Commentary
Facebook Courts Multicultural TV Advertisers
- by Lee Vann , Columnist, January 8, 2015
Back in October, I had the pleasure of attending Facebook’s first-ever multicultural learning session in New York. The event was attended by 200+ of the who’s who of U.S. Hispanic and multicultural marketing, publishing, and media, and in my mind marked a pivotal turning point in the U.S. Hispanic and multicultural media landscape.
New Facebook / Ipsos Multicultural Study
During the learning session, Facebook provided a sneak peek into a new study that digs into the digital lives of self-identified Hispanic and multicultural consumers in the U.S. The study was released last month and provides rich insights to help marketers connect with multicultural consumers online. Much of the data supports what we already know: Hispanics are highly active social media and mobile users and are more likely to follow brands online. Facebook shared some new data on Hispanic Facebook behavior that is eye opening. Each month on Facebook, U.S. Hispanics:
- Generate 8.49 billion likes, 1.7x index vs. general market
- Write 1.52 billion comments, 1.7x Index
- Upload 450 million photos, 1.6x Index
- Create 159 million status updates, 1.8x Index
- Upload 7.1 million videos, 3.0 Index
Yes, the qualitative data is compelling, but I found the qualitative findings around why multicultural consumers gravitate to social media most interesting. For Hispanics, social media not only connects them to family and friends, but also helps define who they are. Hispanics identify themselves as fun, joyful and social — attributes that marketers can leverage to connect with this audience in a meaningful way that drives growth.
A Viable Alternative to Hispanic TV Advertising
With 26 million Hispanic monthly average users, Facebook has similar reach of Univision (32.7 million) and Telemundo (27.9 million).
In addition to mass reach with Hispanics, Facebook also highlighted some impressive advances in its video product. These advances, coupled with the high propensity of Hispanics to engage with video, make the Facebook platform a viable option for dollars otherwise slated for broadcast and cable.
Facebook might be behind Univision and Telemundo on big screens, but clearly leads on the small screen. Each day, Hispanics spend an average of 35 minutes on Facebook and an average of 11 minutes on Instagram on their mobile devices. This represents a whopping 21% of total Hispanic mobile time spent in a given day. Compare this to 0.70 minutes that Hispanics spend on their mobiles on Univision properties.
In the past, when marketers thought of Hispanic media, it was always the big two: Univision and Telemundo. From what I saw at the first Facebook multicultural learning session, we should now think of the big three.
One of the most interesting things I've seen about Facebook @ Hispanic = how much Spanish is involved in all US Hispanics use of Facebook. This is bad news for marketers and cos only focused on a total market efficiency play. For those willing to make the investment now in Spanish-language media and content, there is a total pleasant surprise lift now and in the future to be had @ sales AND stock prices -- Here is a link to the study that shows Spanish is still key for ALL US Hispanics if you want to connect and move them regardless of ability for English. Minority (17%) #Latino #Facebook use FB only English; 42% #Hispanic use FB in both languages, 40% use Spanish only http://bit.ly/1GoC5MV
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/239941/hispanic-online-marketing-2014-in-review.html
Also we need you guys who cover us in Hispanic media and Hispanic media planning to move away from this idea in a video-netural and modern world @2015 THAT Univision and Telemundo and Facebook =/ARE Hispanic media. #Content and #trust are key and Facebook stats show that both Hispanics and everyone else have real reasons not to trust Facebook and not to consider Facebook = trusted content. Brands need trusted content partners and real good content especially at Hispanic @ Trust. Local Hispanic newspapers and their Web sites and real news and info are invaluable to our community both in print and online and the spends and budgets should reflect this. Look at the stats that have come out in the last week about trust and Facebook. You've got to have a consensual exchange of info and to really interview customers for their data @transparency and Facebook is on very shaky ground in this area - not as well positioned as Hispanic newspapers to leverage a real honest and informed connection to consumer.
I'd also like to see better data about how and why say video on YouTube and Facebook works better than traditional media. Timberland has some great coverage of its sales lift in last year and have done great work with video. Again that is partly product development and really listening to customers and essentially interviewing them. Who does that best in a consensual way is traditional media, not Facebook. Folks originally joined Facebook thinking it was much more confidential than it is and this is something you don't have with traditional media and with leverage video online at say Hispanic newspapers. People know what we are and what we stand for and we have this natural way to also interview customer @data. The online spends are over indexed at Facebook and YouTube and should be focused on getting good video content from brand to us the trusted Hispanic media partners everywhere =print, online AT TRUSTED, real content.