Latin Americans’ Love Affair With Social Extends To Mobile Phones
In 2009, we started the Latin American Technographics® product to understand how emerging Latin American markets like Brazil and Mexico are adopting and using technology. During this time, we have seen some very cool findings with respect to social media and social tools. We found that:
- Latin Americans are voracious consumers of social media and are one of the most active groups across every level of social engagement in all the markets we survey.
- Unlike other markets, Latin Americans expect companies to interact with them via social media and social tools.
- The opportunity to connect with online Latin Americans can be used for social co-creation engagements.
In our latest report — Understanding The Changing Needs Of Online Consumers In Latin America — we found that this love affair with social via the PC also extends to the mobile phone. For example, 54% of online metropolitan Mexicans and 38% of online metropolitan Brazilians regularly connect with others via social networks like Facebook and orkut on the mobile phone. In fact, this need to connect and engage with others anytime, anywhere is a daily activity for 41% of online metropolitan Mexicans and 11% of online metropolitan Brazilians.
These findings are just the tip of the iceberg regarding our understanding of the role mobile plays in Latin Americans’ daily lives. The demands for entertainment and the growing trend of social networking anytime and anywhere are contributing to a fast-growing base of mobile phone and mobile Internet users in Brazil and Mexico. Companies like Coca-Cola already realize the power that social and mobile have for their brand in Latin America. Recently, Coca-Cola launched a partnership with Quepasa Games to launch “Happiness,” which integrates Coca-Cola’s brand message within the successful Wonderful City Rio gaming experience that is accessible via popular social networking sites.
Do you have other examples of companies that have successfully included mobile in their marketing campaigns in Latin America?