Response to Youth Marketing: Four trends in reaching CyberGens

Social media portals need a tailored approach

Your feature on youth marketing (Marketing, 23rd September), high-lighted some exciting online trends, but may have overlooked some other key points when targeting youth audiences through social media portals.

In the rush to enter the digital realm, we have seen numerous companied put up a corporate facade. This is simply not effective anymore, as social media portals place companies under considerable scrutiny.

The way in which a company responds to criticism shows its true colours, as the polished corporate response is no longer valid.

The way in which social media strategies are developed is critical. It is not sufficient to have a ‘social media strategy’: each portal should be addressed in its own right, in the same way as you would not have the same strategy for a newspaper and a trade title.

It is difficult to manage your corporate profile 24 hours a day, and how do you measure a return on this? Seeding self-perpetuating items is the obvious solution. Ultimately, if you are open, honest and transparent about your intentions, the youth of today seem happy to enter into your conversation.