Today’s youth are the next generation of loyal customers. Those with jobs tend to have fewer financial responsibilities and more disposable income than older generations. To sell to them, it’s important to speak their language.

This year’s scholarship contest featured a survey that asked teens about the social networks and technology they use for daily communication. How do they take in media and interact with friends? Understanding the next generation of consumers helps you connect with them better through your online campaigns.

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Data and infographic by AWeber Email Marketing

So What Does This Mean For My Marketing?

There are a few big takeaways from our survey:

Younger Generations are hyper-connected to social media.

That’s certainly not surprising! Connect with them on multiple networks to get the most mileage from your online marketing.

Timing doesn’t matter as much as you think.

No matter what time of day you send your message, teens will probably find it in their inbox by the end of the day, which is when they check email the most. When hanging out with friends, teens tend to use social networks more than anything else. Connect with them instantly by using a multi-channel marketing strategy.

Facebook and email are neck-and-neck in popularity.

Facebook is popular, but it only beats email by a thin margin. So social networks aren’t killing email as dramatically as you might think.

But it’s still important to engage younger generations in more than one channel. If you’re interacting with them strictly through email, you’re missing opportunities to connect with them throughout the rest of the day.

Finally, today’s younger generations expect innovation.

Nearly half of our essay submissions mentioned replacing a missing social network or technology with another existing one, or just waiting for someone else to create something better.

This generation lives in a world of evolving technology and expects that evolution to continue. To captivate them with your marketing message, keep your ideas fresh and creative. This is the perfect demographic to take risks with your marketing tactics.

Do these findings influence your future marketing plans? How do you plan to reach the future generation of customers?