Marketing to Gen Y: What you can't afford not to know

Again I have stumbled across another US post based on Generation Yers but as previously stated in one of my posts I have said that the issues raised will also relate to the UK model of Generation Y-ers. 

Generation Y.  You’ve heard that they don’t watch TV, and you’ve probably been told that they don’t read that much.  Your research tells you that you can’t target them through MTV anymore, and you certainly can’t tell Gen Y what is cool.  So how do you reach these 71 million “Millennials” that spend over 200 billion dollars annually and will soon replace the baby boomer generation as the largest percentage of the workforce?  The answer is simple—you STOP marketing to them.  Let me explain.

First, let’s look at who they are. As a baby boomer, I can tell you that this generation—sometimes called the “Connecteds”—are our own invention. 

We raised Gen Y to believe that they can do anything and be anything.  We made their lives easy enough that they now believe they deserve to live first and work second. (How dare them!)  So the first thing we have to do is stop being pissed off at our own creation and embrace the brilliance of this Gen Y community. 

This is the most optimistic generation to ever walk the face of the planet.  They absolutely believe that miracles are possible.  They refuse to work a job that does not bring them a sense of joy.  They care about the earth and servicing their community.  In Gen Y, we have created the possibility for everything that we wanted for the world.  So we must stop whining about them being entitled and embrace the power of this generation.  Once we do that, we can then begin to take a closer look at who they are, what makes them tick, and what they want from our businesses.

Let’s look at who has been successful at marketing to Gen Y: Apple, Jet Blue, Trader Joes, Jones Soda, Mountain Dew, and Red Bull, to name a few.  How do these companies speak to this demographic?  To answer that, we first have to understand the four areas Gen Y considers before purchasing a product or service: 

1. Cheap cost
2. Good quality
3. Fast service
4. An “experience” 

When Apple created the 99-cent download that took eight seconds to transact, they hit the nail on the head with Gen Y.  Music is an experience, the quality is stellar, the cost is low, and the purchase happens instantly.  What did Apple do right?  They spoke directly to Gen Y and asked the question: What do you want? 

So who gets Gen Y’s attention?  Living in an age where information is everywhere and where everyone can reach them, the Gen Y community is VERY selective about who they listen to.  Just look at their MySpace and Facebook accounts, and you’ll recognize that they get their information from one another—NOT from us, and certainly not from the media.  And the information they get from each other is not in emails, which most of them don’t even touch anymore (I know you probably thought you were being hip with your 100 emails a day!).  They text one another.  They IM.  They watch each other on YouTube.  And sometimes they do all three at the same time! Most importantly, Gen Y does NOT care about what you have to say unless you have been endorsed by their friends. They care about what their community says, and they take each other and their network’s recommendations VERY seriously.

So taking that into account, how do you reach them?  Well, understand that Gen Y is an “experience” culture.  They do not want to be told what to like or what to do.  They want to experience the world for themselves and pass their own judgment.  They love to be in the trenches of life, and they want to be there with their friends.  HERE is where you have to meet them if you want to be taken seriously and respected by this generation enough for them to buy from you:

·         Concerts (Gen Y LOVES live music.)

·         Extreme sporting events (skateboarding, snowboarding, BMX)

·         Movies (mainstream as well as art-house)

·         Hiking events (They love the outdoors)

·         Video games and video game competitions (Cyber Athlete Professional League, GameCaster, Global Gaming League)

·         Mashups (Weather Bonk, Where’s Tim Hibbard, Y! Mash,  Sims on Stage)

·         Social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace, Second Life, del.icio.us, DIGG)

·         Tattoo parlors (36 percent of them have at least one tattoo)

Before I wrap this up, there is one more major element we need to discuss, and that is how to earn their respect when you are talking with Gen Y:  AUTHENTICITY.  They don’t waste time on people or companies that are not being real with them.  Authentic is cool.  Authentic is dorky.  Authentic is hip.  Authentic is truthful.  This generation has seen it all, from televised wars to 9-11 to the hanging of Hussein.  They know real when they see it, and it takes them all of three seconds to pass that judgment. 

So what does all this mean to you?  It means that you cannot directly market to them until you buy into them, until you value their perspective on life.  So while other experts are out there giving you “tricks” to market to Gen Y, I’m here saying STOP marketing to them and START listening to them.  Hang out with them.  Experience life with them. Respect them.  If you do, their outlook on life will change you. You’ll begin to behave differently, take on some new values, and begin to live more yourself.  When you do that, you’ll find your audience within this generation.  Then talking “with” them, not “at” them will sell your business.

