Latino Rebranded: Latinos and Social Media

Subtitle:  Saturday Reading

You probably have seen this already, but in the case that you haven’t…This definitive Hispanic market analysis was shared with me, so I’ll share with you.  Download it here.

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Subtitle: How some Hispanics are screwing up the social media sphere

What’s a ‘Link Haze’ or ‘Link Snip?’  Basically, it’s a collection of links about recent news around the web, usually with a quick bit of commentary, sometimes a bit of satire.

• Telemundo talks about how their going take over social media.
• What you don’t know about Mexico? Probably nothing.
• Hispanic media personalities join social media, but are still looking for personality.



• Portada informs us about what others are doing in social media except themselves.
• Financial organizations can benefit from informative webinars to get Hispanics to spend their money.
• Students using social media for immigration reform, and try to side step their studies in the process.

UPDATE:  I’ve received some slack (not surprisingly), for this post a few times already.  This was an attempt at humor, and is not to be taken seriously as I’ve stated above and in the comments.  Social media wears many masks and fits needs unique to others as they see fit.  In no way, I’m suggesting that my way is the right way.  However, I DO feel that some methods are superior over others and would be happy to discuss them on a case by case basis.

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HispanicPr blog has released it’s schedule for their upcoming conference in May.  Check it out.

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Subtitle:  FourSquare Takes off and Latinos along with it.

Recently, I signed up on FourSquare. I’m not sure why, but I thought it may be the new hip thing.  Then SXSW happened, and FourSquare took off.

Here’s an email I though I’d share from Jeff Puliver I received today concerning his observations:

At South By Southwest 2010 (SXSW), a strange thing happened on the way to Austin. A community of twitter faithful shifted from sharing everything about everything on only twitter (and maybe Facebook) and changed their habits to rely on learning about what was happening and where things were happening by using Foursquare and Gowalla instead.

In the year since SXSW, a number of my friends became passionate and dependent on using Foursquare and/or Gowalla as the platform to share where they were and what was happening around them. Here at SXSW, this has been taken to a new level. It turns out that if you are spending time around your friends and you have a chance to speak to them almost at will, there is something to be said about only sharing your location information and then having the ability to make decisions of what to do (or where not to go) base on this information.

Based on an unscientific poll of a few people I spoke to yesterday during lunch on Sunday, a typical comment shared was: “I haven’t been on twitter for 2 days. Not sure when I was on last on Facebook. Instead I just look on Foursquare for what is happening and where it is happening.” These words were shared by almost everyone I spoke with.

In terms of who may be winning the Foursquare / Gowalla popularity contest, all I can say is that at SXSW, members of the Foursquare team have done a great job of making themselves known. To date I have only run into one person from Gowalla and that was on my flight from NYC to Austin.

What does any of this this really mean? I’m not entirely sure. But I do believe SXSW 2010 will be known as the time Foursquare came of age and the place where at least one community’s dependence on twitter has shifted and their use of twitter changed, albeit slightly.

I don’t know where it’s going, but it’s hot right now. If you’re on FourSquare, please friend request me.

And before anyone asks…no, I don’t have any stats on Latinos there (the site is too new), but there ARE Latinos present – gasp! – and a whole lot of Latino venues.

Here is a GREAT post with real examples of how businesses are utilizing this technology.

Happy trails!

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Below is a social media map (click on pic for bigger version), of where I have a presence in one form or another – active and passive.  The next version (soon) may have information on how I use these networks and the relationships they have to one another, as well as additional networks that are not included here.

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guest post by Vista Hispano.

Trust and engagement are two important elements of successful social media participation. Marketers and publishers alike understand the megaphone nature of sites such as twitter. Hence, we see the constant barrage of “Follow us on twitter” or “Friend us on Facebook” across various print, radio, and digital advertising campaigns. Recognition of the importance of social media and the various conversations taking place online seems to have hit mainstream.

And for good reason.

However, 74% of U.S. companies don’t know whether or not social media is a viable way to engage Hispanics online.

Let’s save them the trouble and help crack the code.

Latinos are trendsetters, tech savvy, multicultural, ‘in-the-know’, and very active online. The potential to hit the ground running in terms of engagement and resonance is massive. 74% is a huge number and what this indicates is that there’s plenty of work to be done. What this data also indicates, is that many marketers are undecided and not sure about the potential returns on investment.

Those who are early to adopt a strategy aimed at engaging Hispanics online will reap the rewards and find themselves in a nice position. But it’s not as easy as it seems. Several important factors will determine the success or failure of engagement.

Here are 5 rules of engagement to help marketers take that big plunge:

1. Understand that monologue and dialogue are two very different conversational elements.
2. Don’t forget the human factor.
3. Do your research!
4. Use and follow the rules of P.D.C.A. (Plan, Do, Check, Act)
5. Reward, encourage, and recognize participation.

