Latino Rebranded: Latinos and Social Media

Subtitle: Latino Leader Interviews

I’m extremely honored to be listed as a “Rising Star” among other great Latino innovators.

For the first time in its 10-year history, Latino Leaders Magazine has published a digital version of its magazine. Although new, the digital version provides all of the same content, interviews and images readers have come to expect from Latino Leaders. Beginning with our December edition, Latino Leaders will be available in both print and digital.

Sign up, and check it out.

Popularity: 23% [?]

As impressive as the numbers are of the increasing involvement of Latinos on the web are (22% of the internet population), I think the one common denominator is population growth (45.5 million people).  All of the below, are summaries of what I’ve discussed via my social media portals throughout the year.

Spanish Language Content

With more Latinos now on the web, it only makes sense that we’ll start seeing more Spanish content. This may be misleading because those who access the web are generally more acculturated (78%), but there are those who are entering exclusively via mobile devices and it is this population that we’ll see more targeted material directed toward.

Latino Organizations Including Social Media

There will be more Latino organizations including ’social media’ within their agendas and conferences.  This year there was a conference from LatinVision:  Convergence 2009 Digital & Social Media Conference,  and then there is the upcoming  The 2010 Hispanic Public Relations & Social Marketing Conference. I know of another conference in Florida, and yet another in California that follow the same suit (not to mention the bold and ballsy LATISM group).

Multicultural Marketing

It’s always been a numbers games, because numbers equal influence.  With over 45.5 million Latinos in the US, with a buying power to reach $1 trillion by 2011, combined with an impressive adoption of technology, Latinos are poised to be the sweethearts of big business and professionals alike, if not already.  There will be huge increases toward targeting the Latino population and their money through 2010.

More Latinos in Social Media

With the recent release of Facebook demographics showing the trend of increasing diversity, it only makes sense that it won’t slow down.  Latinos are social, and are adapting social media by storm.  This also means more Latinos on micro-networks, and more blogs.

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Another huge project I am working on:

Latinos in Social Media and Being Latino presents:

Our 1ST ANNUAL THREE-KINGS DAY ONLINE TOY DRIVE & FUNDRAISER to benefit The Children’s Aid Society’s Latino Outreach Initiative
[http://www.childrensaidsociety.org] and the United Nations Children’s
Fund [UNICEF] [UNICEF: http://www.unicef.org/]

January 6th, the traditional day for gift-giving in Latin American tradition, to bring joy to disadvantaged Latino children in the US and Latin America.

The Toy Drive & Fundraiser will have two levels:

1st Level: Thanks to generous donations from our sponsors Time To Play,
Ingenio and Discovery Toys we will be donating new unwrapped bilingual Educational toys to the Latino Outreach Center of the Children’s Aid Society, located in Washington Heights, New York City. The toys will be distributed to poor Latino children in the area.

2nd Level: We will be collecting donations from our growing online
networks. This monetary donation will benefit UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, and be distributed through UNICEF to centers aiding disadvantaged children in Latin America.

LAUNCH DETAILS:
• WHAT: Live Twitter Party
• WHEN: December 30th 2009, 8pm – 10pm EST
• WHERE: Twitter (use hashtag #latismtoydrive or enter latismtoydrive in
TweetChat.com – you must have a Twitter account).

HOW YOU CAN HELP:
• Donate ONLINE through our Chipin/PayPal account (http://bit.ly/7B8yL0).
Donations accepted until January 3rd, 2010. Donations accepted until January 3rd, 2010.

• Make a toy donation by sending new, unwrapped toys to: The Children’s
Aid Society -105 East 22nd St. Please use codename: LATISMTOYDRIVE. Toy donations will be accepted until January 4th, 2010.

• Follow and Retweet our Toy Drive message using #latismtoydrive on Twitter

• Write about it on your blog

• Post up toydrive widgets on your blog (http://bit.ly/5urQXF) and social networks.

All Toy Drive, Donations totals and ceremony pictures will be posted on
our Latism.org and Being Latinos website on January 6, 2010.

We thanks our sponsors Time To Play, Ingenio and Discovery Toys for
their generous toy donations, and our social media community for their
support!!

Popularity: 22% [?]

Subtitle:  Content Is King

I don’t concentrate too much on website optimization, because over the years of blogging I’ve noticed that content is more effective than SEO in the long run.

Today I was glad to read who I consider an authority to weigh in on content vs SEO:

The writing is on the wall. Small business marketing is moving away from focusing on SEO. Why do I say that? Because, well, Google and Bing are changing the rules so often and are getting so good at figuring out the real businesses that deserve to be on pages…It no longer is good enough to be just an SEO expert…You’ve gotta be great at creating content that gets Google’s algorithms to trust it…

I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but if I’m going to say something, then I should back it up.  Case in point is that this blog now is no2 for the search term “Latino + social media” and 6th for “Latinos in social media.” Not bad for a fairly young blog.

There are a few other key words I have eyeballed, but the second page is just not good enough at the moment.  More later…

Popularity: 6% [?]

Subtitle:   “I always feel like, somebody’s watching me…” -MJackson

At this time, if you are a Latino in social media, it may not be such a straight forward deal.  Unknowingly you may have been recruited to be the representative voice for your locale or culture as a whole.

In the form of page visits and clicks there’s an audience watching and learning.  Many companies and individuals pick and choose which online site, group or individual will be their representative ‘lab-Latino.’

For instance, here’s a live one:  “Meet Tony, The Intern”

We recently hired an intern named Tony to help us with a couple of projects here at Captura Group. As I have gotten to know him, I realize that he personifies the online Hispanic consumers that we marketers are trying so hard to reach.Below, I introduce you to Tony and to the millions of Hispanics like him online today.

[excerpts...]

Tony is bilingual and bicultural
Tony is a proud “American Latino”
Tony is tech-savvy
Tony says “Don’t try too hard”

There are many examples of this.

I’m not saying this is a bad thing at all, but an interesting fact.  What better way to learn about the market than to study those who are identified as the key individuals?

Are you a lab-Latino?  How do you feel about being a possible study specimen?  Good?  Bad?  Why?

Popularity: 3% [?]

Subtitle: Twitter tips for newbie businesses

Looking forward to be participating in the LATISM DC Live Twitter party via Tweetchat (you can follow this link to observe some of the tweets and comments happening right now at the DC conference).

The goal is to provide tips for professionals and organizations on how to use social media.

You can observe or participate. Here are the details:

LATISM DC TWITTER PARTY DETAILS
DATE: Saturday, December 12, 2009 during the Latism DC Conference
TIME: 1:45 pm to 2:30 pm
TOPIC: Twitter tips for newbie businesses
AUDIENCE: Latino non-profit and corporate executives, professionals
HASHTAGS: #Latism #LDC (or use this link)

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Subtitle:  Hispanic Media Myths

A great article…it even seems to have some picante to it as it’s spiced up with some humor and witty lines.

If you have some image in your head of a poor campesino looking confusedly at a computer screen, delete it. Replace that with an image of Perez Hilton tweeting and blogging and instant-messaging all day. In fact, Latinos far outpace Anglos in online and mobile usage. Of all wireless users in the U.S., 39% of U.S.-Hispanics use their mobile devices to read the news, in comparison to just 17% of non-Hispanics.

Note the quick change to ‘Latino’ from ‘Hispanic’ when talking about online/mobile usage.  I almost got excited about that, but then noted that Hispanic and Latino are used interchangeably throughout the piece.  It’s still a great read.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Ingenio Bilingual Toys

This is amazing!  It took all this time for a company to launch a bilingual toy line?  This was looking everyone in the face.

Ingenio’s bilingual product line ranges from electronic learning toys and puzzles to educational games. All products emphasize English and Spanish equally to enable the child to learn a second language easily…Ingenio helps preschool and grade school children (ages 3-8 years) learn both languages in the context of fun…

If you go over to Inenio’s site you’ll be pointed to Amazon as an online retailer.

I like this a lot.  I have a daughter of my own who is almost a year shy of the recommended age.  Will keep you updated right here after going through some of the products.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Subtitle: The Social Web

You’re just going through a phase…
IF you define social media as Facebook or Twitter then you may believe it is a fad – and you’d be correct! But if you define social media as sharing, connecting and online conversations then you know social media is the future.

Revolution, set to evolve
If you understand the leverage of social media then your social media footprint is present on multiple portals.  The mechanics of administering these multiple identities presents a challenge and problem. Therefore, the streamlining of social media is the natural next step toward a social web:

Today’s social experience is disjointed because consumers have separate identities in each social network they visit. A simple set of technologies that enable a portable identity will soon empower consumers to bring their identities with them — transforming marketing, eCommerce, CRM, and advertising. IDs are just the beginning of this transformation, in which the Web will evolve step by step from separate social sites into a shared social experience.

Web 3.0

What we will see next year:

• A mainstream move to open-source platforms.

• Users will have the ability to traverse the internet with their social media profiles “in tow.”

• True ‘real time’ experience with applications that allow people to interact independently from current social media silos such as Facebook/Twitter.

The future web will remove current bias concerning social media.  If you don’t like Facebook, or Twitter or any other social media silo, web 3.0 will remove those brands and boundaries.  People (and consumers) will turn to the web in droves.  The internet will take on a dominant, mega-media presence.  We may safely say that Web 2.0 has set the stage for Web 3.0.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Subtitle:  Here Come The Marketers

My eyes, ears and mouth were sealed shut.
It’s interesting to see how businesses and marketers are now paying attention to previously ignored niche networks.  By this I specifically mean low-income demographics and urban communities.

There is an entire “sub-culture” of bloggers / twitterers complete with celebrities and household names I had never heard of!

I’m sure this experience will reverberate as more marketers and brands familiarize themselves with these ’sub-cultures’ (unfortunately termed).  As a matter of fact, there are huge personalities and networks that are prevalent, but sadly unknown because of the unbalance of media attention.

I profit, so therefore YOU are.
Let’s be honest, the only reason why Latinos and other ‘minorities,’ are beginning to see engagement is because of money.  If profit was not desired via the new Latino romance, businesses would not be interested.  It’s a numbers game.

Here’s the twist:  some of these networks are hardened or better…petrified toward the monetization of their efforts.  They are suspicious and bitter because of the lack of attention and throwback that they have unduly swallowed over the years.  This wall of resistance will be undoubtedly be perplexing to the naive marketer.

I would hope that this chip (boulder if you will), on their shoulder can easily be traded for a more valuable token.  Opportunity will be knocking at the door, and it would be smart not to shoo it away.

Best course of action: set sail for the sun.
The challenge here for underdeveloped communities is NOT to rush in and haphazardly connect with businesses, but learn how to elevate themselves on more stable platforms in order to better control these opportunities and leverage their deal making abilities.  It is tenfold more beneficial to become business owners rather than remain consumers. Then, and only then can Latinos participate in economic decision making processes.

Popularity: 6% [?]