The Importance Of Marketing To Teens
Brands all over the world are acknowledging the importance of advertising to teens. By 2020, Gen Z will make up 40% of consumers in the United States. Theyre not yet adults, but theyre becoming a bigger and bigger part of the worlds consumer base. Globally, the Gen Z population is forecasted to reach 2.56 billion by 2020. Teens collective impact as consumers is growing, and with effective marketing, brands can capitalize on this growth.
One important factor that contributes to a brands ability to capitalize on teen consumers is the fact that many teens have not yet developed brand loyalty. In general, kids will start to break away from their parents brand preferences at age 11 and will identify their own favorite brands
In the US, 92 million Millennials, spend a total of $600 billion. While teenagers currently have less buying power than their older millennial counterparts, as they join the workforce, they may spend as much if not more than Millennials.
It is critical that brands capture the attention of the youngest generation, and influencers on social media are the perfect messengers to connect with teen consumers. Influencer marketing is helping brands overcome the challenges of marketing to teens and capitalize on their undeveloped sense of brand loyalty and increasing buying power.
Unique Exciting Things Nike Phenomenal Shot
During the FIFA 2014 World Cup, Nike partnered with Google to create Nike Phenomenal Shot.
When a Nike athlete scored a goal, display ads were delivered to fans in real-time. Fans could also rotate their players around in 3D, framing them for shots that can be personalized with filters, captions, and stickers. Once youre done with your Phenomenal Shot, you can share it on social media.
Nikes Phenomenal Shot campaign in action .
More than 500,000 Phenomenal Moments were created amazing in itself, but even more so considering the subsequent reach every moment could obtain once shared.
Be A Good Storyteller
Dont simply ask for donations on social media share the reasons why you are fundraising.
Stories evoke emotions and prompt followers to take action.
Tell your friends why you raising money, who youre helping, and how the money will be used. Some members of your audience may not be familiar with the concept of a sneaker drive and unaware they can donate lightly used sneakers to a good cause instead of throwing them away.
Telling your story enlightens, engages and encourages followers to take part by making a contribution.
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Create A Digital Marketing Campaign
Now that you know your product, audience and platform, its time to start putting the pieces into action.
Not sure where to start? Here are four steps to get you on your way to building a successful digital marketing campaign.
Define your goals.
Although it might be an obvious first step, setting clear and reachable goals is a vital foundation for creating a successful campaign. It can be easy to jump into a campaign with lots of vision and ambition, but if you dont have a focused approach, these ambitions may fall short. Whether its brand awareness, more social media followers or a higher SEO ranking, make sure you have a definable goal in mind that can guide you in your decisions throughout the process.
Identify your target audience.
Although we already touched on this, its worth saying again: know your audience! The more you understand who your customers are and what they want, the better youll be able to refine your advertising to better meet their needs.
Create customer personas.
This goes along with the previous step, but here is where youll go a bit more in depth. A customer persona is a detailed description of your target customer, which highlights their demographics such as age, location, occupation, income and other details that may influence the way they make purchase decisions.
Determine your budget.
Increase Engagement With Audience Targeting
Targeting all of your fans isnt precise. Its lazy and youll waste a lot of money.
Your fans arent a homogenous blob. They all have different incomes, interests, values, and preferences.
For example, by targeting fans of Donald Trump, people with social media marketing job titles, NRA members, and the hashtag #NeverHillary , this tweet for an Inc. article I wrote got 10x higher engagement:
Keyword targeting and other audience targeting methods help turn average ads into unicorns.
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Embracing Memes And Humorous Content
Content that makes fans laugh tends to perform well in terms of likes, shares and comments.
Want proof? Look no further than the Philadelphia Flyers account for mascot Gritty. Many of the accounts post uses bizarre and surreal humor to rack up engagement post after post.
I just need some space.
Meanwhile, major team accounts arent afraid to jump on the meme bandwagon. Doing so not only allows teams to show off their personality, but also poises their posts to potentially go viral.
leEdS aRe fAlLiNg aPaRt aGaiN!
Leeds United
We also see a lot of playful content for athletes via Instagram Stories and TikTok, too. For example, trending dances and challenges go hand in hand with athletes and social media.
How To Use Social Media In Sports To Keep Fans Engaged
The integral role of social media in sports is hard to ignore.
Athletes represent some of the most-followed accounts across social media at large.
Heck, its hard to find an athlete that isnt engaging with fans via social in some form.
Meanwhile, real-time sporting events and competitions are prime for social media engagement. From team news and trash talk and beyond, sports-related topics are almost always trending on Twitter.
