The Talkative Nature of Teens
by John Moore TalkTrack(R) Conversationalist, October 11, 2010Tags: Brands, Keller Fay Group, offline, online, research, Shopping & Retail, Social media, TalkTrack®, Technology, Teens, WOM, word of mouth
The 2010 back-to-school shopping season is behind us. It’s interesting to note, according to a National Retail Federation study the typical American family spends $606.40 on clothing, school supplies, and electronics for their school-aged children. In total, American families will spend over $21 billion in back-to-school shopping for their school-aged children in grades K-12.
This shopping time is especially important for teen retailers such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Aeropostale, Forever21, and PacSun. Retailers focused on the teen market can generate up to 25% of annual sales during the weeks leading up to the start of school.
Thinking about the back-to-school shopping season serves as good context for us to learn more about the talkative nature of teens. Keller Fay’s TalkTrack® study captures marketing-related and brand-specific conversations teens participate in via both offline (person-to-person) and online environments. From this ongoing study, we learn what products, services, and brands teens find interesting to talk about and where teens have these conversations. We can also draw a few implications.
Teens Are Very Talkative
Keller Fay findings indicate teens, when compared to the general public, talk much more about products and brands in the Technology, Retail & Apparel, Media/Entertainment, and Sports/Hobbies categories.
According to a 2010 TalkTrack® study, teens are about 50% more likely to discuss Technology products and brands than is the general public. The Retail & Apparel category is also a hot topic for teenagers as this age group is 40% more likely than the general public to have marketing-related conversations about retailers, shopping, and clothing. Media/Entertainment and Sports/Hobbies are two product categories where teen conversations significantly over-index against the total population.
Teens Chat About Brands
Apple as a company and iPod as a product are two of the most common brands teens mention in their daily conversations. Coca-Cola is the most popular brand teenagers mention and along with Verizon, Ford, and Pepsi all the above-mentioned brands comprise the six brands teens talk most about. Here’s the complete list of brands teens talk about most:
Teen Online Talk Outpaces the Public
91% of the time the average American has a brand-related conversation with someone it’s offline, either in person (face-to-face) or over the phone (voice-to-voice). Only 7% of the time are such conversations happening online and through texting.
For teens it’s a different story (although not dramatically so): 85% of all teenager conversations about products and brands happen offline and 13% happen online. Clearly, the younger generation uses email, texting, and social media websites to talk about products and brands much more than does the general public.
Teens Reference Marketing Activities
According to Keller Fay TalkTrack® findings, media and marketing can play an important role in sparking teens to talk about products and brands, even more than for adults. Teens most often reference something they saw on television (commercial), look at online (web marketing), with magazines (articles and ads) a distant third.
Implications
Teens are very apt to talk about tech gadgets, cool clothes, engaging entertainment, and sports. As a marketer of such products and services, if you can showcase your brand’s personality to appeal to the teenage audience, chances are strong they will talk. Beyond showcasing your brand’s unique personality, you will need to command their attention through television commercials, online marketing, and magazine placements in order to fully tap into the talkative nature of teens.
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