Businesses, particularly those in the retail sector, need to keep abreast with social media if they want to capture the teen market. There are a lot of ways business owners can grab the attention of teens today and being on the various social networking sites is the right thing to do.
But establishing your presence there is only the first step you can take. You should not stop from just being there where they hang out often. You also need to understand how they use social media and engage with them to make them feel valued and part of the community.
Keep in mind that teens have a strong desire to belong to a group and normally seek interaction. Popular sites teens often use include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and not to forget, Instagram.
Research by Pew Internet has shown that 93 percent of teens use Facebook, 16 percent use Twitter and those aged 12 to 17 are now on Instagram. Statistics also showed that a million teens visited Instagram in the month of July 2012 alone.
Visually appealing and engaging content is important to teens regardless of gender. Teens easily get bored and they often want to see something new and colorful with a lot of graphics.
Videos should also be engaging. If possible, music has to be a major part of a video that can spark the interest of teens. The music video need not feature real people similar to the usual ones you see on TV. It can also showcase photos, products and graphics.
Encouraging teens to share their creations is another step. Providing a venue for self-expression is an effective way of gaining their loyalty. Many brands are running contests that allow their followers to share their artwork and photos with those getting the most votes declared as the winner.
Last but not least, make sure that your marketing campaigns can be clearly viewed in different platforms and screens. Reports have it that teens of today are multi-screen users going beyond the traditional desktop computer. They have mobile gadgets of various sizes so you have to keep that in mind.
Photo via business2community
