If you want to get discovered in Hollywood, dye your hair red and attend a conference dedicated to meaningfully marketing to the growing Hispanic population in the U.S. held at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel. Maybe not discovered and instantly cast in a starring role per se, but I did find this method very effective (no hair dye necessary for me) in being able to identify my IRL-self to fellow conference tweeters (red hair) and meeting a prince (attending Hispanicize 2011) – but more on that later. Earlier this month I packed my sunscreen, sandals and several pairs of oversized sunglasses and hopped on a plane to Hollywood for the second annual Hispanic PR and social media conference in hopes of learning a little bit about making brands famous among Latino bloggers, practicing my Spanish language skills and meeting cool, good people who do what I do. Back in Texas, I’m happy to report that I accomplished all of the above as well as secured a royal introduction at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
Before I get to the “happily ever after” portion of my fairytale trip, I’d like to share some of the key takeaways from the great minds at Hispanicize 2011 that I carried back to the office with me in my suitcase – and I’m not talking about conference swag. The highlight of the short-and-sweet, close-knit (a welcome change from the overwhelming, bagazillion amount of attendees at SXSWi in March) conference came during the last breakfast keynote delivered by Edward James Olmos, first American-born Latino to receive an Academy Award nomination and generally wise man, where he said very simply, “Communication is the key; knowledge is the key.” For marketers, there couldn’t be a more stripped-down, clear and true statement.
In order to effectively communicate with a community, you have to know them rather than just have knowledge about them. In the digital and social media marketing respects, that means having a deeper understanding of the community you wish to engage than just knowing its clicking habits, likes and dislikes, and propensity to retweet a link or share a video. As a brand ambassador or community manager, it’s your job to drive engagements and deliver content and resources that make your company useful to the daily life of its constituents. In return, you get to build relationships that improve customer loyalty and provide you with invaluable insight and feedback regarding what those people want from your brand, what your company is getting right and where you can improve. So, how do you start that process within the Hispanic community?
Some of the dudes from the conference’s multicultural agency sponsor, Sensis Agency, came up with a unique approach to starting to develop substantial interactions with individual members of the Hispanic community. While the idea of personas is well-known in the digital advertising and user interface design industries, applying the theory to social media could be a win for marketers since personas tend to focus on behaviors, mindsets and goals rather than demographics. For example, recent data shows that the Hispanic community’s activity on Facebook is high; but when broken down into personas, marketers can identify how certain personas within a community are using the platform specifically – whether to gather information, keep up with nearby friends or reach out to family members that may be far away. With Hispanic personas spanning from Tech-fluentials to Nostalgic Newbie’s, I’d recommend taking a look at Sensis’ presentation below.
One presenter noted that there’s always a spurt of marketing aimed at Hispanic communities after the results of a census are published, and that’s true. But overall, I think what the good people hosting, presenting and attending Hispanicize are really out to do is not to help brands sell better, but to facilitate meaningful relationships between brands looking to interact with the Latinos who love them. Speaking of love, if you’ve read this far then I’m sure you’re looking for my advice on how to meet a prince in Hollywood. It’s a simple, two-step process that also requires a wing-lady.
- Step One: learn this pick-up trick from “How I Met Your Mother.”
- Step Two: Head to the Roosevelt Hotel and have your wing-lady do her thing. Yes, there are princes who hang out at the hotel’s bar when in town.
I imagine you have some questions like, “Is this a true story?” Yes. Then obviously what you probably want to know is, “What prince? Prince who? Prince of what?” Well I’d be happy to tell you, maybe even show you a photo, if you can guess first in the comments. Hint: he may have also once been the star of a romantic reality show. If you can guess correctly, you’ll win a rose.