According to the results of the last US Census, over 45 million Hispanics now live in the United States, making that population one of the largest ethnic groupings in the US. Because this number of Hispanic consumers is so high, and growing higher each year, American businesses must be aware of the methods needed to sell products and services to this country’s Hispanic populations. And that process is not as easy as it sounds. Remember, English is not a Hispanic’s primary language. If a company’s ads are only written in English, and depend on a knowledge of English usage, then those ads may be incomprehensible to a Hispanic audience. And American humor, if written in English, may not come across as funny to Hispanic consumers.
A company that wants to sell products and services to a Hispanic population, or produce a successful social media campaign, must become familiar with Hispanic culture. Read the magazines and books of Hispanic culture to find out the interests, the needs, and the wants specific to Hispanics. Not only will this research help with the sales of services and products to Hispanics by pinpointing Hispanic cultural trends, it will also help the company figure out the next step, the use of social networking sites on the internet to reach out to, and communicate with, Hispanic customers.
When doing this research on social networking sites, keep in mind these questions that you want the answers for:
* Which social networking sites are oriented toward Hispanics?
* Which sites cater to Hispanics who want to talk with each other?
* Of these sites, which ones are totally written in Spanish?
* Which of these sites are intended for Hispanics keeping in touch with their overseas relatives?
* Do some sites cater to Hispanics who may be resentful at being forced to speak English, or who prefer speaking Spanish at home or away from the job?
Ponder those strategies that make sense of what you’ve discovered about Hispanic culture, and how those answers might be translated into your company’s use of the social networking sites. Once you’ve developed that strategy into an action plan, follow through on the action items. Join in on the conversations at the social networking sites, and you’ll understand not only what the Hispanic mind is interested in, you’ll also discover what’s happening in Hispanic hearts. Engage the interest of the Hispanics you meet online — but, that’s not a plan you can accomplish overnight. You will have to learn a lot and work a lot to achieve success when engaging in a Hispanic strategy in the social media of the internet. But, the effort will be well worth it for your company, because this effort will require only one step more to translate that understanding of Hispanic culture into print ads and commercials that will appeal to Hispanics.
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