Trying to grow your business in a snow-balling world of digital natives and social media addicts? Let’s make it possible! When we talk about paid digital advertising and target audience, it’s definitely not a one-size-fit- all approach.
Between the different media platforms and consumers’ levels of digital literacy and comfortability, there’s a lot to think about!
What works for Sally who grew up during the monochrome television era and created her first Facebook profile at age 55 is going to be different to Kate, who was on all the social media apps in highschool and now works at a professional services firm.
Both as valuable as each other in terms of a lead - but are going to react to different strategies online.
When promoting a service that has a large target audience demographic, it’s important to take a “clever” approach. Think fitness trainers, mechanics, lawyers or landscapers, they all deal with a wide range of people, but what’s the best way to keep business coming in?
Let’s get into it… starting with Gen X.
Keep it simple, personal and authentic.
As a generalisation, consumers within this generation are financially stable, have a network of family members and care about doing business with people and brands they trust. They’ve also seen a lot, so they’re not going to be fooled by tricky marketing. We’ve got to keep it real and provide real value.
Facebook is the main platform that Gen X’s use to connect and stay up to date with family - this is great! A platform that our audience already likes and regularly uses - what could go wrong? Well, a lot… if the ad is too obvious, complicated and doesn’t appeal to their sense of values.
Key Tips for Lead Generation: Gen X
1. Make the Ad Not Look Like An Ad. Gen X’s don’t want to feel like they’re being ‘sold to’. They want to like something for its merit and take action on their own accord. We need to make it genuine, relatable and trustworthy. For example: feature ‘real people’ in the ad rather than just a promotional offer.
2. Show Emotion in the Ad. Sometimes the best way to get people to do something is to ‘show them the good’. Gen X’s want to support people having a go, enjoying life and working hard. Take a mechanic for example… If we’re promoting car services, instead of using a flashy car image, showcase a video of the mechanics performing a repair service, smiling and enjoying their job.
3. Make the Lead Gen Process Simple. Lead Ads are a fantastic form of capturing people ‘in the moment’. They like what they see and want to enquire without too much ‘fluffing around’. The beauty of Lead Ads is that it’s a quick,
one-two click form that can be easily filled out and sent. Now we’ve got the contact details, it’s the perfect time to follow up with a phone call. Mixing traditional service with digital marketing!
Onto Gen Y…
There’s a few things that could still work from our Gen X approach, but we also need to pivot the strategy. Featuring people in the creative is still a huge benefit, but we need to make it more dynamic and engaging.
Gen Y are the ‘digital adaptors’ of today’s world. They have been very ‘well-trained’ in the world of social media and all things digital. Most Gen Y’s are in their early career phase and use the social media space for both work and play. That being said, our strategy needs to revolve more around ‘what they want’ rather than ‘want we want them to have’.
Also, Gen Y is much more competent in other media platforms and online searching, than Facebook. That being said, a multi-faceted approach is definitely needed to capture these valuable leads.
Key Tips for Lead Generation: Gen Y
1. The Funnel Approach. Gen Y are on social media a lot more than Gen X and see a lot more ads. So it’s very important to layer the marketing approach with awareness, remarketing and conversion based ads. This strategy helps build the trust-like-know factor as well continually encouraging them to submit a lead at each stage of the funnel. For example, for a Fitness Trainer, the below approach could be applied.
● Top of Funnel (awareness) - video of trainer doing exercises with client
● Middle of Funnel (remarketing) - video testimonial from a client
● Bottom of Funnel (conversion) - trainer talking to camera, telling the audience to submit a form for a Free Initial Consultation
2. Multiple Social Platform Placements. Not only do Gen Y’s want to see different content when they check Facebook, they need to be seeing the brand’s content on other social media platforms too. Think about Instagram, LinkedIn and Tik Tok. Consumers check these platforms during different times of the day eg. at work, before bed, relaxing on the couch - but they still check them! It’s a matter of mixing up the creative to appeal to the professional, trendy and community-minded sides of our consumers’ persona and get them to submit that enquiry.
3. Specific Messaging About What ‘They’ Want. There’s some things in today’s society that are common issues for Gen Y. From trying to buy their first house with the current cost of living, to trying to find ‘the one’ with all the crazy dating apps. To cut through all the other ads and offers on social media, we need to make the messaging hit home. For example: “Introducing our Student Special! We know you’re saving for your first house, so we want to give you 10% off our standard personal training price.”
Now Gen Z - the latest and most in-tune generation when it comes to social media advertising. Social media is everywhere for them - they are constantly on their phones, tablets and computers. Proficient scrollers with limited
attention spans - making the task of lead generation challenging and exciting. Here we get to ‘level-up’ our strategies to make them even more comprehensive and engaging then before.
This means we need to start the strategy with numerous lead generation tactics and refine from there. Also, what works today might not work next month, so it’s important to stay flexible and adaptable to continue to engage our audience.
Key Tips for Lead Generation: Gen Z
1. Multiple Lead Generation Processes. Getting our consumers attention with the ad is step one. We then need to make sure they follow through and become a lead. Leads can be submitted through a website contact form, Messenger, Lead Ads form etc. For some businesses, giving people more information by directing them to the website first works better. Especially with Gen Z, who are well-versed with being advertised to, they want to find out a bit more information for themselves first. The best approach is to run a variety of lead generation campaigns for the first two weeks and then hone in on the best performers.
2. Refresh the Creative at a High Cadence. Main thing about Gen Z is that they don’t want to be ‘bored by brands’. If they feel like they’ve seen it before, or seen other brands doing - it’s time to move on. To keep our creative strategy fresh and on-point, it’s a good idea to phase out the lowest-performing ads on a regular basis and test new variations. Keeping the content short, sharp and engaging will help make the creative rotation a more efficient process. For example: For a cosmetic clinic, regularly updating the ads with new before/after videos of new patients.
3. Leverage Brand Influencers Where Possible. In today’s social media landscape, consumers like to hear how good the brand was from their peers. Encouraging clients to come on board as a social brand ambassador is a great way to appeal to other Gen Z consumers. For example: ambassadors can share their experience in an Instagram video and followers to ‘click the link’ for an initial consultation. This strategy works really well in the healthy and beauty service industries.
Using social media as part of your lead generation strategy can be incredibly valuable to your business. As you can see from above, it’s important to implement a well-tailored, dynamic and inclusive strategy to appeal to multiple generational groups of consumers. Remember, every lead is an opportunity to book a new job or generate a new client. Use social media to talk to your prospective clients in a more honest, transparent and relatable way and watch your business grow!
