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Gen Y or Millennials: Marketing Tips

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by Claudia “Havi” Goffan

Most of us, marketers, are trying to engage the Millennials or Gen Y. Also, most marketers are still leery of Gen Y marketing techniques. Therefore, we need to keep understanding who they are, what they do, what they like and what they dislike.

Gen Y or Millennials: Marketing Tips: brief overview of the Millennials or Gen Y

  • Listen to them online 24/7 using Multicultural Market Intelligence Tools

    Listen to them online 24/7 using Multicultural Market Intelligence Tools

    Gen Y believes in the power of WE and is all-inclusive.

  • Gen Y is multicultural and 34% of Millennials are Hispanics.
  • Gen Y believes that customized options help define personal style.
  • Gen Y is hyper-connected.
  • Gen Y is married to mass media and goes online more than any other generation.
  • Gen Y uses cellphones as an extension of their own body.
  • The average Gen Y’er spends an average of 33 hours on social networks, 31 hours on email, and sends over 700 texts, every month.
  • Their status updates or messages to friends reach hundreds, and because of its instant repetition, they reach greater audiences almost instantly.
  • Gen Y loves communication tools – especially instant messages.
  • Gen Y is interested in social popularity or social status and most of them have not met many of their friends in person – ever.
  • Gen Y is the first generation that can actually measure its popularity.

Gen Y or Millennials: Marketing Tips – What can brands do?

  • Gen Y is hyper-connected

    Gen Y is hyper-connected

    Use their willingness to collaborate and include them in your efforts to build your brand. Once they are a part of it, they will help you share your message.

  • Talk to the Millennials that work for your company and include them on your advertising and PR efforts – they will help you deliver your message for free using their extensive networks.
  • Be mindful of their likes and dislikes when it comes to your brand because they can also share negative messages about it.
  • Remember that online video offers them immediacy, emotion, and interaction.
  • Listen to them online and engage them online 24/7 using Multicultural Market Intelligence Tools.
  • Use these insights to create great products.
  • Market to communities, but emphasize individuality.
  • Generate Word of Mouth: Let them discover your brand.
  • Be real and authentic to your audience in everything you do.

Now, the question becomes, are you truly listening to the Gen Y?

Fortune 500 companies getting into Twitter

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The Fortune 500’s use of blogs, online video, and podcasts continues to increase, but Twitter was the social media channel of choice in 2009, according to a study by the Society for New Communications Research (SNCR) and Financial Insite.

The study, “The Fortune 500 and Social Media: A Longitudinal Study of Blogging and Twitter Usage by America’s Largest Companies,” was conducted by Dr. Nora Ganim Barnes, Ph.D., Senior Fellow and Research Chair of the Society for New Communications Research and Chancellor Professor of Marketing at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Eric Mattson, CEO of Financial Insite Inc., a Seattle-based research firm.

Large number of Fortune 500 companies got into Twitter, report says

Large number of Fortune 500 companies got into Twitter, report says

The new report is the outcome of a statistically sound study of the Fortune 500. The study examined the 2009 Fortune 500 in an attempt to quantify their adoption of social media tools and technologies. This is the second year that Barnes and Mattson have tracked social media adoption among the Fortune 500, and theirs is the only statistically sound longitudinal study of its kind.

The 2009 study’s key findings include:

  • 22% (108) of the primary corporations listed in the 2009 Fortune 500 have a public-facing corporate blog. This represents a six percent increase over the 2008 study.
  • 86% of these blogs (93) link directly to a corporate twitter account, a 300% increase over the 2008 study. (Note: More Fortune 500 corporations have Twitter accounts, but do not link directly from their blogs.)
  • 35% (173) of the Fortune 500 have active Twitter accounts (a post within the past thirty days); and nearly 50% of the top 100 companies (47) have a Twitter account.
  • 80% — four of the top five corporations – Wal-Mart, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and General Electric – consistently post on their Twitter accounts. The number one ranked company, Exxon Mobil, does not have a Twitter account.
  • The insurance industry has the most Twitter accounts (13).
  • 19% of the 2009 Fortune 500 is podcasting, a three percent increase over the 2008 study
  • 31% are incorporating online video into their blog sites, a 10% increase over 2008

“The continued steady adoption of blogs and the explosive growth of Twitter among Fortune 500 companies demonstrate the growing importance of social media in the business world,” stated Barnes. “These large and leading companies drive the American economy, and to a large extent, the world economy. Surely a willingness to interact more transparently via these new technologies with their stakeholders is a positive step. Where this leads will be fascinating to watch!”

“As social media become more integrated with a variety of business functions both internally and externally at companies, we continue to see a steadily growing adoption of blogs, Twitter, online video, podcasts and other new communications channels,” added Mattson.

About this study

A full copy of the 17-page research report, “The Fortune 500 and Social Media: A Longitudinal Study of Blogging and Twitter Usage by America’s Largest Companies,” can be downloaded at the link below.

Additionally, Barnes and Mattson will publish a paper based on the findings in an upcoming issue of the Society for New Communications Research’s Journal of New Communications Research and will present the findings via a web-based briefing and at the Society for New Communications Research’s annual research symposium.

About the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

To facilitate the economic development of the region by providing an affordable, high-quality economic alternative to meeting business needs for research, training, and consulting in any and all aspects of Marketing. The Center for Marketing Research is associated with and maintains a close relationship with the Chambers of Commerce within southeastern Massachusetts. This unique relationship provides the Center with an effective business networking capability. For more information, visit http://www.umassd.edu/cmr/.

