I just finished reading an interesting study on multicultural internet usage. Though the results of the research may differ from what a lot of “professional marketers” think, the data is solid and definitely worth reading.

The major discoveries of the research make evident that YouTube is having trouble attracting Hispanic adults users and MySpace and Facebook are having a hard time appealing to minorities as well – Sounds interesting doesn´t it?.

The results are a testament to the fact that Hispanic consumers are becoming more selective when it comes to internet usage. Are Hispanics tired of content made for the general market instead of material tailored to their particular needs and interests?

After reading the conclusion of the study and thinking about the results delivered, I decided to sit back and reflect on something that´s always in my head, maybe Spanish speaking real estate professionals are not yet taking full advantage of that huge opportunity that online Hispanic consumers represent. Just think about this:

According to the study “Almost one in four Hispanics have visited YouTube.com in the past six months”

My question here is: Are we really paying attention to smaller, niche-oriented networks? A lot of professionals go to major networks where the bulk of online users are. But is that the right way to go?. Maybe for many real estate professionals “it is the best way to capture more attention and gain more visibility”, is that so?, well, there is no question that no other social network can beat the traffic of social web sites like facebook or video portals like YouTube. However, from my perspective consumers don´t usually go to facebook to search for real estate, in fact, when they do search for homes they prefer specific sites that provide guidance and not just endless lists of properties.

I am not trying to convince anyone to leave facebook, of course not, in fact I am an addict to facebook, however if you just created a facebook profile simply because everyone else is doing it and you think you will grab a lot of clients there, please stop!, and just do it for the fun of it.

My advise: Go where potential consumers are. Don´t try to sell your services where nobody wants them. Choose the specific market you want to serve and be constant. Don´t create a profile page in every single (real estate) online network out there and leave after a couple of weeks. People like Jeff turner will tell you that perseverance is the key to success on any real estate network. Just be sure to select the right one and be constant. You will be amazed with the results.

By the way, here is the link to the study: Synovate study compares online behaviour of connected Hispanics, African-Americans and general market consumers