Half Of Companies Ignore Latinos In Social Media Campaigns

Only 45% of companies surveyed in a recent poll say they have social media marketing specifically targeted at Latinos. The TeleNoticias-LatinoWire Hispanic Social Media Survey found that while 92% of companies do have social media marketing, less than half target Latinos on these platforms. This is interesting, considering that even in Latin America, about half of businesses utilize social media marketing in their businesses — which would seem to point to the fact that this type of marketing is new the world over.

It was interesting to note that, of the 202 respondents, most don’t strategically use social media, just figuring it out as the year progresses, but that companies are both looking to focus more money on social media marketing for Latino and non-Latino customers. This would make sense, as we’ve written, because of their high use of mobile devices and social networks, Latinos are poised to be the perfect social media consumers.

Some more findings from the survey include:

• Hispanic social media programs were viewed equally as important as mainstream social media programs (69% for each).
• While most respondents felt their social media programs are effective, Hispanic social media programs were noted as slightly less effective than mainstream social media programs (56% vs. 64% effective respectively).
• The same social media tools are used to target both the mainstream and Hispanic markets—though use in the Hispanic market is comparatively less in all areas except mobile, where use was higher in Hispanic programs.
• For the mainstream market, respondents indicated their companies predominantly communicate with their customers/clients through Facebook (92%), Twitter (83%), Blogs (58%), and YouTube (56%). Companies use these same social media tools to communicate with their Hispanic market customers and clients; Facebook (84%), Twitter (62%), YouTube (42%), and Blogs (40%).
• Use of social media tailored to the Hispanic market remains an area for improvement. While 67% of respondents indicated their company has an ongoing Hispanic Public Relations Program, less than half (45%) of companies surveyed use a Hispanic social media program tailored to the Hispanic market.
• Most company’s social media programs are not formally defined at the beginning of the fiscal year; either for the mainstream market or Hispanic market.
• 58% of respondents anticipate their company or business unit’s budget for social media will increase for the mainstream market in the next fiscal year; 60% anticipate a budget increase for social media for the Hispanic market.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD