81% of the 34 million online Hispanics prefer English or are bilingual. This reality coupled with the flood of advertising dollars that political campaigns will invest to sway the critical Latino vote make it an interesting time to look at English digital platforms that target Latinos.

Digital advertising tactics such as search, behavioral, re-targeting and contextual targeting have emerged to allow marketers to reach English preferring Hispanics, but they all require a relatively high level of expertise to execute. Today, brands looking to reach online Hispanics in English have another option thanks to English language digital platforms that target Latinos.

I took a quick look at the market of Latino themed, English language digital platforms and found that a couple of upstarts are challenging traditional media companies. I am sure that the competition to reach online Hispanics in English will heat up as a result of the following market dynamics.

• There are not that many players
• There is no clear leader
• Low barriers to entry provided by social media
• The ad dollars associated with the upcoming election
• The importance of the Latino vote

Below is a summary of some of the players targeting online Hispanics in English today.

The Upstarts

Two startups that had the foresight to cater to online Hispanics in English are Guanabee and Being Latino. Founded in 2006, Guanabee is a hip, Latino lifestyle and news site. Being Latino is just over two years old and pegs itself as an online magazine that that educates, entertains and connects Latinos.

Guanabee
o Website – 157,000 monthly visitors*
o Facebook – 2,500 likers
o Twitter – 2,300 followers

Being Latino
o Website – 11,000 monthly visitors*
o Facebook – 65,000 likers
o Twitter – 5,500 followers

Big Media

Several big media companies also are proactively targeting online Hispanics in English with digital platforms. These typically consist of a centralized website/blog supported by social media outlets. Of the bunch, NBC Universal’s Mun2 and MTV’s Tr3’s are the oldest and as a result have the most reach, here is how they all stack up.

Mun2
o Website – 150,000 monthly visitors*
o Facebook – 130,000 likers
o Twitter – 20,000 followers

MTV Tr3’s
o Website – 100,000 monthly visitors*
o Facebook – 65,000 likers
o Twitter – 48,000 followers

Fox News Latino
o Website - n/a*
o Facebook- 38,000 likers
o Twitter - 9,500 followers

Huffington Post – Latino Voices
o Website – n/a*
o Facebook – 2,500 likers
o Twitter– 4,200 followers

NBC Latino
o Tumblr Blog – n/a*
o Twitter – 200 followers

Univision News
o Tumblr Blog – 1,260 monthly visitors*
o Facebook – 2,000 likers
o Twitter– 29,000 followers

This quick analysis shows that upstarts are holding their own against big media when it comes to targeting online Hispanics in English. That said, it will be interesting to see who else enters the market and it is likely that those that can garner the lion’s share of election advertising dollars will emerge as the leaders next year.

I don’t know about you but I’m voting for the upstarts.

*Source: Compete.com

Here’s a question for online marketers: What percent of U.S. online advertising spending do you think is targeted to Hispanics?

Let me give you a couple of clues. The digital marketing site eMarketer expects U.S. online advertising spending to reach $31 billion in 2011. Hispanics make up about 15% of the total US online market.

15% would be too high, as many online Hispanics are bilingual and or prefer English, and general market online advertising reaches a large majority of them. So perhaps somewhere in the mid-single digits would make sense, say 5% or about $1.5 billion? If that was your guess, you would be way off. Industry figures peg US. Hispanic online advertising at only $200 million this year, a mere 0.65% of the total investment in US online advertising.

In the past ten years I have seen investment in the Hispanic online market grow, albeit at a much slower level than US online advertising in general. When you look at the numbers, the disparity between US online and Hispanic online investment is shocking.

So why is it that marketers spend less than 1% of their digital budgets against a group that represents 15% of the online market? Perhaps it is because most of the people that allocate digital marketing dollars are not Hispanic and they do not see or feel the Hispanic online market first hand. Maybe they don’t really think that Hispanics are online?

