Understand your viewers; Gen X
A Sandwiched generation, they are also forgotten by marketers
In the previous week, we discussed the oldest generation: Baby Boomers, and today, move on to the next generation: Gen X, they are those who were born between 1965 to 1979, a sandwiched generation between two large generations Baby Boomers and Millennials. Same as Baby Boomers, they were not born during the digital blooming age, however, they were born and lived in the time when Industrial was shifting to Digital, so we can say, they are the witnesses of the Digital era. In that case, does Gen X have any difference in engaging with video marketing nowadays? Let’s see what we have:
Smartphone addicted, not only Millennials. Although this generation devotes their time mostly on desktop or laptop (for their work, of course), it does not mean they are not addicted to smartphones. In the US alone, the smartphone (plus tablets) time usage of Gen X took 63% of their time, which is close to the younger generation (69%).
What do they do on their smart devices? For this busy bee generation, they check mails, watch videos, and surf social media. Yes, I am not wrong, they have social media as well, which is Facebook and Youtube, these two are their favorite channels (others can be MySpace, Twitter, Linkedin). In fact, 1.5B of Youtube daily views are from Gen X, and they are attracted to nostalgia videos like old commercials or music videos which bring them memories about the good old times. Not just that, Gen X also likes tutorial videos to learn something new. Engaging with this generation through Facebook, Youtube and Emails is the best way to earn a good convert.
If any company wants to start a campaign aimed at this generation, note that Gen X consumer behavior is ROPO - Research Online, Purchase Offline. 72% of Gen X do their homework online to study and gain understanding about a certain product prior to making a purchase decision, therefore, the essential point marketers should remember is that Gen X prefer quality over quantity, the better the quality of your product or service, the more chance you will able to attract this loyal generation. Furthermore, the purchasing power of Gen X is not something you can look down. Occupy 25% of the United States population but claim 31% of the total income. Despite having such great purchasing power, Gen X is constantly ignored by companies, as a result, 54% of Gen X feel frustrated with that.
Wrap up with our findings about this generation:
1. They DO use social media, Facebook and Youtube is top favorite.
2. They like to spend their time on Youtube for good old memories.
3. They hold a great purchasing power but marketers normally will ignore them.
The last fact should be the alarm for you to start a marketing campaign for them, for the first face is for you to know where to reach them, and the second is what to attract them.
That's all for this week, see you in next post.