Is Social Media Generational?
Written on February 2, 2009 by Susan Payton
I know the title seems like a “duh” question, but I really want to explore this issue.
As you know, I attended M.planet last week (American Marketing Association’s marketing conference). It was filled with 20-something bumping music and flashy presentations. The average age of attendees was 40.
The conference was filled with bright marketing professionals, many who owned their own marketing firms like I do. Now, I’ve been pretty slow to adapt to social media, but I was still amazed at the blank stares I got when I dared utter the foreign words “Twitter” or “blog.”
What are marketers doing if not exploring social media?
I try not to be negative, but I think it’s pretty obvious that social media is the next platform in marketing. I just don’t understand how people in marketing can ignore it.
So I ask the question: is social media generational? Or is that just a convenient excuse to keep people from having to accept change? Is it even an option NOT to embrace social media, or will it soon become a requirement just to stay in the game?
I don’t have the answers. Do you? I’d love to hear them.
PS the conference didn’t really cover how to use social media. That’s definitely an area AMA can work on for next conference. And I’d be happy to help!
I was under the impression, until recently, that social marketing truly was generational. I’m 28 and the only marketing that really works with me is what I see on my computer screen. I’ve recently discovered that the majority of the people I grew up with (plus or minus five year age difference) have no idea what twitter or digg are. Facebook and MySpace seems to be the extent of their social media savvy. Out of the 20 people I questioned, only two of them even read blogs or blog themselves. I thought my generation was supposed to be more technologically dependent, but honestly, the majority of my friends who use social media for marketing or socializing, do their banking online, etc, are on average five to fifteen years my senior.
Seems that if any generation really gets the social media marketing, it’s the one that my parents are part of.
Jennifer–
Good points. Maybe it’s more about people’s interests and who they hang out with. I network on Facebook and Twitter, so obviously my circle is into social media marketing. But people my same age may not have the same connections!
Susan
Social media and the use of social networks is becoming a requirement to stay in the game, to stay relevant and unfortunately, competitive. The popularity of social media/networking can be attributed to 20-somethings but the people who pioneered social media sites are in their 30s or 40s now. It is my belief that as the owners matured, so have the users. Facebook has a growing group of users in the 34-55 age category, who use it for far different reasons than 20-somethings. In my most humble opinion, that age category will expand as the forms of media that age group grew up with diminishes in popularity due to the economy and the green movement. I also believe that older users don’t have a voice that sounds like theirs explaining how to use those platforms, which is where I come in. I’m a PR consultant who is 40 and some change, but when I get it, I share it. My age category and demographic didn’t grow up with computers or technology, it has had to been integrated into our lives. I think about secretaries who typed being displaced when they couldn’t adapt to a desktop. Same with social media.
Robin–
You’re right. I think soon all marketing (and other) jobs will require social media skills. We’re not there yet, but I’m glad to be riding the wave rather than struggling to catch up later.