Fields, B. (2012). Marketing to Gen Y: What you can''t afford not to know. Available: http://www.startupnation.com/business-articles/9011/1/marketing-GenY.htm. Last accessed 29th Apr 2012.

Facebook Profiles Reveal Gen Y Work Trends

 I found this post particularly interesting, with Generation Y being so tech savvy and known as the digital natives, its no wonder that Facebook profiles are able to reveal work trends about us, this post by the examiner made me think how much information do we really release onto our facebook pages?

I mean of course most if not all our friends are on the site but should we really let the rest of the world know every little detail about us?

To understand Generation Y workplace trends, look no further than Facebook.  The social networking giant has always been home to a smattering of information about the social activities of young people, but new analysis provides insight into their professional lives as well.
Only about a third of Millennials list a job entry on their Facebook profiles, but eight in 10 list at least one school, according to a new study released Monday of over 50 million Facebook data points from Identified.com by personal branding agency Millennial Branding.
This gap between listing jobs and listing schools is largely related to the economy--Millennials continue to struggle to find employment but are still attending college in record numbers.  Beyond that, the gap could indicate Millennials aren’t defining themselves by their jobs and may not even want to bring attention to their employment situation at all.

The study found that the most common industry of employment is travel and hospitality (think servers and bartenders) among Gen Y’ers who listed employment information on their Facebook profiles.  If that is still the dominant industry among the 64 percent of Millennials who didn’t list jobs on their profiles, it really is no wonder that portion of their profile is blank.

Millennials are the most educated generation yet.  Their educational achievement was highly encouraged, and supported (often even financially) by their Baby Boomer parents.  Participating in sports where everyone got a trophy taught them to value accolades.  Additionally, their Boomer parents and teachers taught them if they worked hard and excelled in the classroom, they would excel in other areas of life, particularly professionally.  Given that fostered mindset, it wouldn’t be surprising if educated Millennials working in jobs that don’t utilize their education simply choose not to list their employment situation.
Perhaps many Millennials would rather focus on the achievement that spurs pride (education) and ignore the job that doesn’t seem like an achievement to them.

This could explain another finding in Millennial Branding’s study.
Rather than starting their corporate ladder climb with entry-level jobs at big corporations, Generation Y seems to be turning to entrepreneurship.  Of those 18- to 29-year-olds who list at least one job in their profile, only 10 percent have worked for a Fortune 500 company and only 7 percent are currently working for a Fortune 500 company.   Whereas, “Owner” is the fifth most common job title Gen Y lists on their Facebook profile.

If professional achievement isn’t found via traditional methods, Generation Y is creating their own way.
But regardless of where they are working, in true Millennial style, they are making friends along the way.
On average, a Millennial has 16 Facebook friends from work.  As a result, whether or not they list details about their work experience on Facebook profiles, their work and personal lives become intertwined. 
 “Gen Y needs to be aware that what they publish online can come back to haunt them in the workplace,” said Dan Schawbel, founder of Millennial Branding.  “Gen-Y managers and co-workers have insight into their social lives, which could create an awkward workplace setting or even result in a termination.”


Sharalyn, H. (2012). Facebook Profiles Reveal Gen Y Work Trends. Available: http://www.examiner.com/article/facebook-profiles-reveal-gen-y-work-trends. Last accessed 29th Apr 2012. 

This is another post I happened to come across that I thought had valuable information packed in it. Although again it is based on a US model, the figures would be different but pretty much the exact same happens here in the UK, the use of internet, brand awareness of the Generation Y 

"We all know that Generation Y uses technology to connect with the world around them in more diverse ways and in greater numbers than any other age group. But how can marketers tap into this gadget-savvy, brand-aware demographic? The following statistics, taken from four recent reports listed below, provide an insight into the complex world of 13-24 year-olds".

