No Boundaries ≠ No Rules:

MARKETING TO TODAY’S DIGITAL TEEN

A day in the life …

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Emily wakes up and, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes, texts her friend Jess to see what she’s wearing to school today. Jess sends her a photo via Snapchat.

Wardrobe choices established, Emily rolls out of bed and pops in her headphones to listen to her favorite Indie Spotify playlist, which she also shares to her Facebook News Feed.

On the way to school, she scans through her Instagram feed, commenting on a bunch of her friends’ photos before creating a stylized image of the view from the bus window and posting it to Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook simultaneously.

Later, during lunch, she stars in her friend Jake’s Vine video, “Cafeteria Chaos,” which he uploads to both Vine and Facebook.

After viewing the video on Facebook, Emily notices that Chandra liked the Spotify playlist she posted earlier that morning. Chandra lives on the other side of the country, but she and Emily have struck up a friendship based on their shared passion for Indie music.

After school, Emily tunes into her Maroon 5 Pandora station and spends some time adding imag-es to her Pinterest board, “Summer Fun.” School is almost out, and she’s creating a digital bucket list. After homework and dinner, Emily curls up on the sofa with Jess and two other friends to watch the season finale of Pretty Little Liars together via Hulu and a Google+ Hangout.

After a long day on the go, Emily gets back into bed. Before she falls asleep, she checks in with friends via text, Facebook, and Twitter. She also downloads the Pheed app for her phone. A lot of her friends are hanging out there now, and she wants to check it out.

Emily and her friends are average American teens. Their days are filled with typical teenage activities – school, homework, sports, and hanging out with friends. Surrounding these activities is a digital ecosystem that inspires, enhances, captures, socializes, and broadcasts these experiences. From dawn ‘til dusk, today’s teens are plugged into multiple devices, apps, media, and social networks.

Teens live as much in the virtual world as they do in the real world. They are the “digital natives” you’ve been hearing about. If you want to reach this audience, you need to go native, too.

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No Boundaries

In the digital space, there are no boundaries. Geography is

meaningless, physical proximity is irrelevant, and more and

more the lines are blurring between “real world” and “online”

relationships. Connection is the currency of the virtual world

where teens can converse with anyone, anywhere, anytime.

While digital connections extend teens’ reach across and

beyond traditional borders, the perpetually evolving collection

of digital tools and venues give teens the creative freedom

to produce, consume, and engage with all kinds of media:

text, video, audio, and images. Conversation is no longer

constrained to mere words. Relationships are now forged over

photographs, six-second videos, and curated playlists.

No Allegiance

Teens are not loyal to any particular app or media platform.

Their loyalty is to the content, not the delivery system. Their

interactions in the digital environment are focused on the

ideas contained in the media and the connections they

create with friends. It doesn’t matter to them if those ideas

and connections live on Facebook or Twitter or Pheed or

Instagram. Often, one interaction will span two or three

different platforms as content created on one platform

is shared across multiple networks, triggering multiple

reactions and conversation threads.

The digital world teens inhabit is an immersive, organic, and omnipresent environment. It is more than an accessory to life; it is life – a thriving ecosystem with digitally spawned interde-pendencies and interactions that drive consumption, creation, and communication.

To reach teens on their home turf, as it were, you need to be able to see the digital landscape from a teen’s perspective.

The free-range digital teen

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They also don’t feel the need to consume content according

to someone else’s schedule. Though they may still be devoted to

certain programming, for instance, alternate viewing options

like Netflix and Hulu give teens the flexibility to watch when

and how they want.

No Patience

It’s no surprise that, having grown up in the age of instant

gratification, today’s teens lack the ability (or inclination) to

tolerate any kind of pause or delay. The pervasive and perpetual

nature of digital media in teens’ lives virtually eliminates

the need to wait for anything.

Seventy-five percent of teens keep in constant contact with

friends by sending at least 60 text messages per day.1 Many

send hundreds more than that. Ubiquitous Internet access

(primarily via smartphones) gives teens the option to be

connected to their apps and social networks 24/7.

