Generational Marketing and Social Media - Case Study Example

Generational marketing (Part CHARACTERISTIC Baby Boomers Generation X Generation Y/ Millennials Birth Born1946-1964 Born 1965-1976 Born 1977 – 1998 Market Size 76,012,550 126,221,111 187,779,009 Size of US Population 99,273,333 181,786,205 210,345,123 Income Between $10,000 and $90,000 per month Between $90,000 and $250,000 per month Between $30,000 and $500,000 per month Relationship to Technology Manual working and no technology Less advanced technology, both manual and technological use Everything is computerized, advanced technology Relationship to Family & Friends Caring and concerned, and very close Not that close but responsible Always busy and less concerned with their families, though providing Relationship to Work & Workplace Travel from home to workplace everyday Sometimes found at workplace and sometimes at another place Work from both home and workplace Media Preferences (Be specific) cathode ray tube computers (fixed machines) Big and small size computers (fixed and portable) Laptops (portable) Education Primary level Secondary level College or university level Communication media Telephones Cell phones Mobile phones The market size of the three generations (baby boomers, generation Y and generation X) increases in the United States with increase in the population of the country. There were less responsibilities among the baby boomers, thus their earnings were low. However, there is a lot of saving in this generation. Technology has been improving all along and was never used by the baby boomers. However, it was less used by generation X and highly in use by the generation Y. Baby boomers are a people who have much time with families and friends due to less work. Generation Y. The baby boomers generation used to report to work every day, from their homes. Generation X has both people who stay either at work or at home. A people of generation Y are those who are mobile because the advanced technology enables them to work from anywhere. Generation Y prefers portable machines, generation X uses both portable and fixed machines while baby boomers use machines wherever they were installed. The baby boomers could work using primary knowledge. Generation started demanding for advanced knowledge but generation Y required more of the learned people (must have attended college or university). The communication media among these generations depended on number of tasks to be performed. Generation Y needed mobile phones because they had a lot to attend to. Generational marketing and social media (Part 2) General marketing involves planning an executing the conception, promotion, pricing and distributing ideas, products or goods and services to develop exchanges that satisfy organizational and individual goals. Things that can be marketed include products and services, experiences and events, people, places and properties, organizations, information and ideas. The market categories are; consumer, business, global, government and nonprofit. Marketing acts as integrative function while the customer acts as the controlling function. Social media refers to interactive platforms through which people and communities share the content or information generated by the user (Hally, 2005). They are also social software hat mediate human communication. Some of the social media types include: Audio music sharing Blogs Online gaming Photo sharing Podcasts Social networking Social news sites Video sharing Virtual worlds, and Wikis Three organizations that use either of the above type of social Company 1: Dell Company URL: http://www.dell.com/us/p/xps-15z/pd Dell is a company that manufactures computers- Dell computers. The target audience for Dell computers is the institutions (teachers or lecturers, students and subordinate staff), because they require computers for both learning purposes and institutional operations (Koehn, 2001). The social media types used by Dell Corporation Facebook Twitter, and Google+ Social media are effective in marketing Dell’s computers. The company collects ideas and insights from its customers, which it claims are the best. Through social media, the customers contribute towards more than twenty five thousand (25,000) conversations about Dell daily. What the company learns from its customers helps it to become a better corporation than before. Therefore, marketing via social media has facilitated good public relationship, and thus it is able to produce and deliver improved products and services to its customers to satisfy their needs. Social media make Dell a better partner to its customers and their organizations. The company believes that social media is far more than a tool: it is an extension of its brand, which enables people everywhere to use technology to grow and prosper (Koehn, 2001). The computers produced by the company have enhanced and promoted education among people, and also; they have as communication media tools; individuals can message, call or send e mails to each other using computers. Company 2: Toyota Company URL: http://www.toyota-global.com/ Toyota is a motor-vehicle manufacturing company. Its vehicles range from heavy-commercial to small-light vehicles. Its target audience is the business people and the working class individuals. Business men and women mostly need heavy-commercial vehicles to transport and deliver their goods to destinations of interest; to their customers, or from manufacturing industries to their stores. Working class persons need small-light vehicles (cars) to facilitate easy movement from their places of residence to work stations. Types of social media used by Toyota Twitter Facebook Youtube, and Google+ Toyota has experienced the benefits of social media as a tool for marketing; it uses social media to advertise and make its products and services known to its customers. The company now does the selling of its products via the internet (online) by the help of social media. Toyota describes its Camry effect as an initiative of social media developed to bring together also seven million owners of Camry in its nation via an interactive, online experience. It posts photos and videos of its brands on social networks as a way marketing their products (Hyde, 2009). Its vehicles are installed with radios, televisions and even telephones; thus it facilitates communication. Through social media, it also educates people about the functions of various parts of its vehicles, and how individuals can drive safely. Company 3: Microsoft Company URL: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx Microsoft is a multinational corporation based in America. It is a company for developing, manufacturing, licensing and supporting an extensive variety of services and products linked to computing. It is the largest manufacturer of software in the globe measured by revenue. Its target audience is computer manufacturing companies and computer users. Computers can not operate without software. Software is a collection or set of programs and related data of a computer which provides instructions for informing the computer what to do and how to do it (Hally. 2005). Companies which produce computers, therefore, require software for their gadgets to work properly. The types of software include web pages and desktop applications. Types of social media used by Microsoft Corporation Facebook Google+ Twitter Social media as a tool for marketing have helped Microsoft Company to market its products and services. The company has used social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and Youtube to interact with its customers. It receives opinions from its customers about its products and then improves the products’ quality. It demonstrates the effectiveness and efficiency of its products through videos which are then posted on You Tube. That is education enhancement about technology. The application of Bing Twitter map placed Twitter tweets within the location context, like four-square on steroids. The documents of Microsoft for Facebook, allows users to discover, create and share the documents for Microsoft office using Facebook. The company has been helpful in facilitating communication through its software making (Hally, 2005). Works cited Hally, M. Electronic brains or stories from the dawn of computer age. London: British Broadcasting Corporation and Granta Books, 2005. Print. Koehn, N. Brand new: How entrepreneurs earned consumers’ trust from Wedgehood to Dell. Harvard: Harvard Business Press, 2001. Print. Hyde, J. Toyota’s 1st in safety recalls for 1st time. Detroit: Detroit Free Press, 2009. Print. Read More