Social Media vs. Squares

Have you ever been in public, and had some salesman come up to you abruptly, and loudly asked you to change your cell phone plan, or insurance company? They are usually set up in the worst places, and at the worst times, almost perfectly curated to be the worst marketing experience ever. This is what it feels like to be targeted by advertising techniques other than social media, as a member of the younger generation.

Social media is being recognized as a lucrative development when it comes to advertisements and business development. Much of the absorption of media from consumers is done through social media, and when your business is marketing, you want to go where the people are, and right now, the people are on their phones. As a young member of society, my generation very often falls victim to doom scrolling, or scrolling through short-form media until time slips from beneath you, and you realize that you've been scrolling for hours. You fall into a state of very high suggestibility and act as a sponge for content for an hour or two. This means that it's a perfect medium for reaching a wide audience... as long as it's done well.

However, it's rarely done effectively to reach the minds of the youth. Many TV advertisements talk about how good the value of this product is, or the benefits to your credit that a certain decision can make. Or speak in an informational tone that puts me and my generation to sleep. We were raised as screenagers, with more stimulation in one TikTok session than my grandfather experienced in his whole life. We don't respond very well to information-based advertising, when compared to more personable advertisements. This difference is very evident when the advertisers do not understand how the younger generation’s minds work.

When deciding which brand to follow or buy, the last person I will listen to is the person or company that's selling it. The younger generation knows that people will lie to get what they want, and that when the disinfectant wipe claims to get rid of 99.999999% of bacteria. We are smart enough to know that it's just a legal ploy so that they can't get sued. The older generation that is commonly in charge of advertisements commonly misunderstands this mindset. They resort to stale trends and lesser-known celebrities to try and cater to the masses, when in reality, we just cringe and look away. 

All in all, the young consumers will listen to who they trust, and corporations are very far from the top of that list. The marketers are now trying to find a way to transform that persona of an untrustworthy company into a friend to feel comfortable with, but that's a tall order.