Seeking the Double Rainbow – Ranking Hispanic Marketing Groups on LinkedIn

There are far too many LinkedIn Groups focused on Hispanic Marketing for any one Marketer to possibly engage with regularly.  We took a look at 8 of the groups most readily available to a Marketer in order to provide insight into which ones are worth joining, and which groups really don’t have much to do with Hispanic Marketing.  While we were surprised at the amount of spam, self promotion and off topic discussions, we do still feel that when used and moderated correctly LinkedIn Hispanic Marketing Groups can have value.

The Best. Join these groups to talk Hispanic Marketing

Hispanic Media Professonals (75% Relevant)
Members: 1,260
Posted Discussions: 16
Relevant Discussions: 12
Most relevant:  “Educated, Affluent and Hispanics Flock Online”
Least relevant:  Opinion articles such as “Why I Like Tom Cruise”

This group actually has a number of engaged group members that read and comment on the most relevant discussions.  Overall, this is the most informative and active group discussing Hispanic Marketing.  If you are going to join just one, this Group is it.

Hispanic Net (52% Relevant)
Members: 2,823
Posted Discussions: 38
Relevant Discussions: 20
Most relevant: “Latino 2.0 Conference – Latinos in the Digital Age”
Least relevant: Spammy articles such as a Martial Arts Investor Pitch

This group has a load of members and is diverse in topics.  Dodging through the spam we were able to find several very interesting posts.

Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies (52% Relevant)
members: 1,498
Posted Discussions: 25
Relevant Discussions: 13
Most relevant: “This Hispanic Heritage Month Discovery En Espanol Commemorates Mexico’s Bicentennial”
Least relevant: Many pitches for Job Search Seminars, Social Media Webinars, and Real Estate scams.

Many members, but an equal amount of spam.

Just OK.  These Groups need some work.

Hispanic Online Market Professionals (50% Relevant)
Members: 146
Posted Discussions: 4**
Relevant Discussions: 2**
Most relevant: “If you’re looking to reach upholders of traditional American values, your best bet might be the Hispanic market”
Least relevant: Pitches for selling T-shirts and other rubbish

This relatively small group had only a small amount of discussion in the last month. However, their most relevant discussion topics were interesting.

Hispanic Social Media (47% Relevant)
Members: 538
Posted Discussions: 19
Relevant Discussions: 9
Most relevant:  “Looking for courses and conferences on reaching the US Hispanic market”
Least relevant: Numerous pitches for Latino Graduate schools and entrepreneurship blogs

We liked this group.  There were many helpful insightful comments on their most relevant posts. With some careful moderation this could be a Group to join in the near future.

Hispanic Marketing (45% Relevant)
Members: 1,087
Posted Discussions: 20
Relevant Discussions: 9
Most relevant: “Whats a current must read on Hispanic marketing?”
Least relevant: “Open your own Online Shopping Mall”

Great Group name, but the content is sub-par.  A large portion of the posts on this Group come from one marketer’s blog feed.  While some posts are interesting many of them were not adequately relevant to Hispanic Marketing.

Is there a Moderator?  These Groups are not worth the time clicking the ‘Join’ button.

Forum for Hispanic Advertising & Hispanic Marketing Professionals (27% Relevant)
Members: 361
Posted Discussions: 15**
Relevant Discussions: 4**
Most relevant:  “Looks like brands are going to have to start choosing white seniors or young multiculturals as their engines of growth”
Least relevant:  Everything else.

This group does not have much going on in terms of discussions.  Virtually all discussions are without comments indicating their low level of interest to Group members.  We would not recommend this group and struggled to find an original and interesting discussion.

Hispanic Advertising Professionals (20% Relevant)
Members: 558
Posted Discussions: 10
Relevant Discussions: 2
Most relevant: “Join us at the AMA Hispanic Marketing Workshop in San Antonio”
Least relevant: “7 simple ways to say “no”

Most of the discussion here seems to be spam. The most relevant post was advertising the AMA Hispanic Workshop in San Antonio, which is especially relevant if you live near San Antonio.

Author’s Note:

1. Group moderators really need a training course.
2. Most content is re-posted by the same rogue marketers on all Hispanic Marketing Group discussion boards so there is no reason to join more than one.
3. Most people don’t know what a discussion is.  The majority of discussion posts are really advertisements for their own self-serving webinars that are really more fitting for Twitter’s spam filter.   If you find anyone that is guilty of doing this I encourage you to reply to their post with the definition of the word discussion (below).

dis·cus·sion [dih-skuhsh-uhn]   – noun
an act or instance of discussing; consideration or examination by argument, comment, etc., esp. to explore solutions; informal debate.