A few weeks ago, I participated on a panel discussion for DFWIMA on the topic of “Hispanic Marketing in the Digital Space,” an area that marketers are increasingly beginning to pay attention to as Hispanics continue to grow in population and buying power.
As I prepped for the panel, I wanted to make sure I was on top of the latest insights about the digital lives of Hispanics and came across a white paper by AOL, aggregating eye-opening trends about “the web’s most rapidly growing population.”
What AOL covers in this study is a slew of insights that reinforced much of what we’ve been seeing and experiencing with other clients that have a focus on digital marketing to Hispanics. What it also provides is some hard-to-ignore facts that you can share with your organization, who may not realize the growing presence of Hispanics among your digital audience and what that means to your digital marketing efforts.
Here are a few facts and trends that stood out the most to me, and I think will be the catalyst for changes in the way we think about Hispanics and digital:
Internet Usage Rates Are Nearly At Parity With General Market
I recently got the opportunity to do some digital strategy work for a local hospital that provides medical care to much of the underserved in Dallas. One of the assignments was going out to their satellite clinics and asking patients how they felt about receiving communications from the hospital using various digital touch channels like text messaging and websites.
I assumed with this particular population with lower incomes that their appetite for digital would be low to none, but I was proven wrong interview after interview. The interviews were of course qualitative so just anecdotal, but nevertheless stunning. I kept hearing over and over about their desire for text message alerts or a website that cataloged all the upcoming health fairs, and it’s certainly not what I expected.
Data from the PEW Research Center and AOL Advertising found that the number of Hispanics online has grown significantly and at a faster pace than the total US online population. And now in 2009, the online adoption gap between Hispanics and the General Market has narrowed to just 13 points. And it’s not only online behind a computer, but according to the National Center for Health Statistics, over 7.7 million Hispanics over the age of 18 depend solely on their mobile device for communication, more than any other demographic group. ComScore reports that over 70% of Hispanics consume content on their mobile phones.
Think about what this means for your online audience, particularly in categories where you may have previously assumed that Hispanics weren’t visiting your site or interacting with your brand on their mobile device. And if you don’t know the demographics of your site, consider evaluating it with an exit survey or a third party vendor like Quantcast that can help determine the kinds of visitors to your site.
Hispanics’ Overwhelming Enthusiasm of the Benefits of the Internet
The AOL study cited a good deal of trust and love of the Internet from Hispanics; in fact, much more than the general market. One indication of this trust comes in the fact that 72% of them put their confidence in product rating sites, compared to just 28% in their friends’ opinions. There’s even more compelling data, comparing Hispanics versus the General Market on a number of psychographic metrics, like “always go to the Internet to find deals,” “use the Internet to keep up with pop culture” and “a great place to meet people with similar views.” In each of these instances (and even more that I haven’t mentioned), Hispanics rate higher than the General Market and it starts to paint the picture that they have high regard for the Internet as a place to gather information and socialize with others.
As marketers, how can we leverage their interest to gather information and socialize and provide online assets that speak to and fulfill these desires? Particularly if the Hispanic audience is a core target, we may want to tailor the content and functionality of websites and online advertising to their unique needs.
Throw Out Your Assumptions of Unacculturated Hispanics
Before I address the differences and commonalities of unacculturated versus acculturated Hispanics, it’s important to note that compared to the General Market Internet user, online Hispanics have a higher tendency to be an early adopter and keep up with the latest technology. And that’s not even the shocking part. The truly eye-opening trend is that if you take the digital Hispanic consumer and split them up by acculturation, from Hispanic Dominant (typically Spanish speaking), Bicultural (a mix) and US Dominant (English speaking), it’s in fact the less acculturated Hispanics, the Hispanic Dominants that have the greatest tendency to be an early adopter, evaluating new technologies and spreading the word to others in their communities.
And because Hispanic Dominants tend to be more comfortable with Spanish, when appropriate, we as marketers have to start thinking about how easy content tailored to Hispanic Dominant users is accessible. And this doesn’t just mean to throw your English language site into Google Translate or pay a freelancer to translate your General Market site. In many cases, as you’ve seen above, Hispanics have their own unique needs and they’re not always simply cultural – they mean even be more technologically savvy than your average website visitor.
The Future
Someone at the end of the panel discussion asked me, what do you see as the future in digital marketing to Hispanics? My answer: As technology continues its torrid pace and Hispanics grow in influence in the digital space, I wouldn’t be surprised if marketers really look at Digital Hispanics as the population to test new technologies and applications with, taking those learnings to the General Market.
I hope this gave you some new perspective on this audience – and I’ve just scratched the surface in terms of what makes this demographic so unique. I encourage you to find more resources out there about Digital Hispanics. An easy place to start is with the AOL Hispanic Cyberstudy I’ve been referencing. It’s a free download here.
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