Why has Latin America proven to be ripe for social media marketing?

According to a report by comScore, Latin America could be the best region to target with a social media marketing strategy. A recent study by the firm showed that in April alone, over 127 million Latin America internet users visited a social site from home or work. It also revealed that Pinterest grew its audience in the region by eightfold, increasing membership from 153,000 at the start of the year, to more than a million by April.

Latin America has embraced the social revolution with open arms. It is up to marketers to play their cards right and make the connection. Here are some pointers on how to do just that.

Follow the crowd

comScore’s recent findings tell us that Pinterest is ripe for social media marketing. That may be the case, but it is not the only site that has something to offer. In fact, there is data suggesting that Facebook might be the site brands should focus the bulk of their efforts on. According to comScore, Facebook attracted more than 110 million unique visitors from Latin America in the month of April alone. This may be a sign to go ahead and start using the platform to target Latin users.

Break the language barrier

For non-Spanish speaking social media marketers, the language barrier is one of the biggest obstacles standing in the way of success. But if you are going to do this, you have to make sure you are literally speaking in a language your audience can understand. It may be wise to take an approach of creating social messages in English and Spanish to accommodate fans who are bilingual, or prefer one or the other. Also remember that Spanish is not the official language in Brazil and other Latin American countries. Know your audience!

Segment your strategy

When it comes to targeting this region, perhaps the worst thing you can do is treat your Latin American-focused efforts as an extension of your overall marketing strategy. Instead, you should allow it to complement those plans. After all, you are trying to build a relationship with an entirely different group of people, so it definitely pays to take the divide and conquer approach of segmenting your audience and targeting them accordingly. Trust me. This makes it much easier to create relevant messages and conversations most likely to drive responses.

Summary

Social media is far from a new phenomenon, but it is amazing to see how much it is still growing after all these years. The speed at which it is being adopted in Latin America is nothing short of impressive. Whether you operate within the region or thousands of miles away, the proof is in the pudding – this area shows great promise for social media marketers that approach with the right game plan.