About the Society for New Communications Research (SNCR)

The Society for New Communications Research is a global nonprofit 501(c)(3) research and education foundation and think tank focused on the advanced study of the latest developments in new media and communications, and their effect on traditional media and business models, communications, culture and society. For more information, visit http://sncr.org.

Hispanics social media marketing strategy – a must

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Any company that comes in contact with online Hispanic consumers would be negligent not to include them on its social media marketing strategy. The focal point should be the identification of the technologies and social media channels that are a strategic fit.

By Havi Goffan

Any company that comes in contact with online Hispanic consumers would be negligent not to include them in its social media marketing strategy.

Any company that comes in contact with online Hispanic consumers would be negligent not to include them in its social media marketing strategy.

U.S.-based Hispanic consumers are significantly more likely to participate in online social media than their non-Hispanic counterparts, making a social media strategy a must for any marketer wanting to reach this group online, according to a new report from Forrester Research Inc.

The research findings are as follows:

Online Hispanics are more involved and likely to listen to word-of-mouth

  • 69% of 3,000 online Hispanics are Spectators, meaning that they watch, read or listen to what others have created online.
  • Only 42% of non-Hispanics online are Spectators

Online Hispanics are more active

  • 40% of online Hispanics have the highest level of online activity and are characterized as Creators, meaning that they take part in such online activities as blogging, publishing web pages and uploading audio and video.
  • Only 12% of non-Hispanics online consumers participate in these activities.

Online Hispanics have a higher level of “Influentials”

  • 77% of online Hispanic adults take part in some sort of online social activity: Forrester characterized this group as influential, reporting that on average 60% tell friends and family about products that interest them.
  • more than 70% of all Hispanics surveyed said they stay with brands they like, suggesting that marketers who successfully build relationships with them now will have advocates for the long term.

Why are Hispanics more predisposed toward online social networking?

  • First, Hispanics are customarily early adopters of entertainment technologies, and this corresponds online to the use of video, audio and other related social media technologies such as blogging.
  • Second, Hispanic culture emphasizes the group over the individual, therefore Hispanic consumers tend to look to others for advice or agreement on product choices.
  • Third, according to research, “even though many U.S.-born Hispanic consumers prefer to use the Spanish language, many media publishers and marketers in the U.S. don’t offer this option. Social networking provides Hispanics with opportunities to fill that online gap by contributing their own Spanish-language content”, Forrester says.

Hispanics social media marketing strategy – a must

Any company that comes in contact with online Hispanic consumers would be negligent not to include them on its social media marketing strategy. The focal point should be the identification of the technologies and social media channels that are a strategic fit.

25 social interaction metrics or how to measure your social media marketing campaign

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by Claudia “Havi” Goffan

How do we measure the effectiveness of your brand's social media marketing campaigns?

How do we measure the effectiveness of your brand’s social media marketing campaigns?

Social media has evolved into an every day way of interaction and communication for a large part of the population. And this evolution started in the last century when social media commenced amidst the original chats in chatrooms and blogs. The first blog was created in the late 1980’s: http://www.netfunny.com/rhf/ and it is still alive and well today. Online dating sites, also a part of social media, started with online chats and became famous in 1988 with the movie “You’ve Got Mail”. In 2008, one out of nine couples that got married that year, actually met online. It is expected that the U.S. online dating market will reach $932 million in 2011.

Companies are starting 2010 with sparkling new social media campaigns and everybody knows it’s about the engagement, right? So, how do we measure the effectiveness of your brand’s social media marketing campaigns?

The ultimate approach to social media marketing campaign measurement will look at the things that really matter: sales, profits, customer satisfaction and loyalty. But that may take some time and you need to know how to gage the effectiveness of your social media marketing campaign to see if you are headed in the right direction in order to meet those objectives. Therefore, I wanted to share with you 25 social interaction metrics of key performance indicators to use with your social media marketing campaign. This is not an exhaustive list neither it is listed by order of importance and each social media marketer needs to identify the ones that are most suited for them.

I hope you find them useful and that you feel free to share additional ones with us and with our readers.

  1. CTR
  2. Re-Tweets/Mash-ups/Re-posting
  3. Bookmarks
  4. Comments
  5. Downloads
  6. Email / newsletter subscriptions
  7. Number of Fans/Followers
  8. Feedback
  9. Forward to a friend/Invite / Refer
  10. Amount of Group activity/interaction
  11. Number of downloads or widget installations
  12. Key page post-activity
  13. Ratings
  14. Onsite Messaging
  15. Posts
  16. Number of Registered users (new / total / active / dormant / churn)
  17. Report spam / abuse
  18. Reviews/ Testimonials
  19. Social media sharing / participation (activity on key social media sites, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Digg, etc)
  20. Tagging (user-generated metadata)
  21. Time spent on key pages
  22. Time spent on site (by source / by entry page)
  23. Total contributors (and % active contributors)
  24. Uploads (add an item, e.g. articles, links, images, videos)
  25. Views (videos, ads, rich images)

A brief introduction to Social Media

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What is your Social Media goal?

Social media sites are becoming a major strategy for brands and business.

What tools should we use to get a return on our social media efforts?

Use them all. But use the tools for different purposes and audiences.

When you are on Twitter you are everybody’s friend. Simple as that. Facebook is your home. Who do you entertain in your home? Facebook is the place where you can truly connect with your audience. LinkedIn is your office. There are thousands of social media sites: YouTube, Digg, Reddit, Delicious, hubspot, winelifetoday, univision.

Log in to our site and watch the rest of the introduction to Social Media presentation to learn Twitter basics and tips to increase your follower base. Do not overextend yourself on social media and increase your connections!

 

Click on social media presentation to advance