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Andrew Orci Talks About New Survey on Hispanic Marketing

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Only two in 10 engage Hispanics on the social Web

The majority of US companies recognize that Hispanics, who make up about 15% of the country’s population, will have an effect on industry trends in the next five years. But few are marketing directly to them, according to the “2010 Hispanic Marketing Trends Survey” from Orcí.

Still fewer are marketing to them on social networking sites: 78% of US companies said they had not used any social media to engage Hispanics. Those marketers that had done so primarily used Facebook and Twitter.

“Hispanics are tech-savvy, young trendsetters with incredible spending power,” said Hector Orci, co-founder and chairman of the agency, in a statement. Nearly four in five socialize online, the study found.

Summer 2009 research from AOL Advertising indicated that Hispanic users were more likely than average to go online at nearly every stage in the purchase cycle and considered the Internet a vital source of information on a variety of topics.

Still, the vast majority of marketers surveyed by Orcí simply did not know whether social media was a good way to engage the Hispanic population, though they were more likely to say yes than no.

Overall, just 18% of respondents planned to increase their Hispanic marketing spending in the next year. The primary reason companies said they did not market to Hispanics more was that the return on investment would not be justified (38%), followed by the opinion that their current marketing was sufficient for the Hispanic market (29%). Budget was also an issue for 21% of companies surveyed.

“For the last 30 years a minority of companies that have been smart enough to take advantage of engaging Hispanic consumers have seen their efforts make a difference to their bottom line,” said Mr. Orci. “Now more than ever, businesses need to think about how to tap into the opportunity the Hispanic market presents.”

(source: emarketer.com)

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Subtitle:  “Give me back that Filet O’ Fish, give me that fish.”

There’s a common piece of advice to “fish where the fish are.”  While no doubt this is a great short term strategy, but eventually the resource will dry up.  Why?  Because, soon enough everyone will start fishing in the same spot!

There’s some recent data released by HitWise that shows Facebook touting 50% of web visits and Twitter only showing 1% which may cause people to run to Facebook in crowds.  (Look at my other post from today for technical reasons why this data is not reliable.)

1.	Facebook	50.15%
2.	YouTube	15.21%
3.	MySpace	15.08%
4.	Tagged	1.16%
5.	Twitter	1.14%

So, you look at the above chart and see the heavy usage of Facebook, and you run off to establish your presence.  What’s wrong with that, you may ask…you reason: most of the traffic is there, so I want to go where I will have more return.

Personally, I don’t believe in chasing traffic.  I believe in making traffic, come to me.  Chasing traffic will drive you nuts (traffic is the web currency equivalent of money).  Rather, identify your strengths, develop what makes you unique, create value and as a side effect traffic will follow.

Promoting and networking are fine, but without taking a self inventory and honing your assets you’ll never break away from the crowd.  You may reap the rewards of hard work, but you’ll won’t make YOUR mark or unique contribution.

If you must go or do what others are doing, then it’s okay to do so for a time.  However, identify the time to breakaway and make your own inroads, plans, conclusions, methods, philosophy…make your own rules.  You’ll never have to worry about it being too crowded, because no one can ever do what you do best – and that’s being you!

Being your true self, is the key to generating traffic.

What do you think?  Am I wrong…half wrong – half right?  How do you generate lasting traffic?

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Subtitle: Levels of Truth in Data Representation of Social Networking Sites

The recent data by HitWise that rated social networking sites, ranks Facebook as #1 with 50% traffic, and Twitter as #5 with a mere 1% is a perfect example of a data presented at a certain level of truth, leaving questions at all other levels.

1.	Facebook	50.15%
2.	YouTube	15.21%
3.	MySpace	15.08%
4.	Tagged	1.16%
5.	Twitter	1.14%

Here are the problems:

1. What counts as a visit on Facebook?  (Ex: If you click through 50 profiles, does that count as 50 visits?)
2. Twitter users for the most part use 3rd party applications to manage their accounts such as Seesmic Desktop and Hootsuite, not to mention mobile device access.  Surely, this type of access is not counted as a “visit.”
3. There are other uses for twitter such as search (again 3rd party apps can come into play), or just sit and watch your custom “lists” or groups and use them as a news feed – “visits” here do not account for this invaluable feature.
4. The specialized niches that each network serves (think LinkedIn), is severely undervalued by presenting this data as meaningful.
5. What type of traffic are going to these sites?  What are they doing there?  How is this important to me or my business?

Each point begs pertinent questions – what is the value of other networks?  Are visits the measure of usefulness?  How are the sites used?  Who is visiting these sites and what are they doing?  Nothing outlined by HitWise, comes close to providing answers.

The web is no different than any terrain – the more you know, the better you can use it to your advantage.  Thinking through what is presented here, we come to important conclusions – this is called being media literate – and can leverage the information in our favor.

Did you initially interpret the data as I did…that is, Facebook rules?

(In a little while, I’ll be posting another piece that uses the same data above. However, the discussion is about why you should not chase traffic, but make it come to you.)

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