Brands Struggling to Reach Younger Gen Y'ers in Social Networks

While 62 percent of Generation Y Americans have visited a brand or fan page on a social network, only 48 percent of this group — which includes more than 70 million Americans born between 1977 and 2002 — actually joined.

This was a key finding from a recently released study about the behavior of Generation Y’ers within social networks. The study is from the Participatory Marketing Network, an organization dedicated to helping marketers transition from push and permission marketing to participatory marketing.

The study, completed with PMN’s research partner, the Lubin School of Business' Interactive and Direct Marketing Lab at Pace University, was conducted among 220 PMN panel members and consumers ages 18 to 24 in February.

The research shows that brands are struggling to build a compelling value proposition for Generation Y users within social networks and advertising on this medium is still not breaking through effectively.

Additional findings from the study include the following:

• the top five reasons for joining a brand or fan group are to get news or product updates (67 percent), view promotions (64 percent), view or download music or videos (41 percent), submit opinions (36 percent), and connect with other customers (33 percent);
• while 84 percent noticed ads on social networks, 74 percent said they click infrequently, and 36 percent said they don’t click on ads at all;
• 19 percent said they find ads on social networks relevant; and
• 51 percent said they’d join a separate social network to manage their brand interactions.

• MORE ON
• SOCIAL MEDIA