Blogging for Brands, Reaching Out to Millenials
Posted in Campus Marketing (On & Off), Spring Break Marketing, Youth Culture Research on February 16th, 2009
Before we begin in earnest, a quick note about the weather: if you’re an East Coaster, you know that this weekend was a godsend — a brief and otherworldly reprieve from winter. Those of us at the Washington, DC, office enjoyed weather in the low 60s, and this week promises to bring highs near 70. (Those stuck in YMC’s Boston headquarters have been less lucky. Sorry guys.) All of this is a reminder that Spring Break is fast approaching. It’s probably time to cut back on the calories and start shopping for those new swim trunks. (And if you’ll allow me a brief and shameless plug, I might add that if you’re a brand, and you’re interested in a Spring Break experiential marketing campaign, the time to act is now. We’re only weeks away from kicking off the Spring Break season, and these campaigns don’t build themselves!)
In non-weather news, our friends at YPulse share some hard data on the growing trends towards social media marketing for major American brands. While this shift towards social media marketing has been well documented, it doesn’t make the numbers any less striking. Consider how far social media has come: just a handful of years ago, blogs were seen as the preserve of political obsessives, tech fanatics and live-journaling teens. Fast forward to 2009, and 39 percent of 500 Inc. companies and 13 percent of Fortune 500 companies have an officially sanctioned and regularly updated corporate blog. (What I haven’t found, thus far, is a complete list which corporations are blogging. If anyone out there has a definitive list, I’d surely be interested in seeing it!)
More interestingly, though, for those of us who spend our time marketing to Millenials: American colleges are leading the way in social media communication. This likely doesn’t come as a huge shock to most of you. According to a recent survey, 41 percent of colleges have a blog, and 48 percent of colleges are maintaining a video blog. In total, 86 percent of college admission programs are using some form of social media. Scan through the whole study, found here, to see changes that have taken place in social media usage between 2007 and 2008 alone. For those who get turned off by charts and graphs and terse academic prose, the main take-away is simple: more school are using more forms of social media to reach out to students than ever before. And, more and more, they’re doing it in a way that’s true to YMC’s model of “engaging and authentic”: unlike in years past, more schools are allowing comments on their blogs. In short, they’re seeking to begin a conversation with students and potential students — they’re not just talking at them. And that, after all, is the magic ingredient in effective youth marketing. If you can create an interactive experience — be it physical or digital — that allows Millenials to engage with a brand in an authentic fashion, you’re going to be successful.
