The evolving U.S. Latino market has emerged as the belle of the ball for brands looking to appeal to and connect with people online. As early adopters of technology and the most rapidly expanding population in America, U.S. Latinos now have $1.4 trillion in purchasing power, making us an integral market that brands need to consider if they hope to reach their full potential.
Even major media properties have acknowledged this evolving market by launching Spanish-language counterparts, such as NBC Latino and Fox News Latino, just to name a couple.
As brands of all kinds race to cultivate this new marketing opportunity, they’ll need to be sensitive to some of the unique characteristics of our complex, diverse and passionate culture, as we are not a cookie-cutter demographic.
By developing a sincere understanding of our preferences, habits and cultural values, as opposed to just rehashing their same brand messaging in Spanish, brands can develop rewarding relationships with the mobile-savvy Hispanic market.
Here are three considerations that all brands need to be mindful of when trying to connect with the U.S. Latino demographic:
Choose Your Channels Wisely — Did you know that 71 percent of Latinos use Facebook on a daily basis? Or that 68 percent of Latinos are active on Twitter? These figures are both significantly higher than they are for any non-Hispanic demographic, which illustrates just how mobile-centric and socially-driven we truly are.
For Hispanic millennials specifically, YouTube and Instagram have become their No. 1 source for daily news, so brands looking to target the younger crowd need to “read the tea leaves” and be extremely active on these channels.
Conversely, since most of the U.S. Latino population is on Twitter and Facebook, brands looking to target older generations of U.S. Latinos (while still tapping into the millennial market) should lean more heavily on those two channels.
Video Reigns Supreme — Latinos are not just plugged-in and logged on, we’re gravitating towards a very specific medium whenever we’re online: video. Roughly 66 percent of all Latinos watch online videos on smartphones each month, compared to under 60 percent of non-Hispanics.
Even better, the average U.S. Latino spends more than eight hours watching online videos each month — which is about 1.5 hours longer than any other non-Hispanic group! Let’s face it, one of the primary reasons why Facebook is winning our market right now is because their content is particular video-heavy compared to many other platforms.
Facebook video ads capture 56 percent of U.S. Hispanics’ interest, while bilingual Hispanics and Spanish-dominant Hispanics are most receptive to video ads than other ad types. You won’t need to go on a spending spree to make these videos either as viral videos hardly ever fit that mold — be fun, be original and be authentic.
Get to Know Us — Instead of just recycling your normal brand messaging in Spanish and trying to take the easy way out, take some time to learn what it is that we really value.
For example, did you know that over 60 percent of Hispanic millennials consider themselves “foodies”? Food has been heavily-tied to our cultural identity for quite some time, so it’s no surprise to see history repeating itself with the younger and more mobile-savvy generation — especially since they can utilize sites like HispanicKitchen.com to learn a recipe like Tacos al Pastor or Arepas in under 30 seconds.
Clearly, anything food-related is a slam dunk, while family and music are definitely key values that resonate well with our community-driven demographic.
While we are a diverse group, creating a sustainable relationship and evolving dialogue with U.S. Latinos is certainly achievable. Brands who are up for the challenge are putting themselves in a prime position to succeed and vastly expand their reach.
As long as your brand is mindful of the above insights, you should be able to leave a lasting impression on the Latino community and reap the rewards of winning this market.
Piera Jolly is co-founder, DiMe Media and COO, Hispanicize Media Group.
