Social Media Usage in Latin America

In this posting, I will discuss social media usage in Latin America, which as you may know will be an integral part of the US MRKT territory (to start with), since we intend to launch the site and the app in both English and Spanish from the outset. I will cite to a great article by Michelle Evans that appeared in Forbes on August 10, 2017 entitled “3 Things You Need To Know About Latin America Digital Consumers”.

I really believe that the market opportunity from Latin America (LATAM) in terms of recruiting US MRKT SAs and customers is immense, for several reasons:

• LATAM as part of the western hemisphere is geographically allied with the United States.
• LATAM investors, visitors, and consumers have an affinity and appreciation for US products and services.
• LATAM investors are amongst the most loyal participants in the US real estate market and view those investments as a safe way to preserve capital.
• The increasing Spanish language market segment in the US is creating multiple opportunities for cross-border LATAM business opportunities.

According to Green, “wealth and youth are more highly concentrated among digital consumers in Latin America as compared with their non-digital counterparts. Latin American digital consumers are more tightly concentrated in the 25-34 age bracket than other regions.” In addition, the average income for a Latin American digital consumer is USD $42,000, about USD $14,000 more than their non-digital consumer counterpart – the greatest disparity found between the two groups in any region.” For this and other reasons set out below, there is a clear link between buying power and social media as a selling tool.

Green points out 3 factors that favor LATAM social media use including for selling.

1. Social media is more important than email.
   Four-fifths of Latin American digital consumers report visiting or updating a social media website daily on a computer as compared with 65% of digital consumers in other parts of the world. Like they do with computers, Latin American digital consumers use mobile devices most frequently for browsing the internet. However, using a messaging app as well as visiting a social network was ranked higher than one of the mobile phone’s first use cases – sending or receiving emails. Social sharing is the third most popular activity on computers after surfing the internet and emailing, according to Euromonitor International.
2. Latin American digital consumers are more open to targeted ads.
   In terms of attitudes towards the internet, Latin America is a standout with regard to targeted advertisements. Only one-third of digital consumers in Latin America view targeted advertisements based on online searches and purchases history as an invasion of privacy as compared with half of digital consumers elsewhere. In fact, three Latin American countries, namely Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, were the least likely to view targeted advertisements as an invasion of privacy as compared with the 20 countries surveyed as part of this global research.
3. Better site navigation is a strong motivator for shopping online.
   Like digital consumers elsewhere, those in Latin America indicate that saving time and money are top motivations for shopping online. One aspect in which Latin American digital consumers stand out from others is with regard to how stronger site navigation would motivate them to shop online. In particular, Brazilians indicated this factor was of greater importance than digital consumers across the other 20 countries where Euromonitor International conducted this survey.

US MRKT is committed to engaging with these consumers and creating a definable presence in LATAM, especially in generating interest for future SAs who will become the US MRKT ambassadors going forward.