Our editor was back in East London today for the second and final day of Voxburner’s YMS LDN – a two-day festival of youth marketing. As with day one, it was packed with learning – here are some quick takeaways shown via some of our tweets from the day.
**Check out #YMS18 on Twitter for more insights from the event and catch up with our summary of day one while you’re at it.**
Career choice
Many GenZers see becoming a social media influencer as a potential career #YMS18
— The Native (@thenativetweets) March 22, 2018
GenZ see being a social media influencer as a desirable career. That means they’ll be honing their content creation and curation skills to expert levels. That means you need to be doing the same if you want to keep their attention.
No holds barred
Some one-word reactions from the panel to describe social networks…
Twitter: chaos, trends, celebs
Facebook: generational, vulnerable, fake
Instagram: alter-ego, vanity, fashion
Snapchat: filters, hilarious, random#YMS18— The Native (@thenativetweets) March 22, 2018
Here’s what some actual, real, living students right now think of four massive social networks – interesting.
Quote of the day
“I have never eaten an avocado in my life”
😱🥑
Hope no-one from Virgin Trains is here – actually, yes we do#YMS18
— The Native (@thenativetweets) March 22, 2018
PLEASE STOP USING AVOCADOS IN YOUR MARKETING CAMPAIGNS 🥑
Changing the game
The next generation of architects will have built their skills through playing games like Minecraft #YMS18
— The Native (@thenativetweets) March 22, 2018
Gaming is massive. The amount of people who watch esports is mind-boggling, while the skilled professionals of tomorrow could well be training themselves today through gaming.
Stay woke
Yes, they make funny videos but also harder content – the way @popbuzz was able to tackle abortion and create stuff for the British Pregnancy Advisory Service is really good. No change in their tone of voice, no change in style – just effective content #YMS18
— The Native (@thenativetweets) March 22, 2018
To the eyes of a 32-year-old man, the brand values of new youth brand PopBuzz initially seem cringey. But, they really live it and it resonates with their audience, to the point that they can comfortably write about abortion in a way that gets cut-through.
Picture perfect
“If there’s any proof that a consumer likes your brand, it’s when they start posting pictures of it on social media”
(Ice) cool stuff from Häagen-Dazs #YMS18
— The Native (@thenativetweets) March 22, 2018
Solid from Häagen-Dazs, whose staff also got to taste all 46 of their ice cream flavours as part of their rebrand. FORTY SIX FLAVOURS.
Not my type on paper
Some of the things that made Love Island so massive?
Their speed, positive tone of voice and the fact that they were talked about #YMS18
— The Native (@thenativetweets) March 22, 2018
Last summer’s success of Love Island offers a LOAD of learning – looking forward to seeing what this summer brings!
Snap!
People go to Snapchat to speak to their friends, their *best* friends.
The average user only has around 10-20 connections #YMS18
— The Native (@thenativetweets) March 22, 2018
These stats really struck – Snapchat seemingly isn’t a place to build a huge following, it’s a place for a small circle of buddies.
Email FTW
Want to win with GenZ on email? Be hyper-personalised and highly relevant #YMS18
— The Native (@thenativetweets) March 22, 2018
Email isn’t going anywhere, even GenZ use it. If you want to reach that demographic using that medium, this is what you need to bear in mind.
What do you do? Well, I’m…
At Durham, they actually have their own meme editor#YMS18 #jobtitlegoals
— The Native (@thenativetweets) March 22, 2018
And you thought being a social media manager was still a new job title…how about meme editor??
A shift in power
Really interesting to hear the motivations behind students choosing to write for @TheTab instead of traditional campus media – essentially, they value the independence The Tab offers and the fact that The Tab actually still gets cut through #YMS18
— The Native (@thenativetweets) March 22, 2018
Fascinating to hear that, for some campuses, the powerful student media group is The Tab and not the traditional student press. It sounds like some student papers are slowly becoming nothing more than extensions of the institution’s PR department. As someone with a journalistic background, I am biased but…not good. Good for The Tab though!
**Check out #YMS18 on Twitter for more insights from the event and catch up with our summary of day one while you’re at it.**
