• by Lee Vann , Columnist, September 9, 2010

Back in June, I discussed how Hispanic publishers had created Facebook communities to drive incremental traffic and engagement with online Hispanics. Now, I am providing a snapshot of how Hispanic publishers are using Twitter.

The success of some Hispanic publishers on Twitter should be a clear indication for marketers looking to reach Hispanics that Twitter is a viable option for reaching them.

Twitter resonates with Hispanics

It's true, Facebook reaches more Hispanics than does Twitter, but a larger number of Twitter users are Hispanic when compared to Facebook. Here are the facts according to Quantcast.com:

• Facebook reaches 133 million U.S. users of which 6% are Hispanic; this translates to a total of 8 million Hispanic Facebook users.

• Twitter reaches 44.4 million U.S. users of which 11% are Hispanic; this translates to 4.9 million Hispanic Twitter users.

These data clearly indicate that Twitter not only reaches a critical mass of Hispanics, but the micro-blogging service resonates strong with this group.

Most Hispanic publishers have grasped the Twitter opportunity realizing that they can cost effectively reach their audience and drive incremental traffic to their websites.

Univision dominates the Hispanic Twitterverse

As I found with my Facebook analysis, Univision and Telemundo are leading the way on Twitter. The strategy of both companies is anchored by corporate Twitter accounts with several other accounts grouped by topic or television show. Terra Networks has a similar approach while other publishers seem to have just gotten their feet wet with a single Twitter account.

For an apples-to-apples comparison, I included only corporate accounts and topic based accounts and intentionally excluded Twitter accounts for TV shows, talent or regional affiliates.

Univision -- 124,000 Twitter Followers

Univision's Twitter strategy roughly mirrors the information architecture of the Univision.com website. Univision manages a corporate Twitter account and other accounts focused on key topics with News, Futbol and Musica being the most popular, by far. Here is a list of Univision's current Twitter accounts and follower counts, excluding TV shows.

http://twitter.com/Univision 78,048
http://twitter.com/UnivisionNews 20,317
http://twitter.com/UnivisionFutbol 12,541
http://twitter.com/UnivisionMusica 9,921
http://twitter.com/univisionent 1,935
http://twitter.com/univisionautos 350
http://twitter.com/univisioncocina 273
http://twitter.com/univisiondinero 265
http://twitter.com/UnivisionSports 256
http://twitter.com/univisionsalud 200
http://twitter.com/UnivisionCasa 142
http://twitter.com/UnivisionMujer 137
http://twitter.com/univisioncine 105
http://twitter.com/univisionvida 83

Telemundo -- 51,000 Twitter Followers

Telemundo's corporate Twitter account has nearly 50,000 followers and its news account currently stands at 2,700 followers. Telemundo does have a large number of Twitter accounts for its TV shows and local affiliates, but I did not include those in this analysis.

The rest of the pack

Of the remaining Hispanic publishers, Terra Networks leads the way with 6,700 followers across various U.S. Twitter accounts, including Music, News and Entertainment. Here is how the rest of the pack stacks up.

• Terra - 6,700

• AOL Latino - 3,800

• Batanga - 955

• MSN Latino - 72

It is clear that Twitter represents a viable option for reaching Hispanics online. Like any marketing campaign, succeeding on Twitter requires a well-thought-out strategy and a continuous, two-way dialogue that provides value to a given target audience. It also doesn't hurt to have a television network that reaches millions of households.