While few marketers proactively target ethnic minorities, even fewer connect through social media. This translates into a wealth of opportunities for those that can identify meaningful ways to connect.

Yahoo and Microsoft's recently announced a search partnership where Microsoft's newest search engine, Bing.com, will power Yahoo's search functions while Yahoo handles ad sales. The deal will not be fully consummated until some point in 2010, but it is important to understand the ramifications for the Hispanic online market today.

Building a Hispanic online community involves shifting how most marketers think about their trade. First, you do not "launch" a social media campaign - you begin a social media effort. The difference sounds subtle, but it's not.

As the penetration rates of digital media increase, Mexican consumers will have more tools at their fingertips to compare prices online, enabling them to plan and rationalize trips to the U.S. based upon price or tax savings.

As mobile Internet usage continues to grow in Argentina and Latin America, more consumers will be using their handsets to access information and interact with brands. This will present smart marketers with even more opportunities to reach consumers. Are you ready?

I recently had the opportunity to chat with Kevin Conroy, president of Univision Interactive Media, and Mark Lopez, COO of Terra Networks, about the current state of the Hispanic online market and how the each company is responding to the fact that Hispanics are extremely engaged with social media.

With over 25% of births in the U.S to Spanish-speaking parents, these children are going to be 100% bilingual, which is a great asset for our country. And, while having a multi-lingual population is a competitive advantage, we must also ensure that this population is healthy.

It is the companies who can think creatively and act quickly that will succeed in this newly developing conversation and approach to understanding.

Whether its Hispanic agencies forgoing their corporate Web sites for Facebook pages or the growing "Latinos in Social Media" movement, Hispanic advertising is quickly moving to engagement.

With all this in mind, I'm sure you are now asking, "Who is Hispanic?" A recent Pew Hispanic Center report that emerged around the commotion about whether or not Sonia Sotomayor was the nation's first Hispanic nominated to the Supreme Court put it quite clearly: "You are if you say so."