• by Lee Vann , Columnist, December 13, 2012

Now that social media has become an integral part of most people’s lives, marketers are continuously looking for ways to take advantage of it to reach you with their message. Of the various tactics being employed, Content Marketing has emerged as one that marketers are increasingly focusing on. Wikipedia broadly defines Content Marketing as a “marketing format that involves the creation and sharing of content to drive profitable consumer action.” A Content Marketing strategy clearly defines audience and objectives and outlines content formats including social media updates, longer form articles, e-newsletters, videos, blogs and others.  As marketers begin to develop and refine Content Marketing strategies, a Hispanic content marketing strategy should be considered for several reasons.

There is a lack of quality Hispanic content online

It’s a fact; the 35 million online Hispanics have relatively few content options available to them, including both digital content in Spanish and content in English that is tailored to them. A recent Nielsen study indicates that a full 60% of Spanish-speaking U.S. Hispanic consumers agree there’s a lack of Spanish digital content, and Google reports that 56% of Hispanics that are not online cite a lack of Spanish content as the primary reason for not using the Internet. This represents a sound opportunity for marketers to fill the Hispanic online content gap by developing and distributing high-quality content that provides Hispanics value.

Hispanic search engine optimization is less competitive

Each month, 86% of online Hispanics visit Google, looking for products, services and content relevant to them. Marketers should know that competing for Spanish language or Hispanic-themed keywords is much easier when compared to equivalent English keywords. Try searches for “computer” and “computadora” on Google.  Google caches over 1.3 billion pages and displays 11 paid ads for the English version while the Spanish version gives me 88 million pages and 6 ads. Less search engine competition is directly related to the lack of Hispanic content, and brands can take advantage of this by executing a sound Hispanic content strategy.

Hispanics are very likely to share good content

Countless studies have shown that Hispanics are extremely engaged with social media, and a full 70% of online Hispanics visit Facebook each month. The appetite for social media is driven by not only the relative youth of the Hispanic market, but also by their desire to consume, create and share content that is relevant to them, content that is not readily being provided by brands and publishers. 

As marketers begin to think more like publishers, they take a close look at the Hispanic market. In it ,they will find a large and growing market that has a thirst for high-quality, relevant content that, if done right, will rise to the top of search engines and Facebook news feeds.