Gen Y has spoken once again. In the latest PMN and Pace University survey we explored Gen Y’s usage and attitudes toward texting, mobile marketing, email, social networks and more. The results were enlightening. While Generation Yers do indeed spend considerable time on social networks, when asked what they would least like to give up for one week, only nine percent said social networks! In fact, the media Gen Y apparently can’t live without was…drum roll please….yup, old-fashioned email and texting.



So what’s going on here? Could it be that there is a clear division across media that includes “nice to have” non-essential sites (like Twitter and facebook) and “must have” productivity and communication tools (like email and texting)? Should Twitter and facebook be worried given they are considered less of a necessity? While no one is asking Gen Y to choose, the question is an important one for every social network and/or community player – what should you be doing now to avoid becoming just another community causality like GeoCities. For more information about our latest survey, visit the PMN website or check out some of the news coverage and let me know what you think.

Gen Y Holds Tight To Email And Texting
eMarketer: November 4, 2009 

Probing GenY'ers
MediaPost: October 27, 2009

Tech Additions: Email and Texting Top Social Media In Gen Y [Study]
Mashable: October 20, 2009

‘Til Next Time

I’m in Boston this week getting ready to speak at the Internet Retail Conference and Exhibition with a few members from the PMN’s Gen Y panel. Our session, “The Email Immune Generation: Getting Your Message to Gen Y,” is going to be interesting to say the least. We’ll be previewing some preliminary results from our next study with attendees. In fact, I spent most of my Acela trip up here building the slides for Thursday’s presentation and pondering my next blog. After checking in at the Westin Boston Waterfront the topic was quickly settled.

When we started the Participatory Marketing Network we made a conscious decision not to name the association or focus its efforts on one medium. What we wanted to do is talk more about what we think is a movement from push and permission marketing to participatory marketing. As we’ve said before, participatory marketing is really about marketing with your customers rather than at them. It’s about people getting actively involved with your brand, engaging them in a dialogue and encouraging them to become advocates for your brand. We also made a point of stressing that participatory marketing is any marketing that encourages participation including contests, print ads, TV and social media. Over the course of the last 8 months, we’ve highlighted nearly 20 brands who have built some really innovative programs. Some of the most successful programs reviewed have also managed to reinforce the brand promise and value proposition.

However, taking it one step further is Westin Hotels. What Westin is doing at the Westin Boston Waterfront serves as an example of how a brand can build a participatory marketing program and even operationalize it to build a truly differentiated customer experience. The program doing just that is Westin’s “running concierge” program. Within minutes of arriving in my room I received a voicemail for Westin’s “running concierge,” Paul Dryer, inviting me to join him and other guests on a 3 mile run to familiarize myself with the city and refresh my mind and body with a great morning workout. What this program does so well and different in my mind is that it is not just about using customer data, it is about using public-facing employees to help engage customers to participate with its brand. At the same time, the program reinforces Westin’s core positioning and marketing messages (relax, renew, refresh, etc.) and provides a level of service and value one would expect at five star hotels.

Hats off to the Westin Boston Waterfront! In fact, I can't wait to come back. The only thing that will be different next time is that I’ll be sure to bring my running shoes.

 

Gen Y is like Ohio in my mind…so how Gen Y goes, so does the rest of us…eventually that is. And if that is indeed the case, then Twitter has some work to do. A recent survey of Gen Y consumers found that only 22 percent are using Twitter. This study compares very closely with another recent survey by Pew which found about 19 percent usage among 18-24 year olds in Nov/Dec. Probably lower than you would have expected right? With this generation, Twitter faces a ‘glass half full’ scenario. When asked whether they maintain an active profile on a social network (i.e. facebook, MySpace or YouTube), an overwhelming 99 percent of Gen Y indicated they did. It’s clear that Gen Y has an appetite for social networking, but still hasn’t fully embraced micro-blogging. Could it be that between texting and social networking there is little need? Could it be that social networks are more interesting and engaging given the array of applications now in use? Maybe, but one thing is certain, if Twitter is to have any real staying power, then Gen Y needs to be convinced of its advantages over texting and leading social networks. Twitter obviously provides a richer experience by enabling users to click-through to interesting articles, websites, videos, etc. Gen Y also needs to realize that Twitter offers users the opportunity to connect with others they don’t know – including experts users normally would never have the opportunity to interact with.

