On my past blog posts, I blogged about some of the ways that marketers and ad professionals can reach the Hispanic market using traditional media such as print, television and radio. Now I’m shifting over to online media, which is my main area of interest and research. Companies are already taking notice the many possibilities that new media has to offer and not only that, it is much more cost effective, more productive and in real time. Right now the more mainstream social networking platforms within online media: Youtube, Twitter and Facebook are used to communicate, collaborate and market.

Now is a good time for marketers and ad professionals to shift over to online media and take advantage of communicating with Hispanics on them. While traditional media is all about one way broadcast, online media or social media is a two way conversation, all about building relationships and engaging a community. Below I attached a graph from the 2007 Hispanic Fact Pack published by Advertising Age which illustrates the amount of how Hispanics participate online, which is mainly for communication and entertainment. Mind you, this study is from 2007 so things may have changed abit since social media platforms have become popular but you can see that Hispanics do utilize the internet.

Hispanics like myself and many others love to connect with our friends and family and always maintain that strong relationship and what better way than to utilize online tools like email and instant messaging. With microblog sites such as Twitter taking a foothold as the prominent communication tool, messaging can take place instantaneously. I know though that the older Hispanic generation may not adopt it so quickly as the younger acculturated generation. My grandfather, who lives in Puerto Rico, has no clue how a computer works let alone going online, and he is just fine with a cell phone and reading the paper in the morning with a cup of coffee. My dad, who successfully owns a broadcast lens service for over 30 years only uses email and has know clue how to “google” or interact with other sites. At least my mom made an effort to join Facebook and Tagged to chat with friends but that is pretty much how far she went. Me, on the other hand, enjoy all the possibilities that online media has to offer so I am pretty much involved in alot of social platforms.

If businesses want to successfully continue to market to Hispanics, they should definitely transition to online media where they can finally build that strong Hispanic relationship and trust, but always remember to do research before you act. I have more information to come but feel free to post some of your own.

Related articles

• PR Newswire Free Webinar Aug. 28 on Engaging Hispanic Audiences (profnetpost.prnewswire.com)
• How to Teach Social Media in Journalism Schools (pbs.org)
• Empowerment via the new media (thehill.com)
• New Survey Finds American Advertisers Acknowledge Hispanics’ Impact on U.S. Culture but Half Don’t Market to Nation’s Largest Minority (eon.businesswire.com)
• Why You Need a Social Media Hub (samirbalwani.com)