This is a guest post from Theresa Rice, Director US Hispanic, and Mireille Grangenois, Managing Director of US Multicultural. Theresa and Mireille lead the Multicultural Practice here at Burson-Marsteller, overseeing internal and external efforts in the realm of multicultural marketing communications. The Multicultural Practice currently focuses efforts in the Hispanic and African American communities and plans to add more in the near future.

Have you heard of theroot.com, the Washington Post’s news and opinion site for black audiences? What about the search engine Rushmoredrive.com, designed to prowl the Web for results that people of African descent globally can’t always find on Google? Or urban radio titan Radio One, which has moved decisively into the (surprise!) Hispanic, Asian, gay and faith-based social network scene? Or blurdigital.com which focuses on biracial, multiracial and multicultural audiences? What about amigosdeobama.com, an unofficial Hispanic voter outreach site whose reggaetón and corrido songs in support of the Illinois senator’s presidential candidacy have been a viral sensation for months?

A powerful wave of digital initiatives targeting communities of color, culture and clout is forming. What it reflects is an exploding demand for news, commentary and other information reflecting the cultural, political, consumer and social sensibilities of particular communities—as well as the mass market portals’ failure to satisfy it.

B-M’s own African American-fluentials and Hispanic-fluentials studies reveal that digital and social media are being embraced by the most Web-savvy blacks and Hispanics even more than by their general market population e-fluential peers. They spend more time online than e-fluentials, have larger networks of online and offline peers whom they influence on a daily basis. They are also more likely to respond to certain online marketing initiatives, as well as commonly forward information on products and issues of importance to them, making them prime candidates for digital and word-of-mouth initiatives.

Burson-Marsteller’s proprietary research also indicates that blacks and Hispanics are demanding that the websites they visit reflect an understanding and respect for their cultures. They are looking for things like links to the other ethnic sites they visit, images of people like them and information tailored specifically to their demographic—hence the explosion of community-specific sites.

Behind the increase in media outlets—which of course can come and go, so I won’t venture to predict which will succeed—is something more significant. It is self-determination 2.0: communities that before were mainly recipients of messages are electing to self-identify, form networks and create connections on their own terms. They have become not only active members of a dialogue, but powerful influencers.

Marketers must understand and join in the conversation while recognizing that in many ways, the bar has gotten higher. Phil Dixon, chair of the department of Journalism at the John Johnson School of Communications at Howard University, said to me last week, “Younger people are very careful where they place their trust because there is so much out there. You can’t make yourself credible. The audience declares you credible.” Plus if companies don’t get it right, the results can be disastrous. For example, Hispanic-fluentials are nearly twice as likely as e-fluentials to spread the word online and offline about a negative experience with a product or company.