Marketers also play a major role and responsibility in how this communication channel evolves. To do that, it is critical we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past. That is – don’t spam. Let’s learn from email’s spam crisis – respect the channel, be relevant, timely and funny. Find a voice that works for your brand and provide insight that your followers will benefit from and appreciate. In the end it is really about creating value and a positive experience for your followers. Finally, I encourage you to also watch your stats including follow/un-follow numbers and survey followers to understand their interests.

For more information on Gen Y and Twitter including who they follow, visit our website.

As many of you know, part of The PMN’s value proposition is access to our unique Gen Y panel. Leading brands interested in engaging with and learning from Generation Y have the unique opportunity to conduct research and connect with Gen Y face-to-face at various events. As the influence and power of Gen Y continues to grow so will the importance of reaching, understanding and engaging these influencers. One company that has already embraced Gen Y’s is Ford. In fact, Ford is reaching out to young influencers in order to help spread the word about the new Fiesta with a participatory marketing campaign entitled “The Fiesta Movement.”

Developed in partnership with digital think tank Undercurrent and AMG, their U.S. based partner, the campaign invited 100 young people selected from more than 4,000 applications to drive a Ford Fiesta for six months and report their experiences on various social media sites. The lucky 100 selected were chosen based on their “influence” determined by such factors as blogging experience, number of social network friends and their video application detailing their desire for adventure and why they would be a good representative for the Fiesta Movement. The campaign officially kicked off last month and with more than 650,000 views of the applicant videos on YouTube word is spreading fast. Fiesta Movement participants will receive monthly missions from Ford around key travel themes to blog and share their experience with friends.

The program is one of several I’ve seen recently that demonstrates how struggling automotive makers are embracing social media. Given the Ford effort, it is easy to see why Ford recently ranked number one in the Vitrue 20 Top Social Auto Brands – a new social brand index that was designed to capture a brand’s share of voice and chatter across the growing social internet.

But where this really gets interesting for me is on two fronts.

1. When we get to the point were brands can actually identify power influencers with the help of additional data. What is a power influencer? A power influencer goes beyond understanding the social graph and metrics like the number of connections; it ties actual purchase/ownership data/information to influencers and measures that user’s engagement with the brand i.e. current/previous Ford owner and member of various Ford clubs and social communities.

2. Seeing how big brands will leverage and/or re-allocate their traditional advertising and communication efforts such as promotional emails to drive further momentum for these programs. One recent example of this was Toyota’s “New Prius Comes Out to Play” email. The email included links to a YouTube video of consumers and Prius owners getting a preview of the new 3rd generation Prius prior to its official introduction. It reminds me a little of a pop singer hitting the clubs to preview their new album with MTV in tow to video every move and fan reactions. By using traditional media such as TV and email, reach and engagement activity can be expanded exponentially.

It is an exciting time and it is particularly interesting to watch the struggling automotive industry adapt and evolve to the social web as the economic pressures continue to mount and in many ways force them to participate or perish. Not such a bad thing!

It should come as no surprise that Gen Y’s are great consumers of social media and content. In fact, according to our latest research nearly 90% of Gen Y’s reported they watch videos, 68% reported they read blogs/vlogs/forums and 65% reported reading customer ratings/reviews. At 70 million plus strong, Gen Y represents a marketing tsunami as these consumers not only become great consumers of social media but creators and powerful influencers that will fundamentally change the way people buy and how we as marketers market.

No doubt, it’s a critical time for marketers as we learn the skills necessary to attract consumers, engage them in conversations and encourage them to participate with our brand(s). Advertising in its pure “push” sense is being questioned, as it should be, due to its diminishing impact. Marketing attention is turning as we see the emergence and growth of new powerful brands, like Zappos who built a brand on great products, exceptional service and powerful word of mouth. It is an evolving marketplace for sure and it highlighted most effectively in Steve Rubel’s recent interview with Jeff Jarvis, author of What Would Google Do? - “In an age when competition and pricing are opened up online and when your product is your ad, you need to spend your first dollar on the quality of your product or service. If you're Zappos, you spend the next dollar on customer service and call that marketing. If the next dollar goes to advertising, there has to be a reason -- and if the product is good enough, that reason may fade away.”

