Youth and social media: 4 types of users

Yanking out yet another grey hair as I stare into the harshly lit mirror in the third-floor ladies, I sadly reflect as my youth slips further away. But would I really want to be a teenager again? Back in the day, you could hide the embarrassing fact that the track played most often on your Walkman was Rick Astley and the biggest stress was whether to wear the yellow or pink ra-ra skirt with the single black fishnet glove.

Today’s teenagers have to negotiate a minefield of social pressures. With every fashion faux pas instagrammed, every stupid comment made tweeted and the bands and brands you follow available for all to see on Facebook, the way you portray yourself online is arguably even more important than how you interact in the offline world.

And that’s an interesting question in its own right. Do young people feel under pressure to act differently in social media or is their online persona an accurate reflection of their offline personality?

Recently I’ve been working with VCCP’s youth communications agency, Rough Hill, devising and analysing quantitative and qualitative research to explore the link between personality type and social behaviour. As the parent of a teen and a tween, it’s been a fascinating insight into the online world of young people. And as a marketer, it’s been an invaluable lesson in how brands can best engage with a youth audience.

How many times have we heard the phrase “we need a cool app or social media campaign to attract younger users to our brand”? But one of the findings that emerged most strongly from our research was that young people can’t be lumped into one homogenous group of social users. They’re a complex audience with different needs and levels of engagement with social media.

By combining online and offline profiling tools, we were able to segment young people onto one of four distinct types: Insiders, Outsiders, Connectors and Networkers.

1. Insiders
They are much more confident online than they are offline. Social media empowers them to express their individuality. They’re far less likely to share content, preferring to create their own and they have strong opinions on brands, following fewer brands on social media than any other group. They are therefore the hardest group to impress and yet it can be argued, the most influential online.

2. Outsiders
They are quiet, private and self-contained in both the online and offline worlds. They’re adept online users and find social media a useful rather than vital tool, being the least likely to be on Facebook or Twitter 24/7.

3. Connectors
They are very sociable, have a large number of friends and are very outgoing. However, they much prefer to connect with people in person rather than online, meaning they most like to find out about events that brands are running so they can interact with real people. In addition, they’re a bit more considered and so are more reticent about what they put online and they worry about who could see it.

4. Networkers
They are social butterflies. They are desperate to connect with people continually, both face to face and on social media. They would be distraught if they missed out on a bit of gossip or weren’t at the centre of the action. They love Instagram, post a huge number of photos of themselves and their friends and are voracious viewers of celebrity news and photos.

One size does not fit all
The Insiders group in particular are really interesting. They’re natural introverts in everyday life, but social media has empowered them to be highly confident and influential online. They create much more content than their extraverted peers, are individualistic, opinionated and confident in expressing their opinion to others in social media.

So brands can’t rely on a one-size-fits-all approach. They have the opportunity to consider what particular sub-group they need to meet their business objectives. Personality profiling can tell them what social media sites a particular sub-group is using, how frequently, what type of content they like and whether they’re likely to consume, share or create content in return.

It can also identify what brands this group are likely to engage with, which is particularly pertinent when you look at groups like Insiders who are the hardest to impress (least likely to follow a brand), but have the biggest potential to influence others (most likely to create content).

Consequently, if a brand wants to drive mass awareness it should focus on attracting social butterflies like Networkers. If a brand is more concerned about engaging super fans and harnessing the power of influencers then they should focus on Insiders.

By DMA guest blogger Caroline Kimber, Head of Data Planning, VCCP me and DMA Data Council Deputy Chair