To invest in something you have to understand it

For years professionals in our industry have struggled to prove that Hispanics are online, sending research study after research study to anybody who would listen. After nearly a decade of countless PowerPoints, conference calls and meetings, we have made inroads, but still we have only gotten to 0.65% of the market. There has to be a better way.
As I was doing some research on the leading Hispanic Facebook pages it clicked. These large, colorful and engaged Hispanic Facebook communities are the digital equivalent of a Hispanic market immersion tour. These tours have been successfully used in Hispanic marketing for a while as they take non-Hispanic marketing executives into Hispanic neighborhoods so that they can see and feel the Hispanic market first hand, something a PowerPoint can never accomplish.
So I invite those who allocate digital marketing dollars on a Hispanic online market immersion tour to see and feel the Hispanic online market first hand. Spend five minutes checking out the top five Spanish Hispanic media and brand Facebook pages. Even if you don’t understand Spanish the sheer numbers, faces and engagement levels you will see will give you a real senses for the Hispanic online market.

1. http://www.facebook.com/univision 263,000 Likers
2. http://www.facebook.com/telemundo 150,000 Likers
3. http://www.facebook.com/peopleenespanol 107,000 Likers
4. http://www.facebook.com/statefarmlatino 103,000 Likers
5. http://www.facebook.com/vivemejor 101,000 Likers

I am hopeful that marketers will take me up on my invitation and see firsthand that Hispanics are online and worth much more than 0.65%.

25 million Hispanics visit Facebook each month. That represents 74% of all online Hispanics. Given these figures, it is not surprising that countless brands and organizations use Facebook advertising to reach the nation’s largest minority group.
In this post, I’m going to share with you some of the insights I’ve gained firsthand by successfully targeting Hispanics on Facebook. Specifically, I’m going to show you how to use Facebook’s self-serve, cost per click based advertising platform called Marketplace.

Let’s assume we are trying to reach Spanish-preferring and bilingual Hispanics who are 18 years or older.

Define Objectives and Budget

It is imperative to first ask yourself what are you trying to accomplish and how will you measure success. Facebook advertising can be used to achieve several objectives, from branding and awareness, driving “likers” to a Facebook page, generating traffic to an external website or even direct response marketing. It is also important to set a budget and financial goals for the campaign and put the proper tracking in place to measure your success – that is, how much is your goal worth?

Establish a Target Audience

Facebook allows marketers to target audiences based on geographic, demographic, language and psychographic characteristics. Facebook’s targeting engine makes it easy and cost effective to reach various segments of the Hispanic online market.. Here are some simple targeting techniques you can use:

Location – Facebook allows marketers to target users on a national, state, city and zip code level. Location targeting give us immediate access to Hispanics as we know that certain DMA’s and zip codes have a high concentration of Hispanics from various countries of origin.

Demographics – Facebook allows us to target age and gender. We could choose younger cohorts in order to reach a large number of Hispanics, but for our campaign, let’s go with both men and women over 18.

Languages – Here is where it gets cool, Facebook advertising can be targeted to people in the United States who have chosen to use Facebook in Spanish. By selecting language = Spanish, we are able to reach almost 4 million Spanish-preferring Hispanics in the US.

Interests –Interest based targeting allows marketers to reach Facebook users based on the pages they like. This allows us to zero in on bilingual Hispanics, those that “like” Spanish language pages but use Facebook in English. Targeting those who use Facebook in English but like the pages of Spanish language media companies such as Univision, Telemundo, Televisa, CNN en Español and Azteca América yields an audience of nearly 700,000. If we add the Facebook pages of artists who predominantly cater to Latinos such as Wisin & Yandel, Don Omar, Ricardo Arjona, Juanes, Maná and Alejandro Fernandez, the audience grows to 1.2 million bilingual Hispanics.

Create Relevant Ads

Good ads are as important as targeting on Facebook. Facebook ads consist of a thumbnail image, a headline and a block of body copy. Make sure your ads are clear, compelling and call-to-action oriented. In our example above, we would use Spanish in the ads that would be targeted to the users who use Facebook in Spanish. For the bilingual group, we would likely test both Spanish and English ads. In terms of images, we have found that pictures of people tend to work best.

Launch and Optimize

Once you have defined your objectives, established your target audience and developed your ads, you are good to go, but once you launch your campaign you are only getting started. As with any online advertising tactic, Facebook advertising provides real time statistics on campaign performance. Be sure to monitor this closely and optimize your campaign to drive your objectives.

