By Luanne Teoh on 06-07-2011

Luanne Teoh

June 7, 2011

According to PewInternet.org, between 2000 and 2010 the proportion of internet users through computers who are black or Latino has nearly doubled – from 11% to 21%. One of the most powerful predictors of online behavior is attributed to English language proficiency where English-speaking Latinos have identical internet use when compared to whites.

In its 2010, report it was documented that  87% of Asian-Americans use the internet through computers. While 87% is a large number when compared to blacks or Latinos, it’s interesting to note that Latinos and blacks are more likely than the general population to access the Web by cellular phones, and they use their phones more often to do more things.

Minority adults also use a much wider of their cell phones’ capabilities.  Compared with white cell phone owners, blacks and Latinos are significantly more likely to use their mobile devices to

Text message (70% of all African-Americans and English-speaking Latinos use text messaging, vs. just over half of whites)

Use social networking sites

Record and watch videos

Make a charitable donation via text message (this is interesting since white internet users are more likely to have made a charitable donation online, 25% of online whites have done so compared with 17% of African-Americans and 14% of Latinos.)

Play games

Listen to music

Post multimedia content online

Use instant messaging

The implications of these factors will affect mobile marketing efforts in these areas:

1) Language – Yes, language localization to target minorities is going to be key naturally.

2) Geotargeting – This would be key for any mobile strategy to increase loyalty, check-ins and offerings.  Beyond that, do we also need to be looking down the road at behavioral marketing and geotargeting as a strategy? – The way online merchants have enjoyed all these years.

3) Key Metrics of Measurement – Will there be an industry standardized measurement? The key here is to be able to tie in a mobile message to an in-store purchase and too be able to encourage repeat behavior through localized and personalized messages.

4) Mobile Privacy Issues – How will consumers, companies and the federal government handle the potential “Orwellian” issue of collecting, storing, disclosing of consumer information for commercial purposes?

As the mobile industry forges ahead with the boom, how will your company deal with these marketing challenges ahead?

Image courtesy of Benetton 2010 Campaign

About Luanne Teoh

Luanne is a senior correspondent for BizTechDay focused on Small Business Tech, Mobile and China based in San Francisco. Apart from a keen interest in technology, Luanne is also and avid explorer of the globe, cultures and people.

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