Brand awareness

• 66% would look up a store after learning their friend had checked in. (Mr Y)
• 43% have liked more than 20 brands on Facebook. (Mr Y)
• 65% report researching the next model for their current product, immediately after making a purchase (Mr Y)
• 71% report having liked a brand on Facebook just to receive an offer (Mr Y)
• Social Media
• 91% make their Facebook Places and Foursquare check-ins public. (Mr Y)
• 52% have over 300 friends on Facebook. Top 10%, over 1,000. (Mr Y)
• 58% use Twitter “all the time” (Mr Y)
• 40% visit Facebook more than 10 times per day. (Mr Y)
• 73% only consider someone a “friend” if they have hung out in person. (Mr Y)
• 76% spend over an hour on Facebook every day (Mr Y)

Gadget Ownership

• 89% own a laptop (Mr Y)
• 96% of undergraduates owned a cell phone in 2010, vs. 82% of the adult population.
• The vast majority of undergrads possessed a laptop and an iPod or MP3 player, too, at 88% and 84%, respectively. (PI)
• Adults younger than age 30 are more likely than those age 30 and older to own a cell phone—93% of young adults own cell phones compared with 80% of their older counterparts. (PI)
• Nearly seven in ten (69%) teens ages 12-17 have a computer (PI)
• Nearly four in five teens (79%) have an iPod or other mp3 player (PI)
• 80% of teens between the ages of 12 and 17 have a game console like a Wii, an Xbox or a PlayStation. (PI)
• Over one-quarter of students listed their laptop as the most important item in their bag—almost three times the number of students who chose textbooks. (CS)
• Among student tablet owners, 86% believe tablets help them study more efficiently, and 76% said tablets help students perform better in class. (CS)
• 62.7% of US undergraduates surveyed had an internet-capable handheld device. (CS)

  Technology usage

• 67% access Facebook from their smart phone (Mr Y)
• 59% visit Facebook during class (Mr Y)
• 40% use Pandora (Mr Y)
• 73% earn virtual currency (Facebook Credits (36%), Farmville Cash (25%) and Microsoft Points (17%) rank among the most popular.) (Mr Y)
• 75% upload photos via mobile (Mr Y)
• 80% use 2 or more devices simultaneously while watching TV (Mr Y)
• 93% of teens with a desktop or laptop computer use the device to go online (PI)
• 21% of teens who do not otherwise go online say they access the internet on their cell phone. 41% of teens from households earning less than $30,000 annually say they go online with their cell phone. Only 70% of teens in this income category have a computer in the home, compared with 92% of families from households that earn more. (PI)
• Only 5% plan on buying a PC, 1% use Gowalla, 12% use foursquare, and only 13% of incoming freshmen plan on getting a cable TV package.
• 38% of students surveyed said they could not go more than 10 minutes without checking their digital device—about the time it takes to walk to class. (CS)
• 62% of youth brand and technology decisions are influenced by friends and family (MY)

  Mobile phone usage

• 75% of 12-17 year-olds now own cell phones. (PI)
• 75% send over 20 text messages per day (Mr Y)

Among all teens, the frequency of use of texting has now overtaken the frequency of every other common form of interaction with their friends. Fully two-thirds of teen texters say they are more likely to use their cell phones to text their friends than talk to them to them by cell phone. (PI)
Teens who have multi-purpose phones are avid users of those extra features. The most popular are taking and sharing pictures and playing music:

• 83% use their phones to take pictures.
• 64% share pictures with others.
• 60% play music on their phones.
• 46% play games on their phones.
• 32% exchange videos on their phones.
• 31% exchange instant messages on their phones.
• 27% go online for general purposes on their phones.
• 23% access social network sites on their phones.
• 21% use email on their phones.
• 11% purchase things via their phones. (PI)

Half of teens send 50 or more text messages a day, or 1,500 texts a month, and one in three send more than 100 texts a day, or more than 3,000 texts a month. (PI)
15% of teens who are texters send more than 200 texts a day, or more than 6,000 texts a month. (PI)
Boys typically send and receive 30 texts a day; girls typically send and receive 80 messages per day. (PI)
Globally, there are 1.8 billion mobile phone owners aged under 30 (MY)
The global youth mobile market is worth $360 billion annually – 10x the size of the global recorded music industry (MY)
62% of all youth handset purchase decisions are influenced by peers not advertising (MY)
By 2012, one in five of the world’s mobile phone owning youth will be living in India (MY)



 

Sources

1. Pew Internet & American Life Project reports: Teens and Mobile Phones (April 2010) and Social Media and Young Adults (PI)
2. E-Marketer’s report College Students: The Gadget Generation, which cites a March 2011 survey done with Wakefield Research and textbook provider CourseSmart (CS)
3. Mr Youth’s report Meet the Class of 2015 (Mr Y) researching the attidudes of 18-year olds. (Mr Y)
4. Mobile Youth Report 2011, which defines ‘youth’ as under-30s (MY)

Walter, E. (2012). Number Crunching: The Top 51 Stats For Generation Y Marketers. Available: http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2012/01/21/number-crunching-the-top-51-stats-for-generation-y-marketers/. Last accessed 22nd Apr 2012.