to more effectively segment and reach the audience include:

Geo-Targeting - IP targeting to specific countries, states or DMAS to reach U.S. Hispanics visiting Latin American sites and Latin American audiences visiting U.S. based sites.

Behavioral Targeting- using collected on web-browsing behavior, such as pages they have visited or e searches they have made, to select which advertisements to display to that individual. Unfortunately, however, there is not enough money going into this type of targeting for online Hispanics.

Search - the experts recommend buying keywords in both Spanish and English to reach English and Spanish dominants in addition to the bilingual segment.

Contextual Targeting - placing relevant banners near content.

Content Category Targeting- buying online media across specific content sites.

Creative Re-Targeting - Delivering a cookie to a user who has been served a particular ad and following them throughout their experience with the same messaging.

Spanish-language Browser Targeting - targeting the segment of the audience that has set their browser to Spanish.

Read the whole article on MediaPost

Mi Apogeo - taking an innovative approach to reaching an important segment of the online Hispanic Market

MiApogeo.com, which means My Apogy or My Apex, is taking an innovate approach to reach the quickly growing segment of online Hispanics who were raised in the U.S. or are second or third generation.

Adopting the most recent Web 2.0 tools and strategies, MiApogeo features a number of online community building tools to attract and engage this audience, including: 

• WikiLatino(R) - the first user-directed U.S. Latino wiki
• Social networking tools, and
• Culturally relevant content on politics, lifestyle, and the community

The site's founder, Rosa Alonso, explains that MiApogeo is targeting the "transculturated," those Latinos who didn't assimilate, but have moved beyond acculturation.  This audience tends to be young and prefers to read in English, and MiApogeo.com has designed a culturally and linguistically relevant strategy to meet their unique needs.

Source: MarketWatch 

Spanish-Language Content - A Tremendous Advocacy-Driving Opportunity

Pete Blackshaw, Executive VP of Neilsen Online Digital Strategic Services, wrote an excellent article in Advertising Age on the surprising lack of Spanish-language content on the Internet, "even for brands where Hispanics or Latinos dominate the buyer or emerging buyer set," as Pete says.

He mentions companies that do get it, like Wendys and Home Depot, and some of the big brands that have some Spanish-language content including Coke, Kraft, McDonalds and Pepsi. However, the content for these larger brands is not always easily accessible.   

Pete points out that winning with Hispanics and Latinos will require much more than just a Cinco de Mayo or Hispanic Heritage month event. It will require Spanish-language advertising and enabling in-language feedback and the use of new techniques, such as video, to better communicate key messages. 

With the quickly growing online audience and the fact that Hipanics are more brand loyal than non-Hispanic white consumers, Pete is right on target when he says that "What's most important is that we dignify all consumers with whom we have a loyalty or advocacy-driving opportunity."

Read full article on AdAge

Understand Values First and Vehicle Second

In an article in Media Post on branding for Hispanics, Leigh Benatar argues that a focus on values is more important than the particular vehicle you use to reach Hispanic consumers, and that marketing and communication messages need to support inherent Hispanic values.

Leigh references findings from the  Brand Keys annual Customer Loyalty Engagement Index, which assessed brand and purchasing values of 6,700 Hispanic customers, ages 21-59.

Some of the key findings from the assessment, as cited by Benatar in the article:

• Hispanics are 21% more loyal to brands that have a real "sense of family" about them.
• Hispanics are 7% more brand conscious than non-Hispanics.
• Hispanics are 9% more likely to regard the shopping process as a social experience. 

A key consideration that Leigh highlights is that "Hispanics don't just want to be reached, they want to be touched," and to do that marketers need to place more attention on first understanding their values and then worrying about the vehicles used to reach them. 

Source: Media Post