Back in May I took a look at how Hispanics were embracing emerging social media platforms and Tumblr caught my eye. When Tumblr announced last week that they now support Spanish, I thought I would see how Tumblr had progressed in the past few months. What I found was impressive. Tumblr has grown exponentially among Hispanics and now represents a platform Hispanics online marketers should seriously consider.

A cross between a blogging platform and Twitter, Tumblr makes it easy to share content and interact with it. Today there are over 28 million Tumblr blogs. Through Tumblr’s intuitive “liking” and “re-blogging” features, users share photos, videos or articles with their followers, who then amplify the content by re-blogging it to their networks.

Hispanic usage of Tumblr continues to skyrocket

Back in May 2011, comScore reported that 787,000 Hispanics visited Tumblr, making up 9% of total US traffic. In July 2011, Hispanic visitors to Tumblr skyrocketed to 1.5 million or 11% of US traffic. In the past 12 months, Tumblr’s total US traffic grew 218% while Tumblr’s US Hispanic traffic grew 312%. To put things in perspective, take a look at how Tumblr stacks up from a Hispanic traffic perspective to some leading Spanish language sites.

1. Univision.com – 3.5 Million Hispanic visitors
2. Tumblr – 1.5 Million Hispanic visitors
3. MSN Latino – 1.5 Million Hispanic visitors
4. Terra.com – 740 Thousand Hispanic visitors
5. AOL Latino – 650 Thousand Hispanic visitors

When taking a closer look at Tumblr’s 1.5 million monthly Hispanic visitors we find that they are more likely to be female, have children, prefer English and be younger than the aggregate Hispanic online market. Here is a quick comparison of Tumblr’s Hispanic users compared to Hispanic online market in general.

Age 12-34
o Hispanic online market 47%
o Tumblr 77%
Female
o Hispanic online market 49%
o Tumblr 52%
Have Children
o Hispanic online market 63%
o Tumblr 70%
Prefer English
o Hispanic online market 54%
o Tumblr 59%

The opportunity is wide open

Despite these impressive statistics, I am not aware of any large brands or organizations (besides Univision News) that have leveraged Tumblr to reach Hispanics. I will be keeping my eye on Tumblr to see who takes advantage of this opportunity.

As a follow up a previous post post, Five Reasons for Using Spanish to Reach Hispanics Online, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the Hispanic e-commerce landscape given that few leading online retailers are proactively targeting Spanish preferring and bilingual online Hispanics. The results should be eye opening for online retailers.

According to comScore, in the past 12 months, the US Hispanic online market has grown significantly while the US general online market has actually declined.

US Online market growth by segment May 2010 – May 2011

• Non-Hispanic -2%
• Hispanic English 12%
• Hispanic Bilingual 21%
• Hispanic Spanish 17%

As Hispanics become more comfortable and trusting of the Internet, they will also explore retail websites to research and purchase products. In fact, this is already happening:

Retail websites traffic growth by segment May 2010 – May 2011

• Non-Hispanic 7%
• Hispanic English 22%
• Hispanic Bilingual 28%
• Hispanic Spanish 27%

So which online retailers are benefiting from this growth? I analyzed the five most visited retail sites and found that for three of them, Netflix.com, BestBuy.com and Walmart.com are taking advantage of the booming Hispanic online market. The other two, Amazon.com and Target.com, actually saw declines in overall traffic, including among Hispanics. Below I’ll try to explain what is taking place, but first let’s take a look at the data, which shows traffic growth by segment from May 2010 – May 2011 for each retailer:

Netflix.com

• Non-Hispanic 51%
• Hispanic English 36%
• Hispanic Bilingual 122%
• Hispanic Spanish 208%

Bestbuy.com

• Non-Hispanic 16%
• Hispanic English 37%
• Hispanic Bilingual 30%
• Hispanic Spanish 45%

WalMart.com

• Non-Hispanic -8%
• Hispanic English 12%
• Hispanic Bilingual 22%
• Hispanic Spanish 14%

Amazon.com

• Non-Hispanic -2%
• Hispanic English -6%
• Hispanic Bilingual 5%
• Hispanic Spanish -4%

Target.com

• Non-Hispanic -18%
• Hispanic English -17%
• Hispanic Bilingual -4%
• Hispanic Spanish -8%

The clear winner of this group is Netflix, which has experienced meteoric growth among Spanish preferring and bilingual Hispanics in the past year. Spanish preferring and bilingual online Hispanics are young and very likely to have kids representing a strong segment for Netflix. Although Netflix.com does not offer a Spanish language experience on its website, it did proactively target Hispanics via online advertising in the past year.

