AG Voice | Top 10 Marketing Tips while engaging with Generation Y

Generation Y, perhaps like all other generations has a mosaic of incompatible traits that have formed them to be open to different ideas and philosophies that a previous era would not have experienced. A countless number of friends on their online networks yet deeply rooted to their families. Usually termed to be aarrogant, brash and bold in their nature, they show a surprising interest in working hard and contributing towards standing out.

Increasing e-marketing sales and brand loyalty puts forth a challenge to every brand when engaging with Gen Y because they'll pay high prices for brands, but are also aware of the value of a good product or a great deal.

1. Short interactive videos: The growth of social networking has significantly contributed to the effectiveness of viral marketing. A fact known to marketers is that videos cannot go viral with a monetary push. Great content will always be essential to ensure a video is shared or spoken of. Keeping the duration shorter helps tackle the issue of increasingly low attention spans of this generation.

2. Encourage Brand reviews and word-of-mouth: Due to the widespread use of social media to learn about products, Gen Y are more likely to buy from a brand that was referred to them by a friend, rather than one they saw in an advertisement. It’s important to encourage feedback by including ways of doing so within your branding or customer service process.

3. Announce Special Offers and Discounts: A lot of people tend to follow a brand to be aware of the launch of a special offer or discount so ensure you post it out there and let your followers and their klout know about what you have in store for them. Special social media discounts are the flavor of the season and have seen some excellent returns too. Brands like Snapdeal, HomeShop18 within the e-commerce space take things one step further by driving contests and influencer engagement programmes to increase outreach for such launches.

4, Provide a Cool Quotient: One of the prime traits of generation Y is that they love associating with products, thoughts and associations that derive a cool quotient. If a brand is accepted within their circle of friends, the adoption by them is absolutely natural. Does a purchase from your brand deliver the same to this generation? If not, then strategise on improvements and routes of creating higher acceptance. Brands like Sula Vineyards focus on content that is perceived as cool and informative and is the cause for driving user generated content and shares every time a person has the brand around them.

5. Offers customer delight: We all love being recognized and Gen Y pretty much strives on constant appreciations to help them mould themselves and their environment. Offering a consumer an extra benefit or highlighting their value always provides them with a delightful experience. A simple thank you, Retweet or a photograph goes a long way to convert customers into evangelists.

6. Relevant Content: The generation has a very clear idea of what they prefer and what they do not. They will follow you if they feel value being driven out of having you on their timeline.

7. Timely & Appropriate Responses: Timing is pretty much everything on social media. You need to be aware of when someone’s talking about you and ensure your response time and the tone of your response is always appropriate.

8. Have a say in relevant present incidents: The generation studies and is updated with recent news from the world. If a brand takes an unbiased stand, the chances of it gaining a larger loyal base are higher. This, however, needs to be taken care of by ensuring it maintains brand standards.

9. Think outside the Ad Box: What will really attract a Gen Yer is how you’re different. They absorb a lot of content almost daily and only when you’re able to appeal to them in a way that distracts and holds their attention is when you’ve moved closer to them

10. Work on consensus: Forcing a message will definitely shun the brand away and create a negative notion about the brand. It is always better to provide an option to them on what they would like to consume. This allows you to target the right kind of consumers and also create a better brand recall for further engagement

About the author:

Zafar Rais is the Founder and CEO of MindShift Interactive. He possesses illustrious experience of 15 years in areas of Marketing, Branding, Business Development, Operations, Research and Product Innovation.

He started his career as a ‘Marketing Consultant’ with Oxygen Healthcare Communications where he was accountable for building strategy to achieve the business objectives of Hungama, Bristol-Myers Squib and Glaxo. On studying the Internet usage in India and understanding how consumers are increasingly using Social Media as a platform to engage with businesses, Zafar established a need state for ‘Mindshift Interactive’. Through his entrepreneurial venture he promises to deliver an Insightful Digital Outreach for businesses and create a Social Media presence that is intelligent, impactful, innovative and, most of all, sustained. Under Zafar’s leadership, MindShift Interactive runs three different business verticals, namely, MindShift Digital (Digital Marketing & Influencer Relations), MindShift Metrics (Digital Research Consulting) and MindShift Activate (Events & Promotions) with each working towards achieving a unified goal of providing brands with the ideal outreach backed by ideal insights.

Zafar has also been instrumental in providing clients with Digital Media Planning & Buying, Instagram Influencer Marketing and Social Media-lead Behaviour Analysis programmes. Select key clients of MindShift include Homeshop18,Lancôme, Kiehl’s, JW Mariott, Renaissance, Sula Vineyards, Max Bupa Health Insurance, Reliance 3G, BIG CBS amongst others. MindShift has been instrumental in conceptualizing some of the largest Twitter campaigns, namely, #FeelingBlue for Reliance 3G, #ChappalMaaro for The Bombay Store & the first-ever high outreach Instagram campaign, #GoNoFilter for Lancôme

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not reflect in any way of Adgully.