Gen Y Marketing Trends Point to Twitter, Not Facebook

Does your business serve Gen Y? If so, your #1 network should be Twitter, not Facebook.

Historically, moms, teens, and college students have been the most sought after (and most difficult to understand) marketing demographics. Get these groups on your side and your product will be a success, especially when you are a small business looking for brand awareness and lead generation.

The good news is that all three of these groups now fit under one larger group – Generation Y. According to The Parents Network, 68% of all births are to millennial moms (not Gen X). College students round out the middle of this generation, while teens are at the tail end.

It’s a no-brainer: most companies need to pay more attention to Gen Y marketing because this is the ultimate target demographic right now.

Gen Y is headed to Twitter

While Facebook’s average age has risen from 26 to 33 in the last year, Twitter’s average age is steady at 31 – and it’s dropping. Twitter is now the second youngest network of the big 4 (MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn). Furthermore, Gen Y now accounts for around 50% of Twitter’s network (if you assume Gen Y starts with people born in 1978 or later, making the demographic 31 years or younger).

young-people-twitter

This is good news for companies, especially those frustrated with low traction on Facebook fan pages. Compared to Facebook, Twitter is a more open platform that people use to get information from an extended network, rather than a tight knit network of friends. Twitter also works well for providing the information Gen Y values from companies and plays into the way Gen Y discovers products naturally.

From a company’s perspective, Twitter is far better for connecting with Gen Y than Facebook. Here’s some more evidence:


Gen Y wants honesty and optimism


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Article posted from & courtesy of Gen Y Marketing Trends Point to Twitter, Not Facebook — Social Pollination

Build loyalty through liquor marketing

With online marketing for alcoholic beverages growing, spirits marketers are looking to reach 20- and 30-somethings who are spending more and more time on the Web. This means developing creative interactive campaigns that reach beyond a liquor brand's corporate site.

“Wine and spirits competitors generally rely on brand awareness campaigns to generate sales and engage consumer loyalty,” says David Tapscott, brand director of whisky brand Crown Royal. “However, as media consumption shifts, many brands are realizing the importance of connecting with consumers outside of traditional media.”
The unique challenge for liquor marketers, however, is that they must avoid minors in a medium that, for the most part, lacks policing. “The Internet is a bit loose, and many marketers carry an age verification state­ment that needs to be completed in order to enter their respective sites,” explains Roseann Sessa, VP of marketing and public relations for inde­pendent spirits supplier Castle Brands.
Castle Brands includes a social responsibility message on every piece of marketing and promotional material, as does Brazilian rum importer Leblon USA. “The most important thing a marketer can do is ensure they are talking to adult audiences,” says Steve Luttman, CEO of Leblon, who adds that marketers should be “careful about anything that appeals to college students.”
But age restrictions cannot guar­antee that minors are not viewing a site. “It's impossible to ensure that no one under 21 views alcohol-related product placements,” explains John Glover, SVP of marketing at Castle Brands, who points out that billboards, subway advertising and radio are accessible media to those under 21.
Not all alcoholic beverage marketers are affected heavily by underage consumers. For example, younger people are typically uninterested in K&L Wine Merchants, which specializes in rare and little-known wines. However, the company doesn't take chances. “We do have an age restric­tion element and an adult signature is required upon delivery,” says Brian Zucker, co-owner of K&L, which works with StrongMail on e-mail marketing campaigns that introduce boutique-style wines to an opt-in list.
An even larger issue in the spirits sector, say experts, is how to stand out in an overcrowded market. “The real key is to create consumer communication on the Internet, because nobody really wants to log on to a liquor site unless it's for a good reason,” Glover explains.
Fortunately, says Luttman, there are many consumers to market to in wine and spirits. “There are a lot of different brands and categories out there, but the market is very large,” he says, adding that consumers look for more variety and less duplication. “A [new] category will have a greater chance of finding a place vs. another vodka, tequila or gin,” he explains.
As marketing continues to move toward the Internet, it will be critical for the spirits sector to find a way to create compelling sites that go beyond pure purchase while maintaining a social responsibility. “Creating fun and out-of-the-box marketing content does not indicate that we're targeting those below the legal drinking age,” says Glover.
Luttman emphasizes that, espe­cially online, traditional marketing tools do not work.
“You need to be truthful and authentic,” he explains. “If we use our old marketing CPG skill set online, it doesn't work — especially with sophisticated spirits where con­sumer involvement with the brand is greater.”


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Article posted from and courtesy of: DMnews.com

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Five ways to make money from Twitter

(as seen in | Los Angeles Times)

Hundreds of people line up at the Kogi BBQ Korean Taco Truck in Los Angeles after they get its whereabouts on Twitter. Credit: Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times

Despite the tempest in the teapot brewing over what Twitter itself may or may not be making according to stolen internal documents that were leaked to various blogs last week, there are a handful of companies that have already found ways to make a buck from using the micro-blogging service.
As with two of our previous posts on Twitter, this one leans on the experience of our social media producer, Andrew Nystrom (@latimesnystrom). (You can read the earlier post about how to get followers on Twitter here, and one on finding engaging people to follow here.)
Without further delay, here are five quick examples of businesses that have made money using Twitter, beyond the usual driving traffic and building brand, whatever that means:
1. The Kogi Korean BBQ taco truck: Hundreds of people line up to get food from this L.A.-based truck, sometimes even before the truck shows up. How do they know where to go? Twitter. The family-owned company Tweets its schedule on a daily basis to more than 36,770 followers of @KogiBBQ. Of course, just because you Tweet your whereabouts doesn't mean people will show up. You also have to have the goods -- and Kogi's tacos seem to do the trick.
2. Threadless Twitter T-shirts: Threadless, an online T-Shirt store operated by skinnyCorp, has contests in which people can submit a T-shirt slogan (140 characters or less, please). The submissions are voted on by the site's visitors. Winners get to have a shirt designed around their slogan, along with a spot of cash ($500). A few of our favorite slogans: "You autocomplete me." and "Sadly, my day requires pants."

