Understand your market demographically and psycho-graphically
Teresa J. Soto, president and CEO of About Marketing Solutions and author of "Marketing to Hispanics: A Strategic Approach to Assessing and Planning Your Initiative," says, "The usage is there, the engagement is there. It is really just a matter of knowing your target, having a strategy that makes sense for them. The problem is that companies get so overwhelmed by their perception of a complex market -- but the truth is that these same companies seldom do the same type of upfront homework to develop strategies for this marketplace. Unfortunately, most companies targeting this marketplace are implementing tactics, not strategies."

Regarding what language should be used to market to U.S. Hispanics, Soto says that "it depends on the segment being targeted. For example, the Hispanic youth market would be targeted as a youth segment with their language being used as first English then slang and Spanglish. How much of each depends on the market (e.g., Spanglish dominates in a market like San Antonio), so the approach depends on general youth trends with a Hispanic culture overlay."

Focus on relationships and engage in a relevant dialogue
Felipe Korzenny, Ph.D., director of the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication at Florida State University and author of "Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural Perspective," says, "Hispanics online have shown to be relatively sophisticated web users. As with most other online programs, the establishment of relationships is very important. In the Hispanic market it is even more important because of cultural tendencies towards group cohesiveness. Showing an understanding of the culture with images and relevant messages is more likely to keep Hispanic consumers coming to a site, but this has to be done tastefully and not in a patronizing way. Also, understanding that these consumers are more likely to have blogs and websites, as our studies have found, connecting with them online via dialogue and relevance is more likely to be effective. When Hispanics are online they tend to want to replicate their interpersonal relationship networks in cyberspace."

With this in mind, Dr. Korzenny recommends the following for marketers. "Hispanics tend to be receptive to surveys and polls, but relevancy is the key. In addition, small, targeted efforts in highly specialized sites can be productive if these produce word-of-mouth synergies. Batanga, QuePasa and others can help stimulate word of mouth. Still, larger efforts should also include the large destinations, portals, networking sites that are visited by people not so much based on ethnicity but on relevance."

A recent study from PR firm Burson-Marsteller confirms the effectiveness of word-of-mouth campaigns by showing that the most influential Hispanic consumers, dubbed the Hispanic-fluentials, are more likely to use the internet to share their views about products and brands as compared to non-Hispanic online influencers. Theresa Rice, director, U.S. Hispanic for Burson-Marsteller, adds, "Hispanics cultivate the most extensive personal and professional networks both online and offline among the influentials studied, attesting to the potential effectiveness of grassroots and viral campaigns."