This presentation took place at the Social Email Marketing event, put on by Influence People with lead sponsor Constant Contact. The conference took place on Friday, September 17, 2010 at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco, CA. In this session, we learned how to use social tactics to trigger responses from the Greatest Generation, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials effectively.
I loved this presentation, not only because it was packed with useful marketing information, but also because I learned a bit about myself. I had no idea that I was Generation Y and not Generation X. I enjoyed hearing the characteristics of people in these generations and thinking about people I know who follow the characteristics to a T! The speaker was:
- Jennifer Neeley Lindsay, Host of The A-List on Blog Talk Radio (@jennifered)
Bullet Point Review!
- Characteristics of Millennials (born between 1977 and 1994):
- Real Time communication is key.
- Visually oriented.
- Need immediate gratification.
- Friends=family (they make decisions in groups).
- Share information they consider valuable easily.
- Most likely brand advocates.
- Empathetic.
- Calls to Action for Millennials:
- Prefer to share via text or Twitter.
- Impulse buyers.
- Will share deals as well as valuable content.
- Internet or mobile coupons are ideal.
- If you hit a sweet spot, they’ll create content for you.
- Characteristics of Generation X (born between 1965 and 1976):
- Time considered a precious commodity.
- Actively use Facebook, MySpace, Twitter.
- Shop and price compare online.
- Use email and text interchangeably.
- Self reliant & individualistic.
- Mistrust institutions.
- Calls to Action for Gen X:
- More than 80% text or email deals.
- Reduce their pressures of everyday life.
- Communicate ways to keep kids engaged.
- Deliver quick hit info.
- Help with their work/life balance.
- Characteristics of Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964):
- They’re a squeeze generation, taking care of both their parents and their kids.
- 1/3 are actively online.
- Need to feel catered-to.
- Regular online shoppers and big spenders.
- Like spending recognition (rewards, points, etc.)
- Comfortable with email.
- Twitter is an untapped outlet.
- Calls to Action for Baby Boomers:
- Reach all of them.
- Cash back or savings programs.
- Up-sell areas of interest:
- Prescription medication
- Insurance
- Gifts for grandkids and kids
- Entertainment
- Travel
- Discount wines by the case
- Characteristics of the Greatest Generation (born before 1946):
- Value-oriented – want to discuss areas of interest.
- Spend most of their time online with email and message boards.
- Their Baby Boomer children influence their adoption of technology.
- Actually asking for more social features on their phones
- Calls to Action for the Greatest Generation:
- Emails & messages boards are good for targeted messages about senior discounts.
- Messages need to be in a large enough font size to be seen.
- Message about ways you cater to the age group.
There were some good questions after the presentation about the different email providers, such as AOL, Gmail, etc. She said that the different providers definitely cater to different generations with their levels of difficulty. Older folks tend to like the simplicity of things like AOL, wherase younger folks enjoy more optimization and personalization with Gmail. Link shorteners also matter – older generations are less likely to click a weird looking link (bit.ly, tinyurl, etc) whereas younger generations know what they are and are more likely to click.
Jennifer was kindly enough to put her awesome slideshow online, so check it out here:
