Hispanic-Digital-Market

Hispanic Digital Marketing

The Spanish speaking population in U.S is growing and businesses need to be ready to target their customers with an Hispanic Digital Marketing Strategy.

This big market in America needs to be adressed in their own language and you just cannot miss this opportunity!


Table of Contents

1. Hispanic Digital Marketing
2. Hispanic Market Growth
3. Hispanics Are Online
4. Hispanic Cultural Differences
5. Tips for a Multilingual Strategy
6. Conclusion


Hispanic Digital Marketing

Hispanic Digital Marketing is a growing trend for brands in the United States. With the rapid demographic growth of the Spanish speaking population in this country, this market became a gold mine to exploit in the next few years.

No doubt why many big brands are making campaigns to target the hispanic customers, like Netflix with its hispanic series, or McDonalds with its special ads for its latino customers in the US.

However, not many brands are adopting an holistic view when creating their hispanic digital marketing campaigns, and they fail when implementing them. Some common mistakes when creating strategies for this specific market many brands make are:

  • Assuming hispanics are all the same.
  • Simply translating content into Spanish.
  • Only focusing in one stage of the Buyers Journey.
  • Not adopting a Multi Channel approach.

The answer to this problems is effective planning and research of the portion of the Hispanic Market you want to reach. It may sound hard to develop and implement since this community has its own language, culture, and digital media consumption habits, but nothing is impossible and the research made in this market in the US is vast.

Here we’ll discuss the changing state of the hispanic market in USA, insights on how to target them online and some useful strategies to reach, engage and delight them with your digital marketing campaigns. Continue reading on the page or jump to a specific section on the left menu.


Hispanic Market Growth

The expansion of the Hispanic community in the US has been one of the main drivers of America’s population since 2000, and nowadays they are the second fastest growing demographic group (After Asians) making up around 18% of the total US Population.

This number may not seem big enough to target if you are a big sized business, but if you want to plan ahead, it is important to know the latest demographic predictions state that by 2055 the breakdown of the country’s racial profile will be: 48% White, 24% Hispanic, 14% Asian, and 13% Black, making the Hispanic the second largest group in the U.S.

With a growth of over 250%, the Hispanic market in 2050 in U.S. will be a demographic group not to miss on your marketing strategy.

hispanic-growth

However these impressive numbers are not complete without also mentioning the growth of buying power this community has developed.

The Hispanic Buying Power is Growing Too

Many advertisers still ignore that Hispanics shop too and that they do it big. According to the Selig Center for Economic Growth, this market is on track to reach $1.7 trillion by 2020, which will represent more than the Asian and African American markets, with $1.1 to $1.4 trillion respectively.

With these figures in mind, you may now consider making the Hispanic population an important audience to target, as they have the potential to grow your sales and they may become your best online customers.


Hispanics Are Online

Beyond the clichés and stereotypes that surround the Online Consumption of the Hispanics, it is important to understand that this community has very complex and specific online behaviours that will help you recognize how they are engaging with Online Media

First of all, it is important to recognize that one of the main reasons Hispanics are digital is because they are a younger demographic. A large percentage of the Hispanic population was born in the digital era, so you will be mostly targeting Millennials with your digital strategies.

In this video by Nielsen, you can gain a deeper understanding about the long term marketing implication of this group’s young age:

Nielsen TV: U.S. Hispanics are Young and Strengthening Their Economic Prowess

Hispanics are a Mobile Generation

Mobile devices are prime real estate for marketers wanting to reach Hispanics. The latest researches show that almost seven in 10 Hispanics have a smartphone, and it powers an outsize proportion of their digital activity.

Even though only less than half of Hispanics have home broadband (47% ), they are not excluded from the digital era, since most of them use their smartphones a lot to get online! Hispanics are always moving and using their phones for different tasks. They even spend more time using mobile (3 hours) than White Americans and other ethnicities in the Country that only use it 2 hours a day!

As you can see, Hispanic are avid mobile users, and they get on their smartphones to search, share photos, download music, watch video content, and use social media.

Hispanics Search Online

Search usage on mobile devices is high among Hispanics in the U.S. A study conducted by the Google Multicultural Team, showed that Bilingual Hispanic millennials had the highest levels of search in comparison to all other Hispanic and Non-Hispanic users. They also had the highest average number of page views as a result of search, and scrolled through the most pages after their search results were served.

Hispanics are searching online and they want to find relevant results. This is an amazing opportunity for your brand to be found, so make the most of this trend implementing an Spanish Search Engine Optimization Campaigns that targets this bilingual audience.

Hispanics Love Online Videos

When it comes to entertainment, Hispanics love variety, and even more when it comes in the form of online video.

Hispanics are are avid watchers (and subscribers) of streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu, since they are quickly replacing traditional television, and spending a majority of their time watching online content.

According to a study conducted by Yahoo, time spent on mobile video increased by 53% in the last years and over 94% of Spanish dominant Hispanics now rely on mobile devices to watch online video.

hispanic-online-video-consumption

This form of media is winning among Hispanics because of the content and convenience of being able to watch video whenever, and wherever they are. This is a huge opportunity not to miss, as online video can help you get closer to your Hispanic customers.

Hispanics are Social

Latinos are gregarious by nature: they socialize, friend, welcome all and interact with everybody, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that nearly two-thirds of Hispanics use social media in the US. .

According to the latest studies on Social Media Consumption, more than half of Hispanics are on Facebook (77% vs. 73%) and Youtube (62% vs. 58%), slightly more than one-third use Instagram (40% vs. 30%), and slightly less than one-third use Snapchat (32% vs. 21%).

But not only they use these platforms, but they are “always on” social media throughout the day and at higher levels than non-Hispanic.

hispanic-social-media-usage

It is important to note that one of the biggest motivations for Hispanic millennials to use social media in the US, is not only to stay connected to family and friends, but to maintain close ties with their culture. The content that Hispanics share clearly reflects Hispanic values and you need to use them to make the most of your Digital Marketing Strategies.

This all sounds fantastic, but… Do you know how to target their Culture? Do you know how to identify the Hispanic Culture?

Let’s dig on the Hispanic Cultural Differences to clarify these questions.


Hispanic Cultural Differences

It’s important for brands to transmit elements of Hispanic culture because it makes individuals feel that the brand understands them and their cultural backgrounds.

However, clichés and stereotyles don’t work for your Digital Marketing Strategy as they don’t incorporate the specific paterns and behaviours of the Hispanic customers your brand is engaging with. If you want to understand them in a better perspective, check the following factors to consider:

1. Language:

There are Hispanics who are Spanish dominant, those who are English dominant and those who are Bilingual. Choosing the language you want to communicate in is one of the first steps in choosing your target audience.

Consider that even though online searches in Spanish are on the rise (from about 65% to 200%) Hispanics are still a community highly bilingual online, as a Google Research states:

hispanic-language-used-online

2. Identification:

Very often Hispanic and Latino are used interchangeably, even though they don’t mean the same thing. Incorrectly assuming someone is Hispanic and Latino at the same time is a mistake you will want to avoid.

Always remember that not all Spanish-speaking people are Latino, and not all Latinos are Hispanic. For example, someone whose family origins are from Spain are not generally known as Latinos, as these last ones are from Latin American countries.

It’s important to be aware of not only who you are targeting, but also how you choose to reference them. Content should be highly curated and focused on cultural identity beyond just language.

3. Subculture and Localization:

In order to hit the right spot on the Hispanic Culture with your Digital Marketing Campaign, you need to understand that there are many different subcultures among this ethnic group, since there are over 20 Spanish-speaking countries, all with their specific cultural practices and Spanish variants.

For this reason when targeting Hispanics in states with a high population of Hispanics, such as Texas, California, Arizona, New Mexico, New York, and Florida a Lozalization Strategy is fundamental.

Cultural Localization will help you understand the differences between each state and tailor your Spanish content to these dialects and precise Hispanic subcultures, This way you will build a deeper relationship with your consumers.

3. Acculturation:

The level of Cultural Identification and Spanish speaking habits in the U.S is highly related with the level of Hispanic Acculturation.

Someone who is in this country for a few years is generally less acculturated than a person who was born in the US and is a first generation American.

To facilitate the understanding of this differences, we propose you three levels of acculturation:

Acculturated: They are most Americanized in identity. They use English heavily but they often have some Spanish skills.
Bicultural: They have dual identities and are active participants in both worlds. They are often proficient in English.
Unacculturated: They identify themselves as Hispanics, and they are stronger Spanish speakers than English.

Your campaign has to speak to Hispanics in many different ways using the right type of Spanish, English or even Bi-lingual.


Tips for a Multilingual Strategy

One of the biggest challenges that marketers face when trying to reach bilingual Hispanic audiences is figuring out which language to reach them in.

Based on your market research and your Hispanic Buyer Persona you can determine which is the best language approach for your strategy.

As you could see on the previous points, there are many aspects to consider before you decide to target a portion of this market, however, here we will give you some ideas on how to develop three types of Digital Marketing Strategies:

English Strategy:

Even Spanish-dominant speakers are more likely to use English when conducting searches or consuming content online. According to a Google Research more than half of Hispanics use English online, even if they generally speak Spanish at home.

What is more interesting is that members of the Hispanic audience are comfortable consuming content in English. If they land on an English website, for example, only one in five will look for a Spanish site instead.

However, even if English is ok it is still important to consider the cultural aspects when targeting this audience.

For example, content that’s primarily in English, but that reinforces the attainability of the “American Dream,” will be well received amongst Hispanic Millenials.

Spanish Strategy:

An Spanish content strategy is a perfect option when you are targeting a highly unacculturated audience, since they are people that still have strong ties to their home country and speak Spanish most of the time.

An Spanish strategy can be used as another option for your main English strategy, and can be applied to any part of the buying process… from making an Spanish version of your website, to making an Spanish campaign with Hispanic Influencers on Social Media. Possibilties are endless.

It is important to highlight that the benefits of this type of strategy result in a strong brand loyalty. About 56% of Spanish Speaking Hispanics are more loyal to companies that advertise in Spanish, which underscores the need for brands to connect with Hispanics in their own language.

If you’re going to market to consumers in Spanish, a final aspect to remember is to make sure to support them throughout the customer journey.

Bilingual Strategy:

One of the best ways to approach Hispanics is through a Bilingual Strategy. As we saw in some data before, most of Hispanics use both langages to engage online, conduct searches and watch videos.

So if you decided that you are going to target a bilingual/ bicultural audience, blend both Spanish and English into your campaign, keeping English as the primary language but integrating Spanish phrases, quotes, terms, etc. to truly connect to Hispanic consumers.

When adopting this stategy, and mixing some cultural references in a smart and informed way, your customers will inmediately feel identified with your message and engage with your brand through the different channels you choose for your digital marketing campaign.

Conclusion

Hispanics Market Research is Key for Your Digital Marketing Strategy

Researching your Hispanic market and getting to know specific aspects about this audience is going to help you develop a strategy that truly resonates among Hispanics in the U.S. Don’t forget that Hispanics are a very complex audience that needs to be addressed without stereotypes or language clichés. They really appreciate when your brand truly understands their culture and talk to them solving their questions and needs.

Understanding the Hispanic culture, language and digital media consumption is going to dictate the path of your strategy. Don’t be affraid to experiment and send your targeted message to this large audience in the U.S. We promise that the benefits for your brand will be huge!

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