Colgate-Palmolive is celebrating Latina digital influencers through a blogger conference sponsorship paired with a social media contest as a part of an ongoing campaign for its toothpaste brand that targets Hispanics. 

The brand is hoping to spark conversation on social media surrounding the #WeAllGrow Summit, which brings together a bevy of marketers looking to connect with Latina bloggers. Colgate is encouraging Spanish-speaking social media users to promote its products by posting pictures of their smiles with its curated hashtag for a prize. 

?Social is of course the primary channel that UGC campaigns like this make sense through, and really it is what makes this type of product-based engagement possible for brands like Colgate,? said James McNally, senior manager of business development at Prolific Interactive. ?Colgate's suggestion that sharing a Colgate Optic White #SonrisaColgate moment, for a chance to win a grand prize, helps to spread the authentically important content and message of the #WeAllGrow conference may seem a stretch to some too.

?One thing in the 'do' category is build a multi-touch engagement strategy,? he said. ?Relative to a national campaign, the number of women attending the conference and using #SonrisaColgate is relatively small, and likely influential in their peer groups.  

?Colgate should be sure to engage users well before the grand prize is awarded, by featuring and interviewing attendees about how their Colgate-assisted smile helps them feel more confident, etc.?

The hashtag includes Sonrisa, which is the Spanish word for smile, to promote teeth whitening line Optic White. The winner will receive a two-day trip to New York to attend the People en Espanol ?50 Mas Bellos? party in May. 

Twitter users who are posting about the campaign are likely to be retweeted and featured on the @SonrisaColgate page, which is geared toward Spanish-speaking followers. 

Colgate-Palmolive also recently leveraged social media personalities and various platforms to appeal to fans of the Latin Grammys and appear more luxurious, offering access to an exclusive, invite-only acoustic performance (see more).

The brand also brought a revamped spin to SMS-based receipt promotions by offering participants alluring rewards from other brands instead of standard money-back offers (see more). 

?With a campaign like this there are definitely considerations,? Mr. McNally said. ?First off, people might think having a Colgate ad-grade smile is a participation requirement, which may not be the most inclusive construct.

?Plus, if a beauty product makes people feel better and do better, that is a great thing, but brands should be wary of too heavily suggesting beauty is a requirement to success.?