But sports teams on social media dont trend or score engagement by accident. The best practices of social media in social media are changing in the current social climate, too.
In this guide, well highlight how social media and sports are evolving and what teams and athletes can do to adapt.
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They Make Some Really Fun Ads That People Love Sharing And Talking About
Nike makes some of the best ads in the business. They teem with world-class athletes displaying their extraordinary skills.
One of Nikes most successful ads is Winner Stays. The ad features teenage boys transforming into Ronaldo, Neymar Jr. and other soccer superstars as they battle it out on the soccer field it netted it netted the sportswear brand more than 107.8 million views.
Theyre Killing It On Social Media
Social media isnt a one-way street for Nike its a conversation.
Aside from that, Nikes posts are fun, short, and often motivational, which makes for easy reading and sharing.
They also frequently contain calls-to-action for followers to respond to and engage with the brand.
In this way, Nike builds strong relationships with their customers, making them more likely to repurchase from Nike in the future.
Inspired to rethink your own marketing plan? Take a page from Nikes book and just do it!
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Adapt To Your Audience Needs
The top shoe brands today are continually adapting new communication methods for their marketing plans. It isnt because theyre on the search for something new. Instead, these top brands realize that their customers are on these new communication platforms and adapt to their needs. If you find out that your target audience is mainly on Instagram, you should ensure you take your business there. Ensure that your posts are always valuable. Sometimes, your shoe advertising plans shouldnt always be about sales pitches but motivational posts with samples of your shoes on the post.
Add Your Customer Service In The Marketing
Although whether people like the style and function of the shoe would be the primary purpose of the purchase, customer service also plays a significant role. Develop an ad that showcases how your customer service sets you apart from the rest. One way you can do that is by showing the customers on the ad how they can search for shoes by heel length, color, material, and other features on your website. You could also integrate avatars that allow customers to try on different shoe pairs. An innovative customer service that you can integrate into your ad will help draw customers to your shoe business.
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Figure Out The Best Way To Reach Your Audience
In terms of your blog and overall digital marketing efforts, this means that you need to figure out where your audience hangs out on the Web and how you can best reach them there. Whichsocial networks are they most active on? Should you pay to promote your content on those networks? Does anemail newsletter make sense for your customers? Could print collateral be something theyre interested in?
These are big questions to answer, but the key point to remember is that its important to go where your audience is.
Before considering any content distribution tactic, think about your customers habits, what types of content they prefer, and where they prefer to find it. Make sure yourethorough in your approach when it comes to doing everything you can to spread your content.
After all, if youre going to try to market like Nike, then you cant afford to settle for the status quo.
Place Your Faith In Visually
When marketing luxury products, seeing is believing. Evoking emotions and a sense of exclusivity would be a near to impossible task without visual content. Looking at the product and the experience it provides helps the shopper to visualize just how exquisite life could be with your product by their side. Show them what it would be like to stride into town with a pair of perfectly fitting luxury leather shoes proving them all the comfort and confidence in the world. Paint a picture and convince the shopper that they deserve to be in it.
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Social Media And Its Effects On Advertising: Yeezy Boost
Times have changed, as they usually do. One of the most influential ways its changed is through social media. Its now possible for anyone to advertise more inexpensively than they used to.
This is especially true for monster companies like adidas retail manufacturer. Their most influential product is Kanye Wests Yeezy Boost sneaker and clothing line. The popularity for this particular fashion line is unheard of and social media only makes it more popular. Rumors, celebrities, and various people wearing the shoes can now be shared at anytime and anywhere on social media. Social media is a news source that anyone in the world can participate in.
Yeezy Boost On Twitter
The Yeezy line has its own Twitter page. This allows fans access to news about the shoes releases, various styles, and to keep up to date on the rumors about the lifestyle of celebrities surrounding the popular shoes and clothing line.
When people are granted this access, they start their own rumors about Yeezy Boost sneakers, as well as rumors about Kanye West, and the Kardashian/Jenner clan. They also begin to advertise fake Yeezys all over Twitter. News, release dates, gossip, opinions, etc., are all over the website. Its a place for people to speak their mind and share their thoughts about the popular line and people dont hold anything back.
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Adidas Social Media Lia Vakoutis Head Of Digital Strategy At Adidas America
I reached out to Lia Vakoutis who is Head of Digital Strategy at adidas America, for a behind-the-scenes look and she was gracious enough to do an interview with me:
Rick: adidas has such a strong social media presence and does a great job in promoting the brand through these channels. What can small businesses and entrepreneurs learn from what the big brands, like adidas, are doing on social media?
Lia: The options for how to market have evolved with the emergence of social media and the new digital everywhere mentality. But the fundamentals of marketing remain the same:
- Establish a clear objective for what you want to accomplish.
- Understand whom your consumer is and how to reach them.
- Create a compelling story of value to connect with them where they are online.
There are many different ways that adidas has used social media to engage with fans from exclusive first-looks of the latest adidas shoes to live chats with adidas partner athletes, our goal is to give fans access to the brand that they wouldnt be able to get anywhere else.
Actionable takeaway: What are the marketing goals of your business and whom are you marketing to? Do you have a clear understanding of where to reach them? You dont have to use every social platform, just enough to engage with and add value to your customers.
Rick: What do you see popular social media platforms, like Facebook or Twitter doing over the next couple years to make themselves more attractive to small businesses?
How Social Media Helps Humanize Teams And Athletes
Theres no denying the potential disconnect between athletes on big-money contracts and the average fan.
A huge function of social media in sports is the ability for players to show off their human side. Consider the following ways that teams and athletes alike can use social media to connect with fans.
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Get Your Employees Involved
Employee advocacy is quickly becoming a major source of content amplification for brands. With the help of your loyal staff, you can encourage them to promote specific and tailored messages directly to their social channels for further reach.
If you know your campaign has a likely target audience matching your employees, get them involved with easily shareable content. The best way to do this is through employee advocacy tools like Bambu.
This software allows brands to get serious exposure to new and qualified audiences. And its all done by by aligning your organization with the social media networks that belong to your employees.
Toms Delivers Content Products And Services Closely Related To Its Social Cause
When creating marketing material, Tomss marketing team repeatedly asks two questions: Is this content relevant and able to create instant connections? In what way is the content valuable to the customer?. Toms knows that content must carry with it a human value, not just a monetary value of discounts and coupons. And when a consumer buys an item, Toms seeks to focus on the impact the customer is making that they are changing the world for the better. In this way, Toms makes its customers feel as active participants in the social mission of the company.
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Working With A Footwear Marketing Company
Your business plan is a great way to provide the footwear marketing agency with your vision of your brands specific goals such as:
- How do you know if you are succeeding if you dont know what that looks like? Once you have an idea of where you want to be, define it and communicate it with the marketing company so both parties know the goals.
- Financial Objectives If managed well, every dollar you spend on marketing should generate more revenue. But we also have to scale and work with a cash flow that we feel comfortable with. Establish criteria to work within your budget.
- Target Markets Talk to the right audience on the proper channels. This means meeting them where they are, not forcing them on a platform that they dont use. For example, an HR person should capitalize on LinkedIn rather than Pinterest because their audience is more active on it. The same goes for footwear. Where does your audience hang out?
- Share what research you have. The agency will perform additional analysis to identify any gaps or trends. The footwear marketing company knows how to gather data, analyze it, and use it for tangible results.
- Pricing Strategy Current pricing is a starting point to identify brand positioning. Are you aiming for quality-first? Exclusivity? Affordability? Budget-friendly? These choices impact the audience you will attract. It should also match the brand messaging and voice.
Chrissy Teigen Is An Edgy Mrs Claus In Chic Little Red Dress Stockings And Platform Heels With John Legend
Metrics like fan counts, shares, comments and retweets help these brands measure their traction with audiences and they are by no means the only factors to consider, said Jan Rezab, co-founder and CEO of Socialbakers, a New York-based global social media analytics company that helps labels quantify and improve their online presence. Its also important to look at how many inbound tweets, direct messages, Facebook posts and questions they are getting from customers, he explained.
Of course, social media poses its challenges. In a field so crowded, the eyes looking at any given post are being exposed to a multitude of other messages at the same time. Brands surveyed by Footwear News also said the difficulty of drawing a direct connection between shares online and sales can make ROI hard to quantify.
That may be changing. Coupon codes and other incentives linked to social media can make related purchases easier to track. And even more developments are down the pike. For instance, both Facebook and Twitter may soon introduce buy buttons that will allow consumers to purchase products directly through ads on social networks, Rezab pointed out.
Here, FN takes a closer look inside the Toms, Vans and Manolo Blahnik strategies. Whats working best? Read on to find out.
TOMSInstagram followers: 385,275
Lesson: Pick the right message and make sure your posts support it.
Strategy that works for one most likely wont make the grade on another.
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Helping American Children In Need:
Key take-away:
Whats your Brands story? What is the emotional meaning of that? How is it motivating people to lead happier lives? It is of course easier for some brands to react to this than others. Charitable brands and lifestyle brands will find it easier to tell a story that resonates with large groups of people. B2B marketers may also be able to use storytelling by concentrating on their customers motivations, goal and meaning.
