Spanish Online Hispanic Strategy

"U.S. Hispanic Online Strategies" - TNS Media Intelligence - During the first 10 months of 2008, Hispanic online display advertising almost reached $212 million, up from about $165 million for the 2007 calendar year. That $212 million represents slightly more than 4 percent of all Hispanic media ad spend during the same January to October 2008 period.

The 2009 recession, budgetary constrictions caused by the economic climate have apparently compelled many brands to look at online marketing strategies because of their cost effectiveness. The most important factor of increased "2009 Spanish Internet" budgets for the "U.S. Spanish internet market" is the pure fact that there are simply more of them online.

Just imagine, 48% of all Hispanics in the U.S. have broadband online connections. Sure, that's nine percentage points less than the population as a whole (57%), according to a January 2008 survey conducted by Horowitz Associates for its "State of Broadband Urban Markets 2008" research report. But the survey's data also show that 68% of Hispanics with a preference for the English language (predominantly younger ones, who are a key demo target to start with) have broadband access.

"Once Hispanics and other minorities are online, they're leading the technology," says Felipe Korzenny, director of the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication. For example, data from Horowitz's "Broadband Content and Services 2008" report, released in December, shows that 55% of all Latino broadband users access social or professional network sites at least once a week, versus 43% for the general population of broadband users 18 years or older. Hispanic broadband users also significantly over-index in several other categories, such as instant messaging; listening to radio or music online; blog and chat-room participation; and participating in virtual communities.

Increasingly, streaming media is another direct plug-in to more of the Latino population. On Yahoo! Telemundo video streams were up 67% in October 2008 versus the same month in 2007. Unique users were up 103% during the same period.

One example was 2008's 7Up Recipe for Success contest, a venture between the soft drink and Telemundo. A micro site, www.Recata7UP.com, invited home cooks to submit recipes that used 7UP as an ingredient (the pitch was that 7 UP's lime flavors would compliment Latin dishes). This campaign was integrated through on-air and online. Its winner took home $70,000.

Bilingual Hispanic Internet Markets - There are many brands that face challenges when they target the bilingual U.S. Hispanic internet market. At this point, many brands still believe that reaching out to Latino consumers merely means translating their existing online materials into Spanish.

Some Hispanics who go online don't speak Spanish. Some are bilingual, and others are newbies which require a bit of hand holding.

Not enough Spanish Internet web sites - The truth is that there are not many viable spanish language web sites in the United States. Your "U.S. Hispanic Online Strategy" requires a mixed matrix approach between content sponsorship, search engine marketing and creative content that can be syndicated for placement on various online sites.

Social Media U.S. Hispanics Social Networking - U.S. Hispanics are on the forefront of using social media. So marketers who use social media can do better, so now "they need to know how to set up a presence on a social network site, to draw attention.