360i POV: Hispanic Digital Influencers

Integrated Solutions. Measurable Results.

January 2012

360i Hispanic POV Series
Hispanic Digital Influencers
Executive Summary
This is the first in a series of reports that explore the role social media plays in the lives of Hispanics
living in the United States. For marketers, the growth of the US Hispanic population presents both the
promise of reaching a dynamic and engaged audience – armed with ever-increasing purchasing power
– and the challenge of understanding the cultural nuances of a demographic with unique digital
behaviors. The goal of the series is to shed light on this vibrant and growing demographic and provide
guidance on best practices when engaging Hispanics.

For this report, 360i collected and analyzed the activity of 150 Hispanic digital influencers to
understand the role these individuals play in leading conversations among their constituents. This
analysis can help marketers better tailor their Digital Word of Mouth (DWOM®) campaigns to motivate
these influencers.

Key Takeaways:

1. Hispanics view the Internet as a virtual “Plaza del Pueblo,” or town square - an environment in
which they are inspired and motivated to join the conversation. Given this view, Hispanics are
37 percent more likely than the general population to publish a blog and 12 percent more likely
to visit other blogs, per Nielsen. Brands that give this population the opportunity to become a
part of their story in digital – to create and share – will have the most success when it comes
creating meaningful relationships with people.

2. Hispanic influencers who communicate exclusively in Spanish tend to share more promotional
and equity content than those who prefer to communicate in English, and even more still than
general population influencers. This presents an opportunity for marketers to utilize Spanish-
language influencers to communicate brand messages in an authentic way.

3. General population influencers demonstrate much more diversity in what motivates the types of
content they share, while Hispanic influencers are primarily motivated by their shared cultural
ties. Understanding the various mindsets of Hispanic influencers will help marketers frame the
right approach, especially when developing DWOM® programs.

Brands who invest in truly understanding the unique passions, behaviors and motivations of Hispanic
influencers will find the most success in reaching them in online spaces.

NEW YORK | ATLANTA | CHICAGO | DETROIT | SAN FRANCISCO | LONDON | info@360i.com | 888.360.9630

© 2012 360i LLC. All Rights Reserved


January 2012

Hispanic Influencers & the Blogosphere
Hispanics view the digital landscape as a “Plaza del Pueblo” (town square) – a central place for the
community to come together, talk, gossip, connect with like-minded people and share information
and important content. Within traditional Plaza del Pueblo gatherings, the emergence of a person or
group of people who are seen as conversation leaders is inevitable - the masses look to them to
steer the discussion. This occurs in the digital space as well, where influencers take to the
blogosphere to voice their opinions and lead conversation.

Hispanics are 37 percent more likely than the
general population to publish a blog on a
blogging platform or a social networking site,
and 12 percent more likely to visit other blogs
(Nielsen). Although still a smaller percentage of
active online users as compared to the general
population (due to the smaller population size
overall), they are more likely than their general
population counterparts to be creators, as well
as avid consumers of user-generated content
(Forrester). Brands will want to take note of this
population and its eagerness to engage and
create in online spaces.

While the Hispanic online influencer community
is still in its infancy and comprises a relatively
small portion of the overall influencer landscape, sites such as Spanglishbaby, Latinaonamission and
Papiblogger enjoy a robust following of active readers. This might be attributed to there being
significantly fewer online outlets that Hispanics find culturally relevant.

Conversational Motivators
Although general population influencers show a tremendous level of diversity in motivators, Hispanic
influencers are primarily motivated by their shared cultural ties. Through our study, we found that
Hispanic influencers express culture in four distinct ways — unique from general market influencers
— which influence the kind of content they share and type of audience they attract.

Informative: The most prevalent motivator for Hispanic influencers to create and share content is
to inform and educate their readers about their area of expertise (often focused on Hispanic
themes), reflecting a sense of responsibility towards their audience. Hispanic influencers differ from
general population influencers in the informative tone they take when offering guidance on topics
that help reconcile the duality of a Hispanic-American’s bicultural lifestyle. Topics in this area tend to
address issues like cuisine, child raising techniques, language and even beauty rituals.




January 2012

Creative: Similar to their general population
counterparts, Hispanic influencers in a creative
mindset are learning while they are blogging; they
are improving their skills with cultural influences,
past experiences and tips from other Hispanic
bloggers and friends. The tone is lighter, more open,
always evolving and somewhat uncertain when
compared to the informative standpoint.

Personal: Influencers communicating from a
personal, vulnerable perspective are usually seeking
companionship from their readers by detailing their
own life journey and struggles, in which assimilation
and acculturation are often central components.
Private lives are exposed, thus there is much talk of
family and nostalgia. While many general population
influencers also blog due to these types of
motivations, Hispanic influencers’ areas of
vulnerability are often tied to their experience as Hispanics, more so than their experiences as
moms, cooks, husbands, professionals, etc.

Awareness: Influencers who are blogging in the “awareness” state of mind recognize social and
cultural problems, breakthroughs and accomplishments of the Hispanic community and seek to
spread awareness of these issues to their readers.

