To engage Hispanics, think bi-lingual

The number of Hispanic Internet users in the U.S. is expected to rise to around 21 million in the next couple of years. A recent study has discovered that a bi-lingual approach to social media is something marketers shouldn’t ignore.

by Helen Leggatt

It appears online Hispanics are more likely to be active online in communities where they can speak their native language as well as English. Hispanics are much more active in online forums and participation rates are much higher than those found in solely English-speaking communities.

Marketers that want a piece of the forecast $670 billion that Hispanic households will control by 2010, need to start paying attention to not only what consumers want to say, but also the language they want to express themselves in.

"The problem is, most marketers have questioned if and how online venues are an effective channel for communicating with Hispanics,” said Katrina Lerman, Communispace researcher and author of the report. “In conducting this research, we set out to help our clients understand if and how they can use online communities to successfully engage members of this important consumer segment, and what differences within this broad and diverse population should be considered in formulating a community strategy.”

According to Lerman, online bi-lingual communities are a better reflection of Hispanics’ offline lives because many, especially the younger generations, have been educated in English speaking schools.