Download Social Consumers

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Wesley Tedlock
April Wright
Digital and Social Media Marketing
21 June 2015
Social Consumers
Marketers all around the world have to deal with a big problem when it comes to
marketing. And that big problem is generation gaps. With all of the factors that go into
purchasing a good or service, it is important to have a grasp on how marketing affects different
generation types. The main generation groups of today are the Baby Boomers (born from the
early 40’s up to the early 60’s), Generation X (born from the early 60’s to the early 80’s),
Generation Y or Millennials (born from the early 80’s to the early 2000’s) and Generation Z
(born from the mid 2000’s to the present day). There has also been an emergence of a new type
of generation which does not include age and is called Generation C. Generation C is all about
consumer culture with an online presence and includes things like content creation and
connection. Specifically, I will be discussing Generation Y and Generation C since these two
things have a huge impact on sales through the use of marketing.
First, I would like to summarize a study called “The influence of gender, social cause,
charitable support, and message appeal on Gen Y’s responses cause-related marketing”. The
study’s purpose was to look at the influence of cause-related marketing on Generation Y’s
consumers’ attitudes and buying intentions towards brand-name apparel. For example, Chipotle
has a cause-marketing campaign called “Food With Integrity”, which states that they “make an
extra effort to partner with farmers, ranchers, and other suppliers whose practices emphasize
quality and responsibility.” A big part of their message is how they believe in raising animals
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outside of confinement and also using local produce. It’s in these partnerships that Chipotle
hopes to appeal to Generation Y consumers. The question of the study though: was how much
would these campaigns really affect Generation Y? And how would factors like gender, social
cause, charitable support, and message appeal affect the sales from the entire thing?
There are some characteristics of the Generation Y (which consists of an estimated 82
million consumers in the U.S.) culture that stand out from other generations. They are more selfsufficient, brand loyal, and even more tolerant than other cohort groups. I believe this is because
this is the age of the Internet, which means a lot more fast paced knowledge and easy learning on
ones own. Instead of having to ask someone a question, this Y Generation can just look it up on
the Internet. They don’t need the help of others because they have the Internet at their fingertips.
They are more materialistic; more educated, and love the spontaneous feelings of purchasing
online. This is why this is so important for marketers to know this information. Most of the
advertisements you would want to aim towards Generation Y should be aimed towards online.
That’s where a lot of the purchases of that cohort come from. Generation Y is also more
skeptical of advertising and the expectations of products and services is higher than other groups.
This makes Generation Y harder to market to as well. But with the right information from
research, marketers can gain the right information to crack open the minds of this tough
Generation Y group.
According to the Generation Y study article, people who are in the Generation Y cohort
have two decisive values. These values are that they have a desire to become educated
consumers, and that they have concerns for social causes and activism. What really struck me as
surprising was that, “between 45 and 80% of Gen Y members engage in some type of volunteer
work” and that most of that volunteer work is done out of a genuine interest to help out. All of
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these things are crucial for companies to understand. They especially need to understand these
facts if the company is trying to run CRM campaigns targeting the Generation Y community.
This information suggests that if you want to have more of an impact on sales from the
Generation Y segment, it would be a great idea to get behind a social or environmental
commitment. Just for another example, PepsiCo has an environmental sustainability aspect to
their company. They state on their website, “Environmental Sustainability means finding
innovative ways to cut costs and minimize our impact on the environment through energy and
water conservation as well as reduced use of packaging material.”
The results from the Gen Y experiment yielded interesting results. First, the people
involved seemed to favor the social cause of breast cancer over AIDS. I believe this is because
breast cancer has been a more recent problem that has come up while AIDS has been publicized
longer. Another interesting result was that the female group seemed to be more interested and
involved. Also, the results showed that “consumer’s responses to CRM are likely to be
influenced by the amount of charitable support stated in a given CRM campaign.” As much as
these findings from the study are useful, it is also important to note that the deciding factor for
Gen Y buyers usually comes down to price and how expensive something is. This study was
asking questions as if both products were equal in price but one had a social cause. But if is more
expensive than the other, the Gen Y group would probably go for the cheaper no matter what
social cause is attached to it.
Generation C is an entirely new generation that is based on the social environment of the
Internet. This idea is based around content creation, connections, etc. These are the users of
social media that have a strong presence in the marketing world. Based on the study called
“Generation C content, creation, connections and choice”, there has been research done which
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tested the effects of consumer review websites on the Gen C population. According to the article,
the research “suggests that members of Generation C make decisions about products and services
based on recommendations an experiences that are shared through consumer review websites and
associated with members’ social networks.” This can be good or bad news for your company. If
your business is doing great and customers are happy with what you sell, then you will probably
have great reviews on review websites. This will draw in even more customers having a good
domino effect. But the bad domino effect can be there if your business is not up to standards.
People will write negative reviews on things if there is something slightly wrong and maybe
even blow things out of proportion, causing a negative mindset toward your company. Since
almost everyone has some sort of technology to make comments online such as mobile phones,
tablets, laptops, desktops, and even televisions, Generation C is continuing to grow. So marketers
need to know how to direct towards these consumers. Content creation is also growing since
most people are on at least one social media website. Facebook is the largest subscription social
website where people post accurate information for the most part. Along with all this content,
companies can use Marketing Automation to help direct to specific potential customers.
The C’s in Generation C stand for a couple things. They are content creation, creativity,
casual collapse, control, and celebrity. Take blogs for example: Blogs are a great way that
Generation C informs one another about a vast variety of things ranging from product reviews to
every day life activities. It is a way for people to share the things they experience in life so that
others can learn from them. This can shape the way people view different brands and even peer
pressure them into switching brands. When talking about Web 2.0, companies can use this to
their advantage. The Generation C article mentions how Lego utilized this and used their
customer comments on their website to create new products. In a sense, the web users become
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collaborators in creating new ideas and products. This can affect marketing because now you can
advertise that the consumer has power in whatever is the next big idea. The user of your product
actually has a say in the product design and purpose.
The thing that makes Generation C so influential is that it feels real to consumers.
Consumers feel like they can trust the other consumers posting information because they feel
relatable to them. It is easier for consumers to place themselves in the shoes of their fellow
shoppers to trust that information and make a purchasing decision based on that information.
Companies can use this to their advantage. For example, you could promote the good comments
from customers on your websites front page. It would help you gain trust through other people.
And the best part is, it is other people doing the work for you. It does cause a question to come
up in my mind though, which is this: How can we know that these reviews are from real people?
There is always a chance that a company makes up their own reviews, which I personally have
seen on different review websites before. It’s those comments that are too perfect of reviews to
be real. The one’s that have no negative things to say about a certain place are unbelievable to
me.
In conclusion, it is of crucial importance to understand how to market differently to each
of the Generational groups. For Generation Y, maybe your company should aim to target females
with CRM systems more than males. For Generation C, maybe your company should include and
incorporate customer comments to improve your system. Overall, since this is the Internet age,
the business model should change to incorporate more of these groups. Since I am personally a
part of Generation Y and C I agree with all of the facts presented in both articles. Sometimes I
appreciate the CRM marketing process and other times I find myself annoyed. But it obviously is
crucial in marketing the correct way to both generations. The statistics for profits say that a large
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part of revenue is made from Gen Y and Gen C. Marketing Automation and regular marketing
are great, but it will only get you so far if you do not know what motivates Generation Y and
Generation C.
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Works Cited
"Chipotle." Chipotle. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 June 2015.
Hardey, Mariann. "Generation C: Content, Creation, Connections and Choice." International
Journal of Market Research Int. J. Market Res. 53.6 (2011): 749. Web.
Hyllegard, Karen H., Ruoh-Nan Yan, Jennifer Paff Ogle, and Julianne Attmann. "The Influence
of Gender, Social Cause, Charitable Support, and Message Appeal on Gen Y's Responses
to Cause-related Marketing." Journal of Marketing Management 27.1-2 (2010): 100-23.
Web.
"Who We Are." Environmental Sustainability. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 June 2015.