Next to Netflix, Bestbuy.com had a strong year across all Hispanic online market segments. Of the large online retailers, Best Buy is the only one to offer a complete Spanish language version of their website. They also draw traffic to the site through an integrated Spanish language marketing effort.

Rounding out the list of winners is Wal-Mart who posted gains in Hispanic visitors while non-Hispanic traffic declined. Walmart.com does offer Spanish content on its website through its “Ahorra más. Vive mejor campaign” and also markets aggressively in Spanish.

As for those sites that experienced declines in traffic?

Both Amazon.com and Target.com experienced drops in non-Hispanic traffic over the past twelve months, but it is surprising that they saw declines across most Hispanic online segments. Then again, neither offers a Spanish language experience and their site or executes a targeted Hispanic online advertising.

The data shows that online retailers should consider putting up a “Se habla español” sign.

In most cases I don’t think it makes sense to provide a complete Spanish language version of an e-commerce site, but targeted Hispanic advertising including social media, Spanish language customer support and relevant Spanish language content can go a long way in building relationships with online Hispanics.

The release of the 2010 Census has re-ignited the debate about which language is best for reaching US Hispanics. With US born Hispanics now outnumbering foreign born Hispanics, the voices of proponents of using English are growing louder. Where do I stand in this debate, well it’s quite simple: Figure out the language preference of your target audience and use that language, be it English or Spanish.

When it comes to the Hispanic online market, most studies indicate that half of the 31 million Hispanics online prefer English while the other half prefers Spanish or are bilingual. Using common sense and some quantitative data from comScore, I came up with 5 reasons for using Spanish to reach online Hispanics.

1. Strong Market Dynamics – While the US online market has reached maturity, Spanish preferring and bilingual Hispanics are driving the growth in the US Hispanic online market. New Internet users represent an attractive target for marketers looking to make a good first impression. Take a look:

2. Less Competition – Today there are relatively few marketers proactively targeting the 14.6 million online Hispanics that prefer Spanish or are bilingual. Less competition means not only lower advertising costs on platforms such as Google and Facebook, but also higher engagement with a consumer that is not as bombarded by online advertising.

3. Favorable Demographics – When compared to English preferring online Hispanics, Hispanics who prefer Spanish or are bilingual fall into a sweet spot for marketers looking to reach consumers who are young, make more money and have a family:

4. Low Expectations – As I theorized in a previous post, most Hispanics expect Spanish-language online experiences to be poor. Marketers who provide high quality Spanish language online experiences will exceed expectations and make a favorable impression on this segment.

5. Using English is More Challenging- Targeting English preferring Hispanics online is more difficult and expensive than targeting Spanish speaking online Hispanics. In addition, marketers already investing in general market online campaigns are likely reaching English preferring online Hispanics.

At the end of the day, marketers looking to reach all online Hispanics need to use both English and Spanish. But if you had to choose between the two, I would start with Spanish. It just makes sense.

¿No crees?

Although some may find this post a bit self-serving, I feel that this story is reflective of the massive influence Hispanics are having on the United States. Indulge me while I tell you about the evolution of our company from a Hispanic digital agency to an agency that now executes both Hispanic and general market work.

A passion for Hispanic culture and the Internet was the catalyst for founding Captura Group in 2001. When we started, the Hispanic online market barely existed. Today, Hispanics account for 14% of the US online market and are leading the way in their usage of social media and mobile technology. Our company grew up with the Hispanic online market and we have had the privilege of helping great companies, government entities, and non-profits reach this growing and vibrant segment.