3. woot.com's Deal of the Day: The Dallas company -- whose motto is "One day. One deal" -- sends out its daily specials via Twitter. Who cares? More than 995,000 people apparently do, subscribing to @woot for notices of a pastiche of products that go on sale, including $12 kitchen choppers, $300 queen-sized memory foam mattresses and $15 power adapters. Much of the merchandise, however, consists of gizmos that fit well with Twitter's techie audience.
4. United Airlines Twitter-only deals: United, along with JetBlue and Virgin America, get rid of empty seats on their planes by offering last-minute deals that are available only via @UnitedAirlines. "These fares fly off the shelves," Nystrom said. (You think he intended that pun?) United calls these Twitter-only airfares "Twares," but it also uses Twitter to broadcast other messages as a way to polish its brand and build connections to its customers.
5. Dell's Outlet on Twitter: Dell raised eyebrows in June when the Texas computer maker said it tallied $3 million in sales of its desktops, laptops and monitors from Twitter since starting its @DellOutlet account in June 2007. Of course, that's a drop in the bucket for Dell, which took in more than $61 billion in sales last fiscal year alone. Still, it's proven to be a good way to move refurbished items or excess inventory, which appears to be the theme of our last three examples.
"Twitter is a good environment for promoting these impulsive, last-minute purchases," Nystrom said.
-- Alex Pham
Follow my random thoughts on games, gear and technology on Twitter @AlexPham.

Five ways to make money from Twitter | Technology | Los Angeles Times

How to write a press release

A press release is a page or small packet of information that is given to the media (magazines, newspapers, television stations, etc.) to encourage them to give some attention to a particular event. For example, if you are holding a church fundraiser, you may want to send a letter to your local newspaper so that the newspaper can run a short announcement about it. Press releases are also sent out after an event has taken place.
There is really no set format for press releases when it comes to what they should look like. Press releases are not letters; they are more like memos. They are not very formal, nor are they very casual. They must, however, be typed and look professional.


Press releases should be sent at least 10 days before the event is to take place or no more than a day or two after an event has taken place.
A good press release will include the name, phone number, address, and alternate contact number of the sender. This should go either at the bottom of the page or the top of the page where it can be seen easily by an editor or reporter. Alongside the sender's name should be his/her title; for example, if the sender is a teacher, he/she will type his/her name, place a comma, and immediately after it type "teacher" so that the reader will know exactly with whom he/she is dealing. The sender contact information

is the most important part of the press release because before anything is printed, an editor must double-check the information with the sender. If there is no way to get in contact with the sender, the editor will probably not use the information sent to him/her.

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article posted courtesy of http://www.essortment.com/all/pressreleasep_rmno.htm

Everything you need to know to make the most of the new Facebook “Like” Button

Everything you need to know to make the most of the new Facebook “Like” Button

Published May 18, 2010 Tips & Tricks 2 Comments

You may have noticed a new Facebook ‘Like’ button popping up on many sites (e.g. CNN, ABC, Fandango, etc.) across the web, but what does this actually mean for your business? We’ve broken this new feature (the so-called Facebook “Open Graph”) down to it’s essentials so you can understand exactly what it means for your company and how to make the most of it in your marketing strategy.

In case you haven’t come across the new Facebook ‘Like’ buttons, see the example below. Any company can now display these Facebook ‘Like’ buttons on their website; read on to find out what they mean for you and how you can implement them.

Fact # 1: The ‘Like’ button enables you to build your Facebook fans
When someone clicks the ‘Like’ button on a website they essentially become a ‘Fan’ of that website. What this means is that the owner of this website can publish Facebook status updates to these consumers just as they currently do to fans of their Facebook Fan Page. So adding the ‘Like’ button to your website is a great way to convert your existing users into ‘Fans’ and to build an audience that you can regularly communicate with via Facebook status updates.
Fact # 2: The ‘Like’ button spreads the word about your website to friends of your website visitors

When someone clicks the ‘Like’ button a newfeed story is generated on Facebook. So if a visitor to your website clicks the ‘Like’ button and they have 250 Facebook friends, up to 250 people might be exposed to a message about this website visitor liking your company website. This is a very powerful way for you to utilize your website visitors to spread the word about your business to their friends.

Fact # 3: Clicking the ‘Like’ button adds your site to Facebook user profiles
When someone clicks the ‘Like’ button on your website, not only does a newsfeed get generated but a link also gets added to the ‘interests’ section of the person’s Facebook profile. So, for example, if I visit RottenTomatoes.com and click the ‘Like’ button on the Godfather movie page, the Godfather movie will automatically be listed among my favorite movies on Facebook. The interest topics on Facebook include: Interests, Music, Movies, Television, but even if your website doesn’t fit neatly into these categories it’ll still be listed under other ‘Likes’ and interests. This means that anyone visting the profile of a person who ‘liked’ your website can discover your business and click directly through to your website. This is an entirely new way for your business to get discovered.


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Everything you need to know to make the most of the new Facebook “Like” Button « Wildfire Social Media Marketing Blog courtesy of « Wildfire Social Media Marketing Blog

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