“Where Parents Do Not Go”

HOW TO REACH OUT TO MILLENNIALS IN SLOVAKIA

When it comes to politics and social media, Millennials in Slovakia do not follow their parents – quite the contrary. Slovakian weCAN agency Branding presents three of the top trends that are typical of Generation Y in their market.   Frustration During the Slovakian parliamentