Hispanic Social Media Best Practices and Latino Bloggers headline 12 sessions of the Hispanic PR & Social Marketing Conference, May 10-12

–       Twelve of the conference’s 24 sessions focus on Hispanic social media marketing best practices

–       Insights from Hispanic blogs, Twitter and Facebook will be showcased

–       Sony Electronics becomes official Technology Partner of the conference

DALLAS, TX — Hispanic social media marketing best practices and top Latino bloggers will play prominent roles at the 2010 Hispanic PR & Social Marketing Conference, May 10-12 in Dallas, with more than 12 of the conference’s 24 sessions devoted to social media.

“Every company, government agency and Hispanic brand is asking how they can effectively harness Hispanic social media for their organizations,” said conference organizer Manny Ruiz, publisher of the Hispanic PR Blog.  “Our conference answers these questions with an exclamation mark of practical case studies and top quality speakers.”    

Co-presented by the Hispanic Public Relations Association (HPRA) and the Hispanic PR Blog in partnership with the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the conference features more than 24 professional development opportunities, keynote presentations and panels focused on best practices in Hispanic public relations and social media.

Major brand marketers and top speakers from the world of Hispanic social media will present a wide array of case studies and panels never before organized.  The agenda features:

–       A keynote address by Rudy Rodriguez, Director of Multicultural Marketing for General Mills titled “Building Digital Expertise to Win with Hispanics.”  Rodriguez will showcase how a major CPG is using aggressive digital media strategies to target Hispanic audiences.

–       “Are Hispanics More Social?”, a presentation by Latino social media leader Lee Van, president of Captura Group that will take an in-depth look at how engaged Hispanics really are with social media.    

–       “Meet the Blogueras: A Roundtable with some of the Nation’s leading Latina Bloggers.”  Some of the nation’s top Latina bloggers (“blogueras”) join us for a candid roundtable packed with a fun and stimulating discussion that includes Marisa Trevino, Publisher of LatinaLista.com,  Cindy Casares, Managing Editor of GuanaBee.com, Rosa Alonso, Founder and CEO MyLatinoVoice.com,
and Rory Lassanke, Blogger-in-Chief of MamaContempranea.com.  Roxana Lissa, president of RL Public Relations is moderating this session.

–       “RX for Spanish-language Web sites: A Case Study on How UnitedHealthcare is leveraging its new Spanish-language Web site as a powerful social media tool.”  This session is being presented by Russell Bennett, Vice President of Latino Health Solutions at UnitedHealthcare
and Jose Villa, President of Sensis.

–       “Meet the Blogueros: A Roundtable with some of the Top ‘Guys’ in Hispanic Social Media.”  Some of nation’s top guy bloggers (“blogueros”) and social media experts join us for a candid roundtable that features Tomas Custer, Publisher, HispanicTips.com, Ariel Coro, Publisher of TuTecnologia.com
and Manny Ruiz, publisher of the Hispanic PR Blog. Angela Sustaita-Ruiz, Co-Publisher of the Hispanic PR Blog is moderating this session.

–       “Success stories: Hispanic social marketing pioneers share the secrets of their prized case studies.”  Presenters include Jose Pinero, Director of Diversity & Multicultural Marketing for Microsoft, Andrew Herrera, CEO of Remezcla and
Patricia Beatty-Gonzalez, Director of Cause Communications for the American Heart Association.

–       “Practical Case Study Insights on the Do’s and Don’t of Hispanic Social Media Measurement”. Panelists include Carlos Santiago, President and Chief Strategist for Santiago ROI,
Stephanie Noble, founder of Paden Noble Consulting and
Suzanne Cordero, Hispanic Western Regional Manager for Edelman Digital.

–       “Zune Case Study.” This case study will be presented by Jose Pinero, Director of Communications for the TV, Video and Music division of Microsoft Corporation and Javier Farfan, Senior Marketing Group Manager for Microsoft Corporation’s TV, Video and Music Group.  Romina Biongiovani, Vice President of Edelman Multicultural, is moderating this session.

–       “The Gold Standard of Measuring ROI for Your Hispanic PR and Social Media Marketing Campaigns.”  This panel features Carlos Santiago, President of Santiago ROI, Jorge Diaz de Villegas, SVP and Co-Chair of FH Hispania and David Henry, President of TeleNoticias and President of the New York chapter of the Hispanic Public Relations Association.  Cristy Clavijo-Kish, Senior Vice President of PR Newswire Multicultural, is moderating this session.

–       “PR vs. Advertising: A Frank Discussion About Which Discipline is Best Suited to Lead Hispanic Social Marketing Initiatives and Why.”  This session will feature major Hispanic marketer Walmart along with agency leaders from Hispanic PR, advertising and digital firms.  Deborah Charnes, Vice President and Managing Director of Bromley Communications is moderating this session.

–       “A Review of Key Issues and Trends Every Marketer Needs to Know about Hispanic Social Media.”  Panelists include Paul Rand, President of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) and the Zocalo Group, Andrew Herrera, Founder of Remezcla.com, Charlie Echeverry, Senior VP of Sales, Univision Interactive
and Tomas Custer, Publisher, HispanicTips.com.  Stephen Chavez, Vice President of Ketchum, is moderating the session.     

–       “Your Ultimate Guide to Scoring Great Coverage with traditional, broadcast and online Hispanic Media.”  Session presenters are Manny Ruiz, co-publisher of the Hispanic PR Blog and former president of Hispanic PR Wire; Olga Romero, Spanish-language Public Relations Specialist and Spokesperson for Southwest Airlines; and Mike Valdes-Fauli, Managing Director of the Jeffrey Group.  Cruz Flores, Multicultural Marketing Manager of Qwest, is moderating this session.

The most updated version of the conference schedule can be viewed at http://www.hispanicprconference.com/conference-agenda/schedule.

Social media sponsors include the Zocalo Group (Conference Twitter sponsor) and Sensis (social media session sponsor).  The conference is also being sponsored by: the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA); the National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA); Sony Electronics (Technology Partner); Southwest Airlines; McDonalds; Fleishman; the Axis Agency; Ketchum; VPE Public Relations; the Jeffrey Group; the W.K. Kellogg Foundation; RL Public Relations; TeleNoticias; PR Newswire; the Zocalo Group; Comerica Bank; Cision; and the Dallas Conventions and Visitors Bureau.  The conference’s lead media partner is Latino Leaders Magazine.  Other media partners include Black PR Wire, Latina Style Magazine and My Latino Voice.

For more information on the Hispanic PR & Social Marketing Conference, visit www.hispanicprconference.com or contact show director, Ray Bianchi, at info@hispanicprblog.com or 305-600-4878. You also may subscribe to conference-related “Tweets”; the Twitter hash-tag for the conference is #HPRConf.