I am very confused by all the studies and claims that “Gen Y” either hates or loves email. Why does it matter? While you may be able to derive some affinity for social media based on someone’s age at this point, there are still those GenYers who prefer printed paper, some who prefer SMS, or some who prefer Facebook.
We are going in a direction where a company needs to have multiple voices. Those voices you can consider are “platforms” that everyone talks about all the time (email, facebook, etc.). A brand’s job is just to enable their employees to speak in those different voices. Customers & the brands’ community at large can then consume in the manner that they prefer. Case in point: my baby boomer+ mother-in-law uses Facebook more than my Gen X wife. She may be more open to keeping up with you on Facebook than Email. How are you gearing marketing toward her?
We should start talking about managing each and every demographic – over each and every platform. It’s the holy grail of niche marketing, and too few want to talk about that (or do a survey on it).
Link to the article that tripped off this post:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/gen_y_says_you_can_take_facebook_but_please_dont_take_email.php
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Your article makes a decent point but I think that you aren’t really basing your arguments in reality my friend. This stupid survey really has been overplayed, ill give you that. But what is concerning to me is your reliance on the point that we should not focus Generation Y as a demographic. I really think that you are misinforming your audience.
Bret: In short – why should we focus entire campaigns on Generation Y? Please use the example of a major consumer company that sells to all demographic segments (not Mountain Dew or similar :)