Posted in Youth Culture Research on March 1st, 2009
Filed Under: blogging, brand communication, Facebook, Gen Y, Generation Y, Millenials, Razorfish, RSS feed, Social Media, Social Networking, the future of brands, the future of marketing, Youth Marketing
This happens to me every so often, and when it does, I’m always a little awestruck. It goes like this: It’s nearly noon, I’m trolling the web, hitting my usual list of blogs, sifting through my RSS reader and sending the occasional email while finishing lunch (a superb salad from Chop’t, if anyone’s curious). I consume a lot of content during these casual strolls across the web, and most of it barely registers. I glance over a few lines of text, I smile or furrow my brow, and I move on. In these moments, the fact that 99.99999 percent of the content I take in is free makes perfect sense to me.
But sometimes, like today, I cross something so clear and cogent, that I have to stop and give thanks for the awesome power of the internet. And all of it for free! Oh, world wide web, how did we exist without you?
Without further hyping, I give you the above mentioned clear-and-cogent-thinking-that-made-me-stop-and-think. It’s a short presentation from Shiv Singh, VP of Global Social Media at Razorfish. It’s a genuinely worthwhile look at the evolution of the social networking universe — and what is means for the future of brands. The major take-away may not come as a shock to most. Essentially, Singh echoes what many of us in the marketing universe have been saying of late: that social networking means that communication has to be a two-way street between brands and consumers. It may be an old-news message, but the context Singh provides is really valuable. So read it, and then take its message to heart and start interacting in an authentic way with your consumers.
Posted in Campus Marketing (On & Off), Spring Break Marketing, Youth Culture Research on February 16th, 2009
Filed Under: blog, blogging, college admissions, college marketing, demographic data, Fortune 500, Generation Y, Millenials, Social Networking, Spring Break Marketing, video blog, youth culture data, Youth Culture Research, Youth Marketing, youth marketing connection, ypulse
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.
