Last month, CPG giant and the world’s largest advertiser Procter & Gamble declared that they would buy highly targeted Facebook ads less often. P&G will continue to invest heavily in Facebook advertising, but found that “targeting to super-specific audiences was expensive but didn’t result in a big difference to its business.”
Wait a second, what does P&G’s about-face mean for Hispanic online advertising?
For those of us in U.S. Hispanic digital marketing, this announcement was initially a big shock. Over the last 15 years, we have executed countless online ads targeted at U.S. Hispanics that have progressively driven better results for our clients. At a high level, P&G’s announcement seems to contradict everything we know to be true in U.S. Hispanic digital advertising.
Culturally Relevant Advertising Performs Best with Hispanics
Study after study confirms that U.S. Hispanics are hungry for culturally relevant online content, including advertising. A recent Google study sums it up best by answering a simple question: “How do brands engage U.S. Hispanics in a meaningful way? In a word, culture.” The Google study found that when advertising includes aspects of Hispanic culture, 88% of U.S. Hispanics pay attention and 41% have a more favorable impression of the brand.
Culture is also key for Hispanics when it comes to online video. Google’s most recent U.S. Hispanic research clearly illuminates this point, finding that one in two U.S. Hispanic smartphone video viewers looks for content that is relevant to them as a Hispanic and are more likely to watch ads that contain aspects of Hispanic culture.
What about the importance of culture to younger Hispanics? Recent work by Santiago Solutions Group found that “culture remains strong among Hispanic Generation Z” and that “marketers will continue to win by using Culture, Value and Identity” to connect at a deeper level with young U.S. Hispanics.
Our own experience is consistent with this research. We regularly see a direct and positive correlation between cultural relevance and performance of online advertising targeted to U.S. Hispanics, regardless of language used. What’s more, thumb-stopping, culturally relevant advertising can be developed efficiently and effectively.
Targeting a Critical Mass of U.S. Hispanics Online Has Never Been More Efficient
Let’s put it all together. They key to successful U.S. Hispanic advertising is to get culturally relevant creative in front of the right Hispanic audience. Fortunately, targeting Hispanics online has never been easier and more cost effective. Marketers have myriad options available to reach a critical mass of Hispanics across digital marketing tactics.
Google has a robust offering for reaching Hispanics across its entire platform including search, programmatic and YouTube Hispanic.
In terms of social media, the Pew Research Center reports that 73% of Hispanics use Facebook, 34% Instagram, 25% Twitter and 21% Pinterest, and each social network provides tools to reach Hispanics efficiently.
Facebook gives marketers the ability to reach 29 million U.S. Hispanics on Facebook and 12 million on Instagram and target them by language preference and other variables. Marketers can reach an estimated 18 million Hispanics on Twitter and target Hispanics on Pinterest by using Spanish language keywords.
Given the fact that culturally relevant ads work best with U.S. Hispanics and it is increasingly easier and more efficient to target them online, we are confident that targeting Hispanics online will continue to be well worth the money.
We’re just curious to know if the world’s largest advertiser considers the nation’s largest minority too specific to target.
