Youth communication: 6 things to keep in mind

The game is quite simple. Companies/brands make products, consumers need products. That is, often they think they need products. Most of the time they actually don’t, they just want them. What brands have to accomplish is to turn ‘wants’ into ‘needs’.

Now I’m digressing, divagating and wandering. First things first! A lot of brands focus on young consumers – who nowadays have the advantage of being able to look up absolutely anything and meanwhile becoming resistant to advertising because of an overdose of marketing everywhere around them. Long sentence, short question: how do you reach young people in the overwhelming information society we live in?

One way is to create a fanpage (on, let's say, Facebook), and then following these six guidelines:

1) Don’t bother using Direct Advertising.
Promotional messages designed for ‘one way traffic’ will not survive. Research has said so. To get the attention of your younger target groups, try to…

2) Create commitment.
You can do this by devoting a major role to conversations. Ask and reply. In order to be able to do this, you will have to…
3) Get to know them.
Find out about their opinions, discover their likes and dislikes. But, while conversating, keep in mind…
4) They’re not your friends, they’re your fans.
This influences your style of communicating. Make your products, style and fanpage worthwhile. To do so…
5) Keep on entertaining.
Come up with fun-to-read stuff about your products or anything related. Offer your fans some exclusive insights. That kind of thing.

This Dutch singer gives away a free song to everyone
who clicks 'Like' on his fan page. Clever stuff.

6) But first of all, focus on the content.
Don’t focus on selling. Focus on what your young fans want and focus on what it is you exactly want to say. Combine the two, and create miracles.

Obviously, there are some don’ts in youth communication as well. At creativeyouthideas.com you can see examples of what they call ‘barriers’ to communicating with the youth: ordering, threatening, preaching and lecturing will not do the trick. The same goes for avoiding (trying to ditch uncomfortable talks) and pacifying (reassuring without solving anything).

These examples do not only hold in real life, they also do in the digital world. You don’t want your young consumers to turn against you. Ask T-Mobile!

Sources / Further reading

Tekstblog | Jongeren bereiken op sociale media? Zorg voor dialoog
Creative Youth Ideas | Barriers to communication with youth

An example | Check out Strategically Social for insights on Coca Cola's use of social media.