Hispanics are 37% more likely than the general population to publish a blog on a blogging platform or use a social networking site, according to a recent study by 360i.
While the general population influencers reveal a tremendously diverse set of motivators, the study found that Hispanic influencers are most commonly motivated by their shared cultural ties.
c/o: OhMyGov!
As marketers realize the importance of social media in regard to multicultural consumers the question of how to determine black, from brown, from white is a big one. However the next question to ask is if this online racial profiling is a smart social media strategy?
Tom Foremski has a great blog post about this over at ZDNet.
Yesterday, CafeMom launched MamasLatinas (www.mamaslatinas.com), the first bilingual website to serve Hispanic mothers living in the United States. The site launch comes at an apt time for a growing audience — by 2014, one in four moms online will be Hispanic. Additionally, 92 percent of Hispanic moms across the acculturation spectrum believe there is not currently a website that clearly meets their needs, according to a major national study of Hispanic moms conducted by CafeMom.
“Latina moms are culturally unique, and there’s no site in the U.S. that focuses on super-serving the interests and needs of this influential segment,” explained MamasLatinas Co-founder and Executive Vice President Lucia Ballas-Traynor. “The Latina mom wants to be part of a community of moms like her who also strive to succeed in America while preserving and passing on their Latin heritage and traditions, cultivated by experts who uphold her value system and parenting style.”
The Washington Post along with Kaiser Family Foundation have just released their findings of a nationwide study focusing on the lifestyles, attitudes and aspirations of African American women. The interesting part of the study is it was conducted among black and white women providing an interesting look at how African American women’s hopes, dreams and expectations differ from their white counterparts. While these differences are obviously very insightful, I think in this day in age of tighter budgets marketers should also be looking at where there differing target markets are aligned. Similar mindset can be an opportunity for shared marketing strategies/messages.
Read more here…
As the focus on our growing multicultural market appears to finally be gaining traction are US companies engaging in an either/or scenario when it comes to targeting Hispanics and African Americans? With the explosive growth of the Hispanic market it seems only fitting businesses would sit up and take notice but does that mean they’ll let African American consumers fall by the wayside? A new Nielsen study outlines why that would be a big mistake.
The report notes that this population has a buying power of nearly $1 trillion.
Key findings in the report include:
Demographics
Television
Mobile
Consumer
Online
Read more here…
While companies have started to notice Mom bloggers in general, targeting multicultural Moms, who are typically very family focused, would definitely be a smart move as well.
“Five years ago, toy companies handed out 98 percent of their samples to TV stations, newspapers and magazines. Today 70 percent of those free samples go to [MOM]bloggers.” (via CBC)
This radio documentary from the CBC traces the history and importance of mommy bloggers. Whether or not you work with this segment, it’s worth a listen and will provide context on how to engage with this ever evolving and important group.
I think as business people we’re often too narrow-minded when it comes to shaping our marketing strategies. We tend to look for marketing opportunities, or consumer shifts from a pure business perspective when we should also pay attention to what’s going on in society in general. This is especially true when it comes to multicultural marketing.
How people are thinking and reacting to each other can be very telling and potentially informative when it comes to understanding your target market. For example, now that some of the intensity around the viral sensation “Sh-t White Girls Say to Black Girls” is starting to die down I realize there’s some telling insights hidden among people’s reaction to the video. If you’re not familiar with Franchesca Ramsey’s video it’s her take on the hugely popular “Sh-t Girls Say” meme. While many found Ramsey’s version extremely funny just as many labeled it as racist.
Although the social commentary the video has created between African Americans and whites is interesting, I think marketers should pay close attention from a consumer strategy point of view.
The reaction to the video highlights how important race and culture are and how easily people can move into offensive territory and not even know it. Marketers who lack this cultural knowledge have gotten their companies in trouble and without careful consideration will continue to do so. The easy (a.k.a. lazy) way out for many marketers is to avoid scratching the cultural surface but all that leads to is ineffective and inauthentic marketing.
Bottom line, cultural knowledge is crucial when it comes to multicultural marketing. Watch the video. If you don’t get it, or think you may have said a few of things in there then you should definitely get some help with your multicultural marketing strategy.
In this economy, where no customer can be taken for granted, market share growth through retention of a company’s most profitable customers should be the first priority. With $1 trillion dollars in buying power, losing a sale among women of color – Latina, Black and Asian women – through poor customer service can be very costly. Why? Women of color are a powerful referral source. To the extent that you are able to secure the trust and respect of a woman of color and provide outstanding service throughout her experience with your brand, you will create a built-in referral source and positively impact your company’s future sales.
Women will refer up to 26 individuals to a company, product, or service if she is happy with her experience. Men, on the other hand, will refer an average of 11 people, even with the highest degree of satisfaction with a comparable product or service. Therefore on a 2:1 basis, women have incredible referral energy and this energy results in increased future sales.
At the other extreme, women and women of color have very strong veto power. If she is not feeling comfortable with a product or service approach, she will cancel out that company as an option. She has 95% veto power in decisions where both a spouse and partner are involved. Therefore, as an entrepreneur who values customer growth, you will want to make sure you provide outstanding customer service to women of color so that they will become your ally.
Just how do you create a strong referral business among multicultural women?
Read more here…
The world is getting smaller. As new technologies in social media, transportation, and telecommunications bring us closer together, it’s more critical than ever for organizations to recruit, develop, and retain multicultural leaders who can skillfully navigate both the opportunities and challenges of a more connected world.
So what can managers do to contribute their part?
1. Focus recruiting efforts to bring diverse, multicultural candidates into the company. This might include adjusting employer branding messages, diversifying recruiting talent sources, or even adjusting selection criteria to reward multicultural experience and leadership capability. It may also entail hiring experts such as cultural anthropologists who can support a more targeted exploration of a specific culture.
2. Make multicultural experiences an explicit part of career path conversations and performance reviews so that young managers can begin to treat view multicultural skill development more seriously.
3. Build multicultural elements into management training programs, either by adjusting existing curricula or developing new materials.
4. Launch structured mobility programs that bring rising managers to different cultures and geographies on both short-term projects and medium-term rotations. This will ensure that multicultural leadership development is embedded throughout an organization’s talent management processes.
5. Integrate multicultural insights into business decisions and strategy. After all, the above interventions mean little if managers do not actively harness the insights that only multicultural leaders can bring to the table.
Hispanics/Latinos, Asians, and African Americans will soon be half of the US population. These cultural groups tend to preserve key elements of their ancestral cultures. Marketing in culture to these important groups is like marketing to other groups, except that one must understand their culture. Cultural understanding in marketing is a growing branch in the study of consumer behavior.
