The Hispanic PR and Social Media Conference held in Dallas was perhaps the best conference that I’ve ever attended because the sessions presented dealt with both Hispanic marketing and how to utilize social media with it. A special thanks goes to Manny Ruiz, the co-publisher of the Hispanic PR Blog, for making this event possible here in Dallas. His objective was to create a yearly event where professionals come together from marketing, advertising and public relations industries and learn about the latest concepts of Hispanic marketing, using social media for campaigns and networking.
It was a great turnout and a large majority were Latino professionals from different parts of the United States and Puerto Rico, even some that I socialize with through Twitter! I was especially very happy to meet Antonieta Reyes Echezuria, a PhD candidate at Florida State University focusing on Hispanic marketing whom I met through Youtube through a review I made about Dr. Korzenny’s book Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural Perspective, as well as her colleague Julio Valeriano who is also a student at the university majoring in Integrated Marketing Communications. At the conference, we were able to further discuss about Hispanic culture, Hispanic consumer behavior and the effects of social media in the current society.
While at the conference, I was able to tweet some great information from each of the sessions that I’ve attended. At the same time I took down notes that I thought were very enlightening and so I know I had to post it on my blog for those who couldn’t have made it. About two or three blog posts will cover Day 1 of the conference as well as Day 2. I hope you find this information helpful for your own campaigns.
Keynote: I Know You Want Me…But It Takes More Than an Accent to Get Me
Latinos are diverse, break the stereotype.
Latinos have become cross-cultural in both music and language
This is just the beginning, now is the time to enter the Hispanic marketplace
The face of America has changed.
The U.S. is undergoing a historic demographic shift
Hispanic voters, from 2004-2008, has increased from 16 million to 19.5 million
The transformed American is the cross-cultural sharing of food, fashion and entertainment
Hispanics living in the United States.
Hispanic make up about 15% of the U.S. population and 45% of the minority population
By 2020 1 out of 5 citizens living in the U.S. will be Hispanic
By 2050 the U.S. could be 30% Hispanic
About 59% of Hispanic households have 4+ family members
67% Mexican, 14% Central and South American, 9% Puerto Rican, 4% Cuban
By 2013 Hispanic consumers may exceed spending by 1.3 trillion dollars
The youth have 60% buying power
Key factors of managing brands through acculturation.
There is one heritage but different communities
Hispanic live life in 2 languages
Different Latinos occupy different pockets in the U.S. Ex: Orlando has a large population of Mexicans
When connecting through culture, more than language matters
