Miami, as most residents have realized by now, is a beautiful amalgam of Hispanic people and white Americans, intertwined into one. This fifty-fifty split may discourage digital marketers from spilling into Spanish markets, because Hispanics are not online in the same numbers as non-Hispanics. In fact, a Washington Post survey found that 72% of Hispanic adults used the Internet at least occasionally, 15 points behind whites.

But Marketers should begin to take a second look. According to e-Marketer, Hispanics with an online presence are showing heightened levels of online video and social networking activity.

A joint Google and Ipsos OTX MediaCT study found that 64% of Hispanic Internet users visited a video site in the past month, compared with 50% of the general population.

They aren’t just dominating video sites. According to e-Marketer, “For most other sites, including Facebook, they showed roughly the same or higher usage rates than English-dominant Hispanics.”

Online video could be the perfect location to reach out to the Hispanic population. According to e-Marketer, “Online video either offers a greater range of Spanish-language content, or is able to overcome language barriers altogether due to the visual nature of the medium.”

Louis Pagan is the managing partner of a social media company known as Hispanicize, and he feels Latinos are displaying a ‘technology paradox.’

“Despite Hispanics being a minority in the U.S., they are… embracing technology faster than any other group here in the U.S.,” Pagan said in an article on Fox News Latino.  “Because of this, Latinos will have an enormous influence on social media, technology and the brands that do business on the Internet.”

A recent report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project reported on Fox News Latino, “While online non-Hispanic whites and non-Hispanic blacks use Twitter at 5 percent and 13 percent respectively, 18 percent of Hispanics online are Twitter users, and difference that is statistically significant.”

Lance Rios, founder of Being Latino, the largest Facebook fan page for Latinos is a prime example. He started Being Latino when he was working in advertising sales, but noticed a niche that needed to be filled, according to Fox News Latino.

“No [English-language] Latino based organizations were doing much on Facebook, so I figured that I’d fill the voice,” Rios said on Fox News Latino. “Lucky for me, I wasn’t the only one that felt we needed relevant, intelligent and entertaining content about us and by us.”

To learn more about how your company can amplify its brand by appealing to Hispanic Markets through social media marketing, visit Pennsylvania and Miami-based marketing experts The JLS Agency.