A couple of years ago, we had the opportunity to present a Hispanic social media strategy for one of our clients, GobiernoUSA.gov. Our presentation caught the attention of the higher ups at GSA (the government agency that manages GobiernoUSA.gov) and we were asked if we could also support the English language social media for USA.gov. In a world where general market initiatives have tended to shape Hispanic initiatives rather than vice versa, this request was quite refreshing and rewarding.

We said yes, and just like JLo, we crossed over. Since then, our Hispanic business has flourished and we have also been able to diversity the company and provide “general market” services as well. Captura Group continues to be a leading Hispanic online marketing agency, and we now execute world class “general market” digital services under the brand Measured Voice.

There has been significant debate on this blog and within our industry about the future of Hispanic agencies. From where I sit the future is bright. Thanks to the Hispanic market, Captura Group was in a position to cross over and become stronger. As US Hispanics have become even more important, the same is the case for Hispanic agencies as our work gets more visibility among key decision makers.

Hispanic marketers not only work with the nation’s largest minority, they also offer a unique set of tools that are becoming essential in today’s marketplace. Hispanic agencies understand how to communicate in multiple languages, across different levels of acculturation and to a group of people from varied countries of origin.

In essence, we understand how to market in today’s America.

Just like JLo does.

I recently came across a thought provoking briefing by trendwatching.com that predicts consumer trends for 2011. As I read the brief, I was fascinated by how right-on they are and how Hispanics lie at the center of many of these trends. For this post I have highlighted the consumer trends I feel will be most impacted by Hispanics.

1. Random Acts of Kindness

Social media has created a window into the needs, wants and complaints of consumers. This combined with the general feeling of consumer disgust brought on by the recession creates an opportunity for brands to bestow random acts of kindness on their customers.

Marketers looking to capitalize on this trend should consider Hispanics. Not only do they represent over $1 trillion in buying power, they are also at the bleeding edge of social media. Random acts of kindness that reward both the individual and the collective Hispanic group will pay off handsomely for brands.

2. Urbanomics

Half of the world’s population lives in urban areas and millions are moving to cities each year. This trend bodes well for marketers as “urban consumers tend to be more daring, liberal, more tolerant, more experienced and more prone to trying out new products and services.”

Hispanics are at the heart of this trend with over 91% of them living in urban areas. Brands looking to reach urban audience should not neglect Hispanics, they are young, tech-savvy, bi-lingual and bi-cultural.

3. Pricing Pandemonium

Social media, group buying sites, and the explosion of smart phones have put an infinite amount of real time pricing information at the fingertips of consumers. This trend will force marketers to create a multitude of flexible and adapting pricing models for consumers.

In addition to being avid social media users, a recent report (pdf) by Scarborough Research found that smartphone growth among Hispanics is outpacing the general market and that Hispanics are heavy mobile users. Pricing models that incentivize likeminded groups of mobile users should be salient within the Hispanic community.

4. Online Status Symbols

We find ourselves connected online and collecting online and offline status symbols will help us identify who we are within this new context. Brands will increasingly offer badges, symbols and other rewards to consumers who interact with them.

Marketers should develop and distribute symbols to allow Latinos to identify with their evolving heritage and culture. Toyota did an awesome job of this with its “Somos Muchos Latinos” campaign.

5. Well-thy

Consumers are increasingly interested in improving their quality of life, and products and services that promote health will be hot in 2011.

There are significant and complex health issues facing Hispanics including high levels of obesity and diabetes. This is a great opportunity for marketers to proactively address the cultural and language barriers that affect the health of many Hispanics and ride this consumer trend.

6. Emerging Generosity

Consumers increasingly expect wealthy individuals and brands to give back to the community. The $600 billion challenge led by Warren Buffett and Bill and Melinda Gates as well as Mark Zuckerberg’s pledge to donate most of his wealth to charity clearly exemplify this trend.

Maybe in 2011 Mexico’s Carlos Slim, the world’s richest man, will pledge to donate his wealth to Hispanics. Does anyone know if Warren Buffet speaks Spanish? Maybe he can convince Mr. Slim.

Last week, Groupon turned down a $6 billion bid from Google. The enormous offer—and the fact that Groupon declined it—highlights the vast size and potential of local online markets. It also inspired me to take a look at who’s best positioned to reach the local Hispanic online market.

The success of Groupon and other local online advertising companies will surely inspire entrepreneurs looking grab a piece of the $1.5 billion that AdAge reports was invested in local Hispanic media in 2008.

A local online advertising business like Groupon requires two key ingredients: a critical mass of local consumers and the ability to sell to local advertisers. Those looking to tackle the local Hispanic online market should combine these ingredients with a deep understanding of the nuances of Hispanic purchasing habits and online behavior. The following is an overview of some companies that are positioned to make a run at the local Hispanic online market.

The big online players

Although the Hispanic market not a priority, these companies are perhaps best positioned to own the local Hispanic online market. Groupon, Google, Facebook, Yahoo!, Microsoft and Living Social have aggregated massive lists of targetable consumers, many of whom are Hispanic. They also have the ability and resources to effectively reach and sell to local advertisers.

Los Latinos

Companies directly focused on the Hispanic market benefit from an understanding of the consumer, but don’t necessarily have the scale and technological prowess of the big online players.

Univision has the ability to reach local consumers and advertisers through 124 wholly owned TV and radio stations. On the digital side, Univision recently announced the launch of 72 new local websites in key markets and can geo-target users on the Univision.com portal.

Entravision, who owns and or operates 51 Hispanic Television stations and 48 radio stations, is making a play for the Hispanic local online market with local station websites in addition to their “Busca” online directory and “Todo Local” classifieds site.

ZGS Communications, owner of 14 TV and radio stations recently launched, Hola Cuidad, a network of local Hispanic websites in markets such as Washington DC and El Paso, Texas.

Other Hispanic media companies that are positioned in this market include, but are not limited to Telemundo, Impremedia and Spanish Broadcasting System.

The startups

Unlike the general market where local online advertising sites seem to launch every day, the Hispanic market is relatively quiet in terms of startups. Descuento Libre made some noise back in November when they announced a partnership with Hoy. Here in San Diego, Gran Cupón seems to have limped out of the gate, while Mexican startup Buzz Urbano looks to be off to a promising start.

The 2010 US Census will indicate that Hispanics make up 16% of the US Population—perhaps Google will offer to buy the Groupón of the Hispanic market for 16% of $6 billion—it comes out to a cool $1 billion.

Univision and Televisa have finally kissed and made up. After years of bickering, last week’s reconciliation seems to be a win-win for both parties.

From a financial perspective, Televisa will invest $1.2 billion in Univision for a 5% equity stake and assume a huge chunk of Univision’s debt in exchange for an additional 25% equity stake. Perhaps more importantly, however, the deal grants Univision exclusive U.S. rights to Televisa’s broadcast and digital assets through 2020.

There is no disputing that Univision dominates the US Spanish-language media industry especially when it comes to television and radio. Univision’s television network reaches nearly twice as many household as the number two player Telemundo. In radio, Univision reaches 73% of the Hispanic market through 73 stations—compare this to their nearest competitor, Spanish Broadcasting System who has only 15 radio stations.

Univision is also the number one player in the Spanish-language online market, but competition is much tighter when compared to Spanish-language television and radio. The following data from Quantcast.com shows a more competitive Spanish-language online industry.

1. Univision.com 1,500,000*
2. Terra.com 1,100,000
3. Telemundo.com 581,000
4. Amigos.com 533,000
5. EsMas.com 430,000
6. QuePasa.com 350,000
7. MedioTiempo.com 323,000
8. Starmedia.com 263,000

*Monthly US users

Barriers to entry in the online world are significantly lower than those in the television and radio markets, making compelling content that much more important online. And compelling content is exactly what Univision gets through its renewed partnership with Televisa.

Televisa has a wealth of highly attractive digital content

Televisa is the largest multimedia conglomerate in the Spanish-speaking world, and Univision is now Televisa’s distribution platform in the US. In addition to its hugely popular telenovelas, Televisa also owns three Mexican soccer teams, including the popular Club America, Editorial Televisa, which produces and distributes 178 magazine titles, and Televisa Cine, which produces original feature films, just to name a few.

With access to Televisa’s digital content, Univision is well positioned to continue to succeed in the US Hispanic online market. They just have to figure out how to leverage it to attract and engage more users by 2020.