A few years ago we provided an outlook as to how many Hispanics used Facebook. Now its important to discuss that the number of Hispanic Facebook users is on the rise, albeit not nearly as fast as for other social channels such as Instagram and Snapchat. It is also very important to note in which language you would want to launch your newly created Facebook page. Choosing between English, Spanish, or Bilingual is a key question when making a Facebook page to establish a business brand. So let’s review how many US Hispanics could potentially sign up as a fan on your brand’s Facebook Page.
How many Hispanics are English or Spanish Dominant?
In today’s environment there are 28.03 million US Hispanics on Facebook. Of that amount 31%, or 8.7 million Hispanics, prefer Spanish and would be encouraged to become a fan of a fan page providing Spanish content. A higher number, 12.4 million Hispanics favor English and are more likely to become a fan of a page that is providing stories and media in English. And last but not least, 25% of US Hispanics (7 million) are bilingual and consume content in either language. The graph below sums it up:
What Facebook Pages would these different groups prefer?
Spanish preferring Hispanics would likely gravitate to pages offering daily content in Español such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) page. Two other pages catering to Spanish dominants are the AllState Latino Facebook page and State Farm Latino. Hispanics that speak and consume media in English are likely to prefer English language pages catering to US Hispanics preferring English which include the Mexican Word of the Day page as well as the MITU page. A few good Bilingual pages include those of the artist Manu Chao as well as Becky G.
Calculations of Hispanics on Facebook:
1. Total US Hispanic Adults over 18 = 38.4MM based on 2014 US Census estimates.
2.Total US Hispanic Facebook Users = 28.03MM (38.4 * 73%). Based on Pew 2014 Social Media Demographic data.
3. Spanish Dominant US Hispanics = 8.7MM (28MM * 31%). Combines Latin Americans and all Spanish favoring Hispanics in the US.
4. English Dominant US Hispanics = 12.4MM (28MM * 44%). Includes 2nd and 3rd generation Hispanics and all other English favoring Hispanics.
5. Bilingual US Hispanics = 7MM (28MM * 25%). The large portion of Hispanics whom are comfortable with either language.
Note: There are several differing numbers on the language preferences of Hispanics, including those that are referring to Hispanic Online Adults. For the basis of this research we chose to be consistent with the use of Geoscape’s language data. There are valid arguments that can be reviewed on this page which indicate other percentages of Hispanic language dominance.
Thoughts?
How do these figures compare with what you would imagined? What other factors are key when determining the tonality of messaging to the US Hispanic audience? Please place your thoughts in the Comments below.
References:
Pew Internet – Demographics of Key Social Networking Platforms
Facebook Estimate of 26.7 Million Hispanic Users
Nielsen – Hispanics in U.S. Highly Active on Mobile and Social
GeoScape – Percentages of Hispanics preferring English, Spanish, or Bilingual
Very interesting since I am both Hispanic and a Social Media Specialist.
My question is have you seen the Nielsen findings and report – “Three Things You Thought You Knew
About U.S. Hispanic’s Engagement
With Media…And Why You May
Have Been Wrong”
http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Nielsen-Hispanic-Media-US.pdf
How do you reconcile your ideas with these facts?
— I’d love to know since I prefer to, say, tweet, in English but need to be able to back that decision up.
@MadelineHere
Madeline Gutierrez
Hello Madeline,
Thanks for your comment. I did review the Nielsen survey report you shared, however it did come out after this article was published and thus was not a source.
In regards to your question, the Nielsen report leans in favor of Spanish media over English when targeting Hispanics. One key difference from the Nielsen report vs my own is that I discuss social media which has the ability to be in Spanglish whereas TV is typically black and white, being either a Spanish channel or an English channel. I don’t know that their survey data would have added significance to the sources used for this article as the media channels are quite different.
Personally, I think a Spanglish campaign can work for many brands. We are seeing several of them getting it right as well on Facebook pages today including Sears Latino and Ford Ready pa tu Mundo.
Hope that helps, let me know if you have any further thoughts on this.
Eric