• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, January 24, 2013

U.S. Hispanics who use social media are more likely than the general social media population  to want customer service delivered via social media, according to NM Incite.

Overall 57% of Hispanics who use social media have engaged with customer service via social media, including asking questions or voicing complaints, according to NM Incite; that compares to 47% of the general social media population.  35% of Hispanics on social media said they prefer customer service via social media versus the phone, compared to 28% of the general population expressing the same preference. Hispanics were also more likely to be influenced positively by customer service via social media, with 47% recommending brands or companies after the experience, compared to 39% of the general population.

In terms of specific social media channels, 35% of Hispanics who use social media for customer service said they preferred Facebook, compared to 29% of all individuals using social media for customer service. Meanwhile 26% of Hispanics said they preferred Twitter for customer service, and 25% chose YouTube, compared to 13% and 12% of the general population , respectively.

I’m curious as to why Hispanics are more receptive to the idea of engaging with customer service via social media. Might it be due to their (allegedly) higher rate of engagement with social media in general? Last year BIGinsight found that 26.8% of Hispanics spent six hours or more on social media sites every day, compared to just 8.5% of the general Internet population. They were also more likely to try out newer social media sites like Pinterest.

Also last year a survey of 650 online Hispanic adults by uSamp found that 90% of respondents were on Facebook, compared to 81% of the general online population. Meanwhile 57% of Hispanics surveyed use YouTube, compared to 46% of non-Hispanics, and 47% of online Hispanics said they used Google+ compared to just 18% for the general online population.