The customer brand dynamic is changing and that will become increasingly dramatic as Gen Y’s purchasing power continues to grow. To survive and thrive, CMOs will have to figure out what strategies and tactics to deploy to encourage participation and loyalty. One of those strategies will be centered around how we manage customer interactions and support customer service. That’s why we invited social media guru Steve Rubel to lead the PMN Webinar entitled “The New Rules Of Customer Service – Participate Or Perish”. In this free Webinar, Steve will address the strategies and tactics to increase customer service satisfaction using social media and the tips, tactics and tools to mange, track and monitor your customer interactions. There are few topics as important as this one, as brands attempt to reinvent their marketing in order to gain their fair share of what will become the biggest wave of consumer purchasing power and influence this country and the world have ever seen. Are you ready? Join us and Steve in June for the Webinar and stay tuned as the PMN leads the way with new research, more informative webinars and new live discussions with the folks that really matter…your future power purchasers and influences - Gen Y. To register for Steve’s webinar click here.

Part two of our exclusive research is out and the results confirm what a lot of us in email have felt for a long time – email is in desperate need of an overhaul. Look, email has changed very little over the last 15 years, despite the evolution of the Internet into a social gathering place. In fact, what little innovation there has been over the last 8 years has been protectionist in nature in order to save the medium from spam. At the same time, the shifting online paradigm and rise of social networks are challenging email for the attention of the online consumer. In fact, according to a recent study by Nielsen, "member communities" now exceed email participation by 67 percent to 65 percent – and that difference is even more pronounced with Gen Y users. So we asked our Gen Y panel about email and the social internet and here is what they had to say:

- Marketing email is not relevant according to Gen Y consumers – only 28 percent of those surveyed believe the email they get from companies is relevant

- Gen Y consumers are eager to see “innovative services” that allow them to better control, organization and manage email coming from brands. Specifically, 
    o 78 percent would like their email client to automatically categorize and delete expired promotional messages 
    o 62 percent would like to communicate directly with retailers about their favorite products in exchange for getting the best prices from them 
    o 44 percent say they’d subscribe to an email service that collected and summarized multiple offers of interest to them     
    o 32 percent say they’d share promotional email offers with members inside a social network and open emails from others

- More than half of Gen Y consumers (51 percent) say they’d join a separate social network dedicated to managing brand interactions

It seems to me Gen Y is not asking a lot from email, especially in today’s semantically intelligent digital world – or are they? Let us know what you think.

PMN members interested in getting a copy of the complete survey can email info@thepmn.org.

Yesterday we officially released the results from our first Gen Y research study in partnership with Pace University’s Lubin School of Business’ Interactive and Direct marketing (IDM) Lab. The study conducted among 220 PMN panel members and consumers between the ages of 18-24 explored Generation Y behaviors within social networks. Highlights underscore that fact that brands continue to not only struggle connecting with Generation Y in Social Networks but advertising remains a tough sell in these environments. Specifically:

- 62 percent of Gen Y’s have visited a brand or fan page on a social network, but only 48 percent have joined
- 84 percent noticed ads on social networks, 74 percent say they click infrequently/never (36 percent saying they don’t click on ads at all).
- Only 19 percent say they find ads on social networks relevant.
- 51 percent say they’d prefer a separate social network to manage their brand interactions.

While the research doesn’t suggest social networks are a lost cause, it does indicate marketers and brands need to work harder to understand what drives participation and engagement within social networks. When asked about their reasons for joining a brand or fan group on a social network, the top 5 reasons included: to “get news or product updates” (67 percent), “view promotions” (64 percent), “view or download music or videos”(41 percent), “submit opinions” (36 percent), and “connect with other customers” (33 percent). Social media is about making connections and igniting participation and our findings validate the incredible role social networks can play in that process. Let's hope that facebook's forthcoming changes to fan pages (which will be announced today) and marketer's increased attention to building programs that encourage participation grow these numbers.

The study, including additional results will be released and available to members only over the next several weeks. To download your copy, visit the members section of the PMN. If you are not a member yet and would like to join, click here.