Generation C: Marketing to a new generation of 18-34 year olds

Published on April 26, 2012 Generation C: Marketing to a new generation of 18-34 year olds

First it was Generation X, then the Gen Y population came along, and now it’s Generation C, the new breed of 18-34 year old connected consumers.

C stands for “Connected”, consumers that have extensive networks of friends and like to communicate with all of them in many ways. They have mobiles, Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, post on You Tube, and are heavy users of social media channels in all aspects of their lives. According to a recent report by research group Nielsen, they like to use online video, blogs, tablet PCs, smartphones, and they don’t just use one of them: they consume media through multiple channels.

If you’re running an online store and marketing to 18-34 year olds, then some of the findings from this piece of research by Nielsen can help you. Some things you can draw from the research include:

• 58.8% of Gen C (18-34 year olds) use social media by mobile phone whereas only 36.3% of 35-54 year olds access social media by mobile phone. This suggests that mobile phones are an increasingly important factor for accessing this group, and therefore should be factored into your marketing.
•  95.7% of 18-34 year olds access social media by computer (compared with 97% of 35-54 year olds) meaning that computers and tablet PCs will continue to be an important way of reaching both customer groups in online marketing
• Gen C uses iPads, eReaders, internet enabled TVs and Gaming Consoles more than twice the rate of older age groups and more than one third of all tablet owners are in this age group. This means that these mediums should also be considered

How can you take advantage of this? You should use social media as an important part of your marketing approach if you are selling to this age group. Post promotional details on your social media accounts, using multiple social media methods and consider multiple ways you can reach Gen Ys. Encourage social media reviews as well and do what you can to generate social media buzz. You’ll get more “bang for your buck” from spending money in social media than on traditional methods. Consider an online video campaign on You Tube instead of a TV campaign, for example.

You should not forget email however, as other research has shown that email continues to be an important influencer of shopping cart purchases across all age groups and should not be ignored as part of your marketing effort.

How will Ozcart help you in your marketing to Gen C? Ozcart shopping cart technology will offer a mobile compatible add-on for our cart later this year and existing customers will be able to purchase an upgrade pack if they wish at this time. More on this later.