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Only two in 10 engage Hispanics on the social Web

The majority of US companies recognize that Hispanics, who make up about 15% of the country’s population, will have an effect on industry trends in the next five years. But few are marketing directly to them, according to the “2010 Hispanic Marketing Trends Survey” from Orcí.

Still fewer are marketing to them on social networking sites: 78% of US companies said they had not used any social media to engage Hispanics. Those marketers that had done so primarily used Facebook and Twitter.

“Hispanics are tech-savvy, young trendsetters with incredible spending power,” said Hector Orci, co-founder and chairman of the agency, in a statement. Nearly four in five socialize online, the study found.

Summer 2009 research from AOL Advertising indicated that Hispanic users were more likely than average to go online at nearly every stage in the purchase cycle and considered the Internet a vital source of information on a variety of topics.

Still, the vast majority of marketers surveyed by Orcí simply did not know whether social media was a good way to engage the Hispanic population, though they were more likely to say yes than no.

Overall, just 18% of respondents planned to increase their Hispanic marketing spending in the next year. The primary reason companies said they did not market to Hispanics more was that the return on investment would not be justified (38%), followed by the opinion that their current marketing was sufficient for the Hispanic market (29%). Budget was also an issue for 21% of companies surveyed.

“For the last 30 years a minority of companies that have been smart enough to take advantage of engaging Hispanic consumers have seen their efforts make a difference to their bottom line,” said Mr. Orci. “Now more than ever, businesses need to think about how to tap into the opportunity the Hispanic market presents.”

(source: emarketer.com)

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