Earlier this year BARS+TONE Static explored the affluence and buying power of the Hispanic demographic. As we explore the mobile marketing trend, we are going to look into Hispanic adoption of mobile technology and ways marketers can engage them.
 
A recent nielsenwire study reveals that Hispanics are early adopters of new mobile devices and technology, 13% more likely to use a smart phone. Whether it is shopping, reading, watching videos, or updating their Facebook status, it is all done at their fingertips. The interesting part is that, according to eMarketer, tablet usage has been adopted not only by the young, frequently English dominant user, but by the older, culturally traditional, and frequently Spanish dominant user. The conventional wisdom is that smart phones and tablets are seen as a less expensive and easier to use alternative to the PC. In other words, the trend cuts across demographic lines.
 
There are various reasons why Hispanics prefer a tablet or smartphone over a PC, but as Media Post explains, it is clear that they adjust rather quickly to this mobile trend. A key takeaway is that most of their time is spent with visual applications, which are easier to interpret than reading text. Essentially, they allow for language agnostic interaction. One thing we suggest is using branded entertainment. Create an application or a game that can be easily translated – or require virtually no use of language at all – and help them interact with your product or brand. Once they have had that engagement they are more likely to react positively to your brand message.
 
Second, go mobile first – As revealed in another Media Post article, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) reports that Hispanic communities are more likely to use their mobile device to do research for their purchases than the population at large. It is important for your brand and product messaging to be found via the mobile internet. When developing a mobile presence, be sure to consider demographics like the Hispanic market and how to engage with them.
 
Finally, go social. Lisa Abboud, Principal of InterEthnica, an agency that specializes in multicultural marketing, states that “Social networking is a natural fit for Hispanics because their culture is based on strong family and social ties. Hispanics thrive in cooperative environments. Once a member of the Hispanic community is engaged by a brand or message, you can count on your brand quickly gaining momentum within their social network.” But it’s more than simply having a social media site – it’s important to target the audience with a culturally relevant message. “In order to build trust within this community, it is important to post information in both Spanish and English, because many Spanish-speakers do not trust the in-language copy or visuals to be as up-to-date or accurate as the English versions.” Abboud explains.
 
The Hispanic community is growing, their buying power is increasing exponentially and they are enthusiastic adopters of mobile. Savvy marketers will learn how to put this to use and engage with a growing community with growing buying power – that’s marketing gold.
 
 

By: Austin Allen, Marketing Associate

@austin_sf

Austin@bars-tone.com

I’ve been following this phenomenon they call BranchOut for the last month, ever since I got an invite from a random individual who I never expected to be concerned about their career.  The circumstances surrounding the invite intrigued me.  Why was this person inviting me to join their network?  The answer: Automatic invites from people who joined via other automatic invites.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not writing this article to discourage anyone from checking it out.  I am always rooting for the hip new start-up companies that are working hard to make something cutting edge but in my time, I’ve seen a few networks come and go (MySpace, Unthink to name a few).  Unthink had nothing really different to offer over Facebook, and MySpace was the leader in social media for a long time until they allowed the users too much design control.  The key is to offer something different.  This new professional network is pretty much the same as LinkedIn but it is using the massive Facebook user base to spread like wildfire.  At over 5.5 million users, it would seem they are doing well.  I would be curious how many of them did what I did: Joined, checked it out, and never opened the tab again.

I don’t think BranchOut will be successful for a few reasons.  The first reason is: As a young professional with a Facebook page that now runs timeline, I don’t really want my professional career building contacts to have access to my Facebook page.  I won’t beat around the bush.  Many of us have our personal life out on Facebook for the world to see.  Why would I want to easily direct a potential employer to my personal life.  I once heard a past marketing teacher say, “All of us having something on our Facebook page that could lose us that potential job if you look hard enough”!

Many people are jumping on the BranchOut bandwagon right now to check it out.  Afterall, it’s on Facebook.  That makes it one step easier than building a LinkedIn profile.  I think a whole bunch of people are checking it out but not really using it.  My gut feeling is that, the droves of people that aren’t really professionals will check it out because it seems like a great idea to be serious about their career but will quickly forget about it.  I would like to say this happened to Hipstamatic, they blew up with this cutting edge concept, but in the end it was more of a novelty.  They didn’t find a way to make it stay relevant as Hipstamatic did with its sharing.  Although, they started the picture filter craze, they only made about $5Million in Revenue thus far.  Branch out will be a novelty on Facebook for some time, but in the end, LinkedIn has given us a reason to stay.  We want to keep our business and personal contacts separate (and for good reason too).

My last reason is, simply: I really don’t have time to manage more accounts.  Unless a network comes around that really changes the game, I don’t usually stick with it for very long.  I think that will be the norm in our saturated Social Media Network landscape of the 2010′s.  Most of the cutting edge start-ups right now are coming from the way they use apps.  I would argue that the future of Social is in mobile, I’m not just talking about apps that are just mini-websites but apps that bring something new such as: Instagram, Draw Something, Words with….

I did a search for marketing jobs the other day on BranchOut and narrowed it down to the experience levels I would be interested in and the positions all came up as Director, Manager, and Senior this or that.  I’m sure they just need some tweaking in their algorithms, but for now I’d say I gave it the ol’ benefit of the doubt by allowing it to connect to my Facebook.  To date I’ve been on BranchOut 3 times: The first day I loaded it, a second day to try some of the features out, and the last day to write this blog.  I’m hoping after I write this that there is a reason to check it out a 4th time to see if I was wrong (hopefully I am).

Have you “branched out” yet? What’s your take on this new LinkedIn competitor?

San Francisco based (only the best are right?)  “Path” is a social app that allows you to keep a journal of your life electronically.  One of the coolest features of this app is the fact that it actually does some of the record keeping itself and learns your patterns.  This app isn’t Facebook or Twitter.  You can only add 50 of your closest friends and family.

It is essentially a very closed social network.  Privacy is not taken advantage of here.  The main focus of this app seems to be to allow the user to share anything with a smaller, more selective, group of people.  Maybe this would be a better  place to post those awesome Vegas photos with your friends, that you would prefer to keep hidden from your boss.  If you feel the need, you can even share what time you go to sleep.  Now all your friends will know what time is inappropriate to be texting you!

We loved the “less is more” interface design.  Yeah, it looks a bit like Facebook, but easier to use.  The main page features: a profile picture, a cover picture, a timeline of current events, and a pop out menu of sharing options.  That’s it, that’s all.  It’s so easy a caveman can do it.  This app won’t replace the big boys (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube) but it creates a network that you can keep a bit more private with a very easy to use interface.

 Grab this one in the app store!

Got a cool app? Share it!