Suggestions When Marketing To Generation Ys
Generation Ys are those young people aged between seventeen and twenty eight years old, the progeny of the baby boomers. Some sixty million strong, they are the largest influential group on the American scene since the baby boomers. While not quite the size of the baby boomer group, they are nonetheless ready to multiply and to soon rival it in buying power.
About 75% of Generation Ys are regular Internet users, the familiarity with this medium no doubt initiated through elementary and secondary schooling that demanded Internet access as a prerequisite. The group's tendency to use this medium as its central communication method should encourage marketers to devise ways and means to target its users.
Y members make contact via email, social media and video, and they especially like to send texts. Statistics show that large numbers of texts are sent by many teenagers in any given month. Most Generation Ys have cell phones. Text message campaigns, therefore, are something for marketers to include in their marketing plan, particularly as it is estimated that three-quarters of all text messages are sent by the Y Generation.
Marketing to the children of the baby boomers will not be easy. Boomer brands failed in attempts to reach the smaller Generation X group, which had to be tolerated. Generation Y, however, is becoming large enough to have an effect on a boomer brand more significantly, simply by not taking any notice of it. Rival brands could also be launched to create a greater upheaval. To succeed in marketing to this group, then, you will need to learn to think as it does.
Members of Generation Y have grown up in an even more technologically advanced media than the baby boomers and react to advertising in a different way. In numerous cases they are resistant to the traditional marketing channels that appealed to older generations. The entrepreneurs that do manage to grab the attention of Generator Y consumers are locating them in places they are known to visit, for example, the Net, social networking centers, and cable TV.
When you think of the multitude of social networks online, only a few cater specifically for the Generation Y group. Facebook and Twitter are very popular, even though their popularity is associated with a number of groups. Others include: BrazenCareerist.com, 20somethings.ning.com, Unigo.com, myYearbook.com. Each of these networks caters for a variety of Generation Y needs.
Previous generations as well as marketers can learn much from these networks, to better understand who Generation Ys are and what they're made up of. They don't expect older generations to know everything about their lifestyle. They simply want understanding and respect.
To the online marketer, then, learn about what motivates Generation Y. Visit their social networks and acquaint yourself with them through reading what they are writing about. Your experience there will give you some knowledge on how to advertise to the Generation Y needs.
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