Online job posting has proved useful to recruiting young, educated adults throughout the United States. A media research firm, Scarborough Research, has found that Online Job Searchers are 62 percent more likely than the total adult population to be ages 18-24; 23 percent more likely to have a college education.

The study also profiled online job searchers tend to come from mid-to-upper-income households. Online Job Searchers tend to have a thirst for knowledge or career advancement and are nearly two and a half times more likely than adults to plan to go back to school during the next year.

With these findings, companies can feel confident in their investing on online job postings.  Not only do the postings help seekers, and recruiters help find fits through geographical boundaries; they also help companies find potential employees with the market characteristics needed for the specific position available.

However there is change is in the air. Because for advertisers targeting Women, as well as Women looking for a healthy all-topics community, blogs like BlogHer.com and GeekSugar.com are on the rise. For Example A study conducted by BlogHer and Compass Partners this year found that 36 million women participate in the blogosphere each week, and 15 million of them have their own blogs. (BlogHer, which was founded by Lisa Stone, Elisa Camahort Page and Jory Des Jardins, has itself grown into a mini empire that includes a Web site that helps publicize women’s blogs, and an advertising network to help women generate revenue for the site.) Not to mention as a 24 year old female I love reading these blogs too.  My point is, there is a healthy community of advertisers looking for new ways to speak to women,  and women that want to read and exchange opinions on every topic from a-z. So take a look at blogs like GeekSugar, and as a Woman be inspired to start a blog of your own. Use your voice. There are Women and advertisers alike just waiting to hear it.

No doubt the online Hispanic population is growing as well, from 21.4 million in 2007 to a projected 29.4 million in 2012, according to eMarketer.
All of this makes the US Hispanic market online an attractive opportunity for companies looking to increase revenue and grow market share.

Language does play a major factor in reaching these potential consumers. As the US Hispanic population grows, language preference becomes a matter of choice. Many Hispanics choose the settings in which to speak/read Spanish or English, and they do so interchangeably.  Forrester Research claimed 51% of online Hispanics preferred Spanish Language Web sites and 23% required Spanish content online.

Appealing to Spanish speaking consumers can help seed brand loyalty for future generations.  Forrester data illustrates yet again that consumers who prefer Spanish content are underserved online. Their study shows 53% of Spanish-preferring consumers agreed they would research more products on the Internet if they could do so in Spanish, and 42% would buy more products online if they could do so in Spanish as well.

It makes financial sense for companies to consider creating Spanish language versions of their Web sites and developing marketing campaigns in Spanish. Even as other sectors of the US consumer economy flounder, the sheer number of current and projected US Hispanic consumers represents a huge growth opportunity. If you give Hispanic consumers the option to access information in their language of choice, you recognize their importance as part of the online consumer market. This has the potential to cement the bond between a consumer and a product (or brand) for years to come.

Another Hispanic consumer segment that should not be ignored is the English-dominant bilingual Latino who prefers to access information in English. English-dominants may identify themselves as culturally Hispanic, but do not necessarily respond to communication in Spanish. This is where cultural nuances come in to play and require a subtle, insightful integration into Hispanic targeted communications.

In a nutshell, the Internet has quickly become central in the lives of millions of US Hispanics, having emerged as a viable medium for companies to connect with this lucrative and growing segment of the US population in a cost-effective, quantifiable, and highly relevant manner.

Dan Peralta, Associate Creative Director