MARKETING

Don’t Translate, Localize and Culturalize: Digital Strategy for the Diversified Hispanic Population

The Hispanic population is the largest ethnic minority group in the United States, representing 19% of the population currently and expected to grow more than 30% by 2050. With more than $1.7 trillion in spending power, health care is the fifth-largest expenditure for this population.

Despite the size and importance of the Hispanic community nationally and the penetration of digital communications within it (see figure below), only 6% of social media advertising targets this group. It is also a community with serious medical needs, vulnerable to illnesses such as obesity, diabetes, cancer, and stroke. Due to a variety of factors, including racial bias, barriers to medical care, limited data from clinical trials, and other studies specifically focused on a Hispanic population and obstacles to care—such as limited access to health insurance, lack of knowledge about heart disease prevention and distrust in the health care system—Hispanic people nationally face significant health care disparities. 

 

“The Hispanic community represents one of the biggest opportunities for culturally relevant approaches to outreach from health care institutions,” says Daniel Sokol, the executive vice president of digital strategy for eContent Digital, who spoke during a session at the SHSMD Connections meeting in September. “But we really can’t find that much out there specifically aimed at Hispanics within health care social media communications.” 

Sokol adds that the Hispanic community deeply values and cultivates personal relationships with physicians, who are regarded as trusted advisors to the patient and the whole family. “But you can’t assume or take this community for granted,” he notes. “You need to do your due diligence and research the market in your health system, taking the time to get to know your audience in this space through both qualitative as well as quantitative data.” 

One health system that has developed a successful strategy for leveraging social media to communicate with the Hispanic community in its region is Montefiore Einstein, the largest academic health system in New York’s Hudson Valley and Bronx County. Montefiore Einstein serves one of the most diverse communities in the nation and provides services to a significant proportion of the area’s large Hispanic population. 

After having successfully launched the award-winning Spanish-language television series “Objetivo: Tu Salud” (“OTS”; “Focus on Your Health”) on Telemundo NBC 47, featuring cardiologist Eliscer Guzman, MD, Montefiore Einstein decided to build on that success by expanding the program to the digital space, specifically and authentically tailored toward a Hispanic audience. The objective was to provide a reliable stream of health and wellness content, as well as news about research, technology, and other medical advancements, that was also actionable and entertaining, with the ultimate goal of strengthening Montefiore Einstein’s position as a champion for the well-being of the Hispanic community. 

“We worked with eContent to develop our strategy, and identified Facebook and Instagram as the channels that were most heavily used by the Hispanic community in our area,” explains Loreen Babcock, Montefiore Einstein’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer. “We started from the ground up, developing a research-based strategic editorial calendar. This included institutional health news and events; health awareness months, weeks, and days; and daily relevant lifestyle content such as exercises, tips, and recipes. Recipes are hard to beat; if you don’t have them as part of your social media strategy, put them in!” 

Animations are also particularly effective, Babcock says. “They engage people and are some of our highest performers in the market across all platforms.” Instead of grabbing stock public service announcements off the shelf, we decided to create our own relevant to the ‘OTS’ shows. We did one on foods to boost your immune system and keep your lungs healthy, another about getting enough sleep, and another on physical exercise. In all of these, we used a casual tone that the audience could relate to and felt comfortable with.” 

Babcock and her team spent a lot of time working with eContent to select the right spokespeople to use in each episode of “OTS” and in the related social media campaigns. “We created a very successful colon cancer video series after we got keen insights from focus groups about not understanding or trusting the testing process,” she notes. “We brought in one of our colon cancer specialists, a phenomenal Spanish-speaking female oncologist, and she spoke directly to the audience using the questions she gets every day from her patients, with guidance from the agency about the kinds of language and messaging that would be relevant. That has been one of our top-performing series.” 

In addition to creating the content and consistent, up-to-date posting and community management, Montefiore Einstein constantly monitored every aspect of its audience’s reactions and optimized this content by using data-backed reasoning. The results: 4,000 pieces of content, 8 million-plus impressions, 400,000-plus engagements and more than 3,000 incoming messages. “People are not just sending us comments, they’re starting conversations in a lot of our Facebook and Instagram posts, asking for help and supporting each other,” Babcock says. “Not only has the ‘OTS’ show won awards, but so have the PSAs [public service announcements]—some of them have even been nominated for Emmys.” 

How can you use the lessons from Montefiore Einstein’s experience at your own organization? First, notes Sokol, realize that cultural interests and activity, especially digital, evolve quite rapidly, so it is important to approach multicultural marketing initiatives from a strategic perspective. “Have a clear idea of your end goals and long game,” he explains.  

Second, embrace data and technology. “Take advantage of the large number of digital monitoring and management tools available. Always consider a budget for research, and verify your data on a constant basis.” 

 Finally, always work toward content optimization. “Monitor your efforts on a daily basis,” Sokol says. “Don’t use the same campaign creative assets for too long. Keep it fresh by circulating them constantly to avoid your target audience feeling that they are being spammed. Account for changes in trends, internet chatter, and the interests and affinity of your intended audience. Repeat your successful work and keep testing, and understand that mistakes and failures are learning opportunities, so embrace them as you would any success.”