Last week Julie Diaz-Asper, Founding Partner & CEO at Social Lens Research analyzed ways through which marketers can leverage their presence in Twitter and Snapchat. In the below article, Diaz-Asper takes a look at YouTube and Instagram and the role they’ll play in reaching Hispanic audiences in 2015.
YouTube: Video is king!
YouTube has become, and will increasingly be considered, key to Hispanic marketers’ social efforts. Consider these stats: Hispanics reportedly spend more time watching videos (over 90 minutes more) than other online users (Nielsen report); and with over 100 hours of videos uploaded to YouTube every minute (YouTube); that adds up to a lot of viewing potential.
In a recent Think with Google Report, Google offers a good look at how Hispanic Marketers are using video and especially YouTube to reach Hispanics. One great example is Universal and their Hispanic channel that offers bi-lingual, Spanglish and culturally relevant content that goes beyond the trailer-only Spanish translations that are fairly typical. It’s working! The Vin Diesel’s Spanglish introduction of Fast Five has received over 5 million views.
Collaboration with Hispanic YouTube stars is also on the rise. Not surprising given that YouTube has already had some major Hispanic breakout stars, many more are signing with brands and have become well-known celebrities. Bethany Mota is what you can call a YouTube “It Girl” with over 8 million subscribers to her channel. She is a Latina with wildly popular shopping hauls, make-up and decorating videos who has an Aéropostale clothing line which was launched last Spring complete with an envy-worthy road tour bus. Recently, Mota even interviewed President Obama in the White House East Room after the State of the Union address.
Becky G got her start on YouTube after posting videos of her covers of popular songs. She is now topping the hit charts, having performed at the Teen Choice Awards and stopping by the Ellen Show to perform. Recently she became a COVERGIRL and has created some really entertaining content like her video with three moves from her Shower video that can be used at parties.
Brands aren’t only focusing on the mega-YouTube stars either. Multi-channel networks like MiTu, who has over 6 billion views across its network, is a big player in the branded YouTube space for Hispanic stars. Just recently they signed a deal with Makers Studio, backed by Disney, to create branded Spanish and English language, short-form entertainment aimed at Millennial Hispanics. One of my favorite YouTubers, El Guzzii, is on their roster where he makes fun, super simple recipe videos in Spanish.
I believe we’ll see an increase in in Hispanic branded content deals on YouTube this year. There are many untapped opportunities for brands to reach-out and work with Hispanic YouTubers who are already talking about their brand, especially in the Food and Beauty space.
Instagram: Virgin Territory for many Marketers but Teens love it!
Hispanic Marketer’s use of Instagram is still emerging. Even some of the most active marketers still aren’t including Instagram in campaigns or have active accounts. We can expect to see that change over the next year.
Instagram, which has helped selfies to become a rite of passage for Hispanic teens everywhere, grew among online Hispanics from 23% in 2013 to 34% in 2014 (Pew). Even though it’s not uncommon these days to see abuelas taking selfies, Instagram remains mostly for younger demographics (53% of 18-29 year olds). Hispanics on Instagram are making their mark with accounts such as: Being Latino with 265K followers; Latino celebrity accounts, PitBull at 1.7 million followers, and Selena Gomez at 21.7 million; and hashtag, #latina, have received more than 3 million posts.
We’ve started to see more brands extend their social marketing efforts to Instagram especially when it comes to blogger engagement. To get a good feel of these campaigns check-out Latina Bloggers Connect on Instagram which consistently excels in creating great content.
It’s no surprise that brands would leverage Latino celebrities to build Instagram channels. A great example is Toyota’s leverage of Willam Levy for it’s #GranDecision campaign which has short videos where users can help choose a path for Levy. One image on Levy’s account received over 47K likes.
Given the growth of Instagram among Hispanics, you can expect to see more Instagram efforts. Advertising on Instagram is in its early stages but as it becomes more robust it will likely accelerate and be included in more and more social campaigns.
Concluding Thoughts
We can expect to see a lot more investment in social in 2015 with up to 70% of marketers expected to increase social spending.. Hispanic marketers should look at extending campaigns to new platforms and building campaigns for new channels, especially Instagram with the added investment. Investing in engaging content and collaborating with influencers who truly understand these channels will make Hispanic marketers stand-out and experience greater success.
Julie Diaz-Asper is the founder of Social Lens Research. Social Lens has a proven track record of using a mix of social marketing techniques and sound research methodologies to better engage and gain deeper insights (mobile optimized research exercises, focus groups, social contests).Julie has over two decades of experience helping large organizations to innovate and pursue new market opportunities including American Express, AARP, Google Multicultural, Univision, Consumer Reports en Español, Cabot Cheese, Mobile Future, CX Act, HITN, Immersive Youth Marketing and Inspire Agency.
[ctalatint]
