Let me give you a quick lesson on demographics:
Baby Boomers: born between 1944-1964
Gen X: born between 1965-1979
Gen Y/Millennials: born between 1980-1994
Gen Z: born between 1995-2015
As a business owner, you need to know each of these groups like the back of your hand and be able to choose marketing campaigns that will reach them. We know that the Boomers and Gen Xers use Facebook heavily, while the Millennials and those belonging to Gen Z seem to prefer Instagram and YouTube. Gen Zers have never not known the internet. We see them spending an enormous amount of time on social media and much of that time leads to purchases. Between following their favorite brands and regular ads on these platforms, your business could be making a killing by targeting the young people. If you’re not, you could be making one of these mistakes:
Following “Best Times to Post” Guidelines Too Closely
This is one of the most frequently asked questions that we get from new clients. They’re not sure how often to post and what time of day is best. Here’s the advice that we always give: There is no right answer. This is a trial and error type of industry. Most platforms will tell you when your audience is most often online at once, but those times don’t always equate to increase engagement rates. Switch up your strategy by trying out different times on different days. Keep track using Excel or Google Docs and do a manual audit each month to see when engagement was highest. After three months, you’ll have a much better idea of when your demographic wants to talk to your brand.
Focusing Too Heavily On Self-Promotion
Take a look at the last ten posts you made. How many included links back to your website or featured a product that you’re trying to sell? Millennials and Gen Zers tend to have a low tolerance for brands that constantly self-promote.
Try some of these instead:
Testimonials
Polls/Questions
Personal Stories (users/team/etc.)
Industry Trends
Resources (intended to help followers)
Faking Likes, Followers, or Engagement
I’m sad that I even have to include this on the list, but the number of people who are paying for social media likes and followers continues to grow every day (even with all of the work that Facebook and Instagram have done to tone it down). The fact is that if you’re spending any time or effort into your social media marketing strategy, paying for engagement is only hurting you. The followers that you get when purchased through an agency or subscription are almost entirely bots or spam accounts and the real ones are almost surely outside of your demographic. Here’s our advice: If you’re looking to spend a little bit of extra crash to grow your pages, try to targeted ads instead and choose exactly who you would like to have see your brand.
Getting Stuck On One Platform
If your demographic is specifically older generations, you might be OK to just have a well-run Facebook page. However, if any of your customers are younger than 50, you may need to take a look at utilizing another platform. Especially for those trying to reach Gen Z clients, you almost certainly need an Instagram account. In many cases, content can be identical or similar across platforms, so it may not be a huge time commitment to increase your social usage.
Relying Entirely On Organic Reach
At Millennial Marketing, we’re all about organic reach. It’s by far the most effective method to use if you’re trying to turn social media followers into paying customers. However, platforms like Facebook and Instagram have a staggering number of people continuing to join each day, making it harder and harder for your followers to see your content.
Not Being Inclusive
Today’s youth feels strongly about inclusivity among races, classes, and genders. If your accounts feature primarily a certain type of person, your audience will notice. Including people with different personalities, backgrounds, and cultures will only expand your demographic and reach a larger audience.
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