- What the hell is it?
and
- Why is so hard to connect with the multicultural audience in social media.
Let's deal with the second question right off the bat. Whenever I meet with someone who would like to do a better job of understanding who their Hispanic, African American or Asian audience might be, I tell them to Google the following phrases (among others):
Black people talk in the movies.
Dominican men don't wear socks.
These are what I call "Multicultural Social Media Flashbangs." I've never spent one day on a real battlefield (but I play a lot of Call of Duty). A Flashbang is this blinding thing you throw out in order to either temporarily blind someone while you sneak by, or flush them out. In this case we are using these phrases to flush folks out.
When you throw out an MSMFB (see what I did there?), you will get plenty of results back for blogs, twitter pages, Facebook pages, etc. hosted by members of a particular group, addressing such issues. Some serious, but mostly comical. The point is, all of these results are rich with social media gold...like-minded followers, friends, subscribers, etc.
So, here's what. The first step in connecting with the multicultural audience via social media is knowing how to find them. What I describe above is just one of many methods I deploy (another Call of Duty term).
Which brings us to the second question.
What the HELL is Multicultural Social Media Planning.
Q. Isn't social media supposed to be about all societies sharing together?
A. Yes it is, and no they don't! (but that is for another post).
Multicultural Social Media Planning is the science of leveraging cultural nuances in order to connect with your potential audience through social media. If you are a brand that has (or is looking to gain) a significant share of the multicultural audience, here or abroad, you need to know how to do this.
The beauty is, much like bowling a strike, brands are doing this every once in a while. But 99% don't know how they did it. And it's kinda hard to get a PBA card unless you know exactly what steps you took in order to bowl that strike-- and can keep throwing those strikes over and over. (I think I have beat this metaphor to death).
The point is, I want you all to know how to throw strikes (no...NOW I've beaten this metaphor to death).
And...fade to black!