Impatience also contributes to teens’ propensity for digital

multi-tasking. Teens’ virtual activities rarely take place in

isolation. For example, TV viewing might be accompanied

by texting and tweeting. Teens have no problem engaging

multiple technologies and networks at once.

1 http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Teens-and-smart-phones.aspx

2 http://www.tru-insight.com/

The global purchasing power of teens (12-19 years old) 2

Social Media Facts & Figures

$819 BILLION

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Teens using a social networking site. 3

More older (14 - 17) teens use a social networking site than their younger (12 - 13) counterparts. 3

Teen social media use is high across a variety of ethnic groups. 3

Social Media Facts & Figures

79% Male84% Female

89% vs. 65%

81% White 88% African American 77% Hispanic

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3 Pew Internet and American Life Project, “Teens, Social Media, and Privacy,” May 21, 2013

89% Have Facebook friends who do not attend the same school.3

33% Have Facebook friends they’ve never met in person. 3

151-600 Facebook friends. 3

20% of teen users have

Facebook friends.3

Teens on Facebook

More than half of teens (51%) have

more than 600

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… so does the digital world of teens. Though it may appear to be an anarchy of random actions and associations, there are recognizable behaviors and patterns. If you want to make the right connection, your content needs to be:

Even the jungle has its laws …

1. Adaptable & AgileTeens’ rules of engagement can change on a whim. To keep

up, you need to monitor their reactions in real time, access

performance results quickly, and adjust on the fly. Smart,

iterative testing provides valuable insights that help you

learn from your mistakes. Flexible planning ensures you can

respond appropriately and in a timely manner when (not if)

the interest of your teen audience wavers.

2. Current & RelevantThe old adage “timing is everything” may never have been

more applicable than in the context of reaching teens online.

Life moves fast on the Internet. Today’s meme is yesterday’s

news before the dinner dishes are done. To avoid the

embarrassment of being passé, you need to stay ahead of

the curve. In addition, you need to make sure you get the

context right. Playing off the latest “it” trend in the wrong

way is almost as bad as missing the trend all together.

3. Popular & UniqueIt seems like a combination of opposites, but the best teen

content manages to simultaneously convey a sense of

belonging and self-expression. It gives teens the chance

to be part of something while also giving them a chance to

articulate their own feelings and individuality.

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4. Meaningful & EntertainingTeens are easily bored. They can also sniff out disingenuous

players in an instant. To make a good impression, you need

to capture their attention and “keep it real.” Use emotion to

create an immediate and authentic connection. Humor is a

great icebreaker for any age group, and aligning yourself with

a relevant cause or movement can also help you put your best

foot forward.

5. Varied & ShareableTeens also have a seriously short attention span. When developing

content for this demographic, “KISS” translates to “keep it short,

stupid.” Use a variety of content formats on a variety of venues.

And, make sure that everything you produce has high “shareability”

in terms of both the content and the functionality.

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While teens do engage with brands online via ads and social

media sites, they do it on their own terms. They are not bound by

the constraints of traditional channels or their digital coun-

terparts. They do not limit their media consumption to any

particular format. They are more interested in the content

itself and the way it helps them either make a statement about

themselves or connect with others.

Digital media gives brands the opportunity to connect with

teens where they live – on the Internet, on their their mobile

devices, and via on-demand venues like Hulu. It provides

the tools you need to create engaging content that sparks

valuable conversations. It delivers important insights via

monitoring tools and performance metrics.

It’s their world. You just get to play in it.

The digital world may be a jungle, but it’s also rich with opportunity.

You just need to know how to speak to the natives.

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Interested in learning more about how to reach the “digital native”? Contact us today.

Parks Blackwell

VP, New Business and Marketing

Parks.Blackwell@iprospect.com

817.665.1397

For questions about this research, please contact:

Danielle Smith

Group Account Director

Danielle.Smith@iprospect.com

817.509.0338

For all media inquiries, please email:

iprospect@inkhouse.com

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