Understanding Hispanic influencers’ mindsets will help frame the right approach to engage them, as
many marketers seek to do through Digital Word of Mouth (DWOM®) programs. For example, the
combination of a Creative and Informative voice is particularly common in food bloggers because
they seek to educate the readers about Hispanic heritage through food, but are also personally
trying to balance Hispanic culture and American lifestyle.

Language Preferences
An important aspect of Hispanic culture involves the conflict of linguistic duality. The differences
between those who communicate in Spanish or in English are important to note when trying to reach
this audience. Per our research, seventy-two percent of Hispanic influencers choose to communicate
in English, as it has the potential to reach a greater audience. Not surprisingly, Hispanic audiences
often choose to consume content in English, as they perceive it to be more robust and the
information more regularly updated. A report from Advertising Age corroborates this statistic, finding
that 71 percent of US Hispanics prefer to use English online.




January 2012


Interestingly, Hispanic influencers who communicate exclusively in Spanish tend to share more
promotional content and equity content, rather than intimately driven personal anecdotes, as
compared to those who prefer English. Bloggers writing in Spanish feel less of a need to emphasize
connections with their Hispanic heritage by focusing on purely personal posts, leaving greater
opportunity to incorporate promotional and equity content.

Brands can play an active role in Hispanic conversations online regardless of the language, but
marketers should be mindful of the difference in the cultural perspective and the type of value
exchange consumers are seeking relative to the language of the post.

Content Shared
Conversational motivators and language are
important factors in determining how to
communicate with Hispanic influencers and for
understanding the content produced and the value
expected by the Hispanic population. This audience
predominately shares content that is highly personal
in nature, centered on stories of their own families
and spoken with a distinctly individual perspective.
Promotional brand-sponsored content is also
prevalent, which diverges from the tendencies of
general population influencers who shy away from
brand-sponsored content.

Equity posts – or posts created to engage readers
and inspire interactions with content (polls, questions
etc.) – are less common. Corporate content, addressing the larger entity of the blog/platform itself, is
not prevalent.




January 2012

Furthermore, Hispanic influencers include photos in more than 54 percent of their posts and links in
nearly 65 percent of their posts. Nearly a quarter of all posts include at least one photo or link that is
brand-provided and/or drives back to a brand page. Roughly 33 percent of all images posted tie back
to recipe creations, food in general and the ritual of a meal. This coincides with the cultural
importance of meals, especially considering 22 percent of recipe photos come from influencer blogs
and platforms where cooking and food are not the main topical focus.

A quarter of all links shared are of promotional nature, driving back to brand websites or specific
products sites. Hispanic influencers also tend to link back to each other’s pages, which demonstrates
the collegial nature of the community.

When it comes to content, Hispanic influencers find most inspiration in writing about topics such as
family and parenting (specifically raising bicultural children) and cooking, which makes any CPG brand
potentially relevant, valuable and easily incorporated into content. Ultimately, however, all of the
topics are informed by the Hispanic culture and serve as a reflection of a constant need to resolve
their dual identity, which spans across a multitude of product verticals, from fashion to finance.

Marketer Implications
As the Hispanic population continues to grow, marketers who pay more attention to cultural nuances
and motivational drivers will have the most success in reaching them. Because it is a relatively small
community, finding Hispanic influencers to work with can be challenging. This is true especially when
narrowing the criteria further by content posted, language use, and readership size. However, because
the number of brands that currently work with Hispanic influencers is still small, a clear opportunity
exists to form strong and lasting relationships with them that can benefit your brand in both the short
and long term.

Marketers who wish to capitalize on the growing power of Hispanic influencers should consider
DWOM® outreach, involving influencers in content creation, and/or inviting them to participate in
brand campaigns in some other meaningful way.




January 2012


About 360i
360i is an award-winning digital marketing agency that drives results for Fortune 500 marketers through insights, ideas
and technologies. 360i helps its clients think differently about their online presence and evolve their strategies to take
advantage of the new world of marketing communications – one where brands and consumers engage in interactive
and multi-directional conversations. In 2010, Ad Age named 360i to its prestigious Agency A-List. Current clients
include Kraft Foods, JCPenney, Coca-Cola, NBC Universal and Diageo, among others. For more information, please visit
www.360i.com or follow us on Twitter @360i.

Methodology
360i compiled a list of 150 Hispanic Influencers generated through tools such as Cision, Radian 6 and Sysomos, as well
as the leveraging of existing contacts to find established and emerging influencers onlinehe influence of each blogger
was determined using tools such as Alexa.com, Quantcast.com, Compete.com, and Klout.com based on 360i’s accepted
standards of online influence.

Analysts within 360i’s Insights and Planning group analyzed each influencer’s monthly content (avg. 10 posts per
influencer). Within each post, the voice of the influencer and the type of content (such as specific photos and/or links)
shared were qualified and analyzed.

The analysis consists of:
• 150 influencers
o 19% male, 81% female
o 20% Spanish-dominant, 72% English- dominant, 8% Bi-lingual
• 1,500 total posts analyzed



360i POV: Hispanic Digital Influencers

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