Reaching out to Latinos? Digital Video Paves your Way in

On January 27, Google announced its strategy to tap into the U.S. Hispanic market (as they call it). Since then, you can still feel the shockwaves of their efforts across the blogosphere. For more details, you can read ClickZ’s Giovanny Rodriguez recap or Chiqui Cartagena’s coverage of what when down in the event. I was also lucky to be among the attendees. However, of all the panelists, TV Azteca’s Director of Innovation Juan Manuel Rowland did the most striking presentation of the afternoon.

As Cartagena explains, “The TV Azteca presentation blew me away — although it mainly focused on what the company is doing in Mexico, I believe the next big thing in the Hispanic market is video online. And I don’t mean putting TV clips online; I mean creating original content for the online audience.” This is exactly the point that I want to highlight in this blog post.

TV Azteca’s project is called IrreverenTV. They basically identified the most talented YouTube video bloggers across Mexico, put them together under one roof and gave them all the resources to create quality content for YouTube. Do you think this idea could be a risky bet with no tangible results? Look for a chair before you keep reading, you’re going to need it.

First, TV Azteca made an alliance with Google, who owns YouTube. That was an excellent way to start. Since December 2006, according to their YouTube page profile, they have harnessed jaw-dropping results. Check them out:

TV Azteca on YouTube:

• They upload 70 percent of the content they produce daily.
• They have more than 30 active channels today.
• 650 million streams to date. (The presentation was done January 27, 2011)
• Over 2 million stream per date.
• From all their traffic, 15 percent belong to viewers in the United States.
• AzAmerica is the number one channel in Latin America by streams and revenue. Yes, I said revenue (although, we don’t know how much but they seemed pretty satisfied about it at the event).
• It is also the number one Spanish-language YouTube channel in the United States.

(Source: Google US Hispanic marketing Forum Event Sizzle Reel video)

But what does all this mean for the emerging video bloggers, small business owners and even big companies that have not cracked the code on how to connect with Latinos? For all of you, go rescue your digital camera from the bottom drawer and charge the batteries. Digital video will definitely help you break some old barriers you have with your audience and build new bridges. If you are not exited about the power of YouTube, check Mashable’s “10 YouTube facts that may surprise you.”

In my next blog post, I will discuss how companies must move away from the language paradigm when marketing to Latinos. It is all about the culture baby!

This article was originally published on Being Latino Online Magazine.

Catching Up with Social Media Lingo

Facebook and Twitter share the glory with thousands of young protesters in Tunisia and Egypt for overthrowing decades-old dictatorships. Social media has proven that it is already an integral part of our global society. However, its evolution has created a variety of new concepts that may confuse even seasoned professionals. Let’s familiarize ourselves with 10 of the newest (for the average internet user) terms in social media:

1. Over-indexing: Lately, every study on how Latinos use the Internet concludes that we are over-indexing on mobile and social media platforms. This simply means that we are using it more often than other ethnic groups.
2. Self-influencers: What? Relax, it is not that complicated. Internet marketers collect information about your preferences when you surf the net. Unfortunately, this process is more intrusive than most of us would like. So, being a self-influencer means you control the information you share online about your tastes without revealing your identity.
3. Tags: When you upload an article, picture, or video online you can assign description words that capture the essence of your post. This is useful when you are searching using keywords in search engines like Google or Bing.
4. Hashtags: When you type a # symbol before a word in Twitter, you are transforming it into a keyword. Then, any person can search for this keyword and read all the tweets sent with the hashtag or include it in his/her tweets to join that particular conversation.
5. Re-tweets: If you like a tweet from one of the people you follow, you are able to forward it to your followers. You may add hashtags or your own comments as long as they stay within the 140-character limit.
6. Social bookmarking: We all bookmark Internet pages that are useful and we don’t want to forget. Now you can share these bookmarks with others and classify them as you prefer. Remember, you are not sharing a file; you are only sharing the link that references the content.
7. Geolocation: Social media is taking advantage of wireless technology. You no longer have to say “I was there,” now you can say, “I’m here and this is what is happening.”
8. Check-ins: With geolocation, you can tell the world that you just walked into a restaurant. Marketers have figured out a way to create buzz, build user reviews and deploy promotions to people that take the time to do a virtual check-in. Popular sites are Foursquare, Gowalla and Foodspotting.
9. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): If you are not a web designer, blogger or marketer, you can ignore this one. Just be aware that every time you look for information online and you find it with ease, accuracy and speed, it is the careful work of many people organizing, tagging and managing information.
10. Cloud computing: You used to buy a computer with many programs that will do a specific task. In the near future, you will need computers with programs that act just like applications on your cell phone. You send your information or query; it gets processed “in the cloud” and comes back with the result. The process no longer takes place in your own computer.

This article was originally published on the Being Latino Online Magazine.

El Mejor Banco para su Negocio

Este artículo fue publicado originálmente en el portal de Impremedia.com de Recursos para Negocios. This article was originally published at Impremedia.com’s hub for small business owners.

Escoger el banco apropiado para su negocio puede ser una tarea un poco confusa. La gran mayoría de los bancos en los Estados Unidos ofrecen paquetes de servicios diseñados para negocios con pocos empleados. La diferencia radica en las cuotas o “fees” mensuales o por transacción que el banco le cobra a usted.

Desde la recesión del 2008 los bancos habían suavizado sus criterios para abrir y mantener cuentas de negocios. Pero gracias a la recuperación económica del sector financiero, los grandes bancos están volviendo a exigir balances mínimos en las cuentas y a cobrar por todo. Recuerde que el gobierno federal implemento nuevas reglas para la industria financiera hace unos meses que les prohíbe cobrar cuotas o penalidades a sus usuarios que sobregiraban sus cuentas. Este era una de las mayores fuentes de ingresos de los bancos y ahora han cambiado su estrategia a una más agresiva.

Tenga en cuenta los siguientes puntos a la hora de elegir:

1. Busque que banco le ofrece la mayor cantidad de transacciones gratis o por un valor fijo y sin un balance mínimo mensual. Por lo general, los bancos le ofrecen varios niveles de servicio que incluyen un número determinado de transacciones por mes. Estas pueden ser desde depósitos, pagos, compras con su tarjeta de banco, etc. Si usted sobrepasa el límite de transacciones en un mes, lo cual es bien fácil, el banco le cobrará mas dinero.

2. Compare que valor le quieren cobrar por servicios de procesar pagos con tarjetas de crédito y pagos electrónicos (‘merchant services’ en inglés), incluyendo el depósito directo de los salarios a sus empleados. Por regla, los bancos pequeños ofrecen estos servicios a muy bajo costo o gratis para atraer mas clientes. Bancos con presencia a nivel nacional no son tan generosos.

3. Es importante tener una cuenta de ahorros para su negocio. Investigue que banco le paga mas intereses por sus ahorros y cual le permite la mayor cantidad de transacciones por mes. Por ejemplo, le pueden ofrecen solo 4 o 5 retiros de dinero al mes sin cobro y le exigen tener un balance mínimo en la cuenta. Si usted hace más retiros de lo esperado o no deja el balance requerido, le cobrarán penalidades.

4. Algunas instituciones financieras ofrecen herramientas de planeación y contabilidad gratis en sus páginas de Internet. Estos servicios generalmente son gratis y pueden ser muy útiles para hacer sus pagos a proveedores y calcular la nómina de empleados. Aquí podría ahorrarse el comprar programas de computadores extra para estas tareas.

5. Elija que banco le ofrece una atención personalizada. Usted quiere poder llamar a una persona en particular, que lo conozca personalmente y que entienda las necesidades de su negocio. Algunos bancos solo tienen un banquero especializado en pequeños negocios por cada 3 o 4 sucursales. Le aconsejamos que elija un banco que tenga una persona dedicada a los empresarios locales en cada oficina. Si tiene la oportunidad, invítelos a que visiten su negocio para que conozcan de primera mano sus necesidades.