A recent article on Clickz discusses new data released by Hispanic-focused agency, Orci.  He said that despite the growing social media activity of hispanics and their increased influence as consumers, they are being ignored by big brands.

A few key points:

• 80 percent of Hispanics use social sites and collectively total $1 trillion in buying power.

• “What we have found is Latinos are extremely social,” Orci said. “So they are very eager to communicate with whoever wants to communicate with them.”

• Between 78 and 89 percent of the respondents said they believe Hispanics will dramatically impact the following areas in the next five years: food, fashion, beauty, entertainment, and technology/communications.

…..YET…..

• Seventy-eight percent of Fortune 1000 companies are not employing social media sites to market to Latinos.

Where is the disconnect? Is it because it hasn’t been done successfully before? People are afraid to skew from the norm, yet Hispanics are BECOMING the norm.

Who will be the first to take the plunge (see Melea’s article on standing out from the competition) and showcase a successful online Hispanic marketing campaign? Keep your eyes peeled, it will be a game changer.

Skimming through my Google Reader on this rainy Tuesday morning I found a fun questionnaire posted on PR Junkie.  The quick, one minute survey, created by design firm Pentagram, tells you what typeface best fits your personality.

I found out I was Marina Script! What is your type?

Marina Script

To help with the relief and recovery efforts surrounding the recent earthquake in Haiti, Howard, Merrell & Partners has taken up a collection of new and gently used shoes to benefit Soles4Souls, an organization founded to facilitate shoe donations from drop off points around the country to provide poverty and disaster stricken people with proper footwear.

Locally, the Triangle branch of Soles4Souls has a goal of collecting 150,000 pairs of shoes to help the organization reach its national goal of collecting one million pairs for Haiti.

So far, at HM&P we’ve already collected over a fifty pairs, and the generous employee donations keep coming! We will be bringing our donations to Mobley’s Shoes at 7422 Creedmoor Road in Raleigh. Click here for more Triangle area drop off sites.

If you’re interested in finding out more about Soles4Souls and the amazing work they’re doing, follow them on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Last week the PR team surprised Kipp Bodnar, who was recently honored as one of the “Top 15 to Watch” by PR News, with his award and a bottle of bubbly to celebrate! The award was a nice addition to the decor in his new office! Congrats Kipp, we are proud to have you on our team!

To read the original post announcing his award, click here.

Grades are something I thought I left behind on the stage at graduation last May. Not true, I recently found. Though they may not give out suma, magna and cum laude seals of prestige there are several Web sites that can help you gage your Twitter GPA.

Sites use various measurement methods and some give you a bigger ego boost than others. For example, on Twitter Grader I received a score of 93 out of 100 (a solid A in my book) but Klout told me I was a ‘casual’ user. No where near the ‘persona’ level I dream of where rocks stars like JasonFalls, gialyons and schneidermike hang out.

Either way it’s kind of fun to give yourself a checkup to see if you make the grade. Plus, you only have to show your parents if you want to.

Here are a few more to try out:

• Twinfluence
• Twitter Analyzer
• Twitalyzer
• Twitrank

Do you have any that you recommend?

“Barriers to entry”…”Cutting corners”…”Get your ducks in a row”…”Think outside the box”…”On the same page”

We’ve all heard and admittedly used these common business clichés but have you every really thought about what you were saying? Or, what those phrases would look like visually? Well thanks to XPLANE’s creative infographic holiday greeting now you can! Try to find common phrases in this cluttered illustration:

Click for a PDF version

A good warm up exercise, and a laugh or two for your Monday!

2009 has been a whirlwind year for social media, from the Twitter boom, to the most recent game changer, Google real-time search. If this past year has been any indication of what is to come, hold on to your seats.

E-Way Direct has compiled the 2010 hopes and predictions of 14 social media thought-leaders (including HM&P’s own Kipp Bodnar). If social media made a list of new year’s resolutions, this e-book gives a little glimpse of what they might be.

Top takeaways:

• Social media will transform from a fad to a necessary feature of online marketing
• Many users will make the transition from adapters, to experts
• Quality of relationships and conversation will become more valuable than simply number of followers and friends
• For small businesses, social media will prove to be an equalizer, allowing them to play on the same field as big corporations, despite having a smaller budget
• Mobile marketing will flourish; location-based applications will be at the forefront

Take a look through the book and feel free to comment with your own predictions for the new year!

Online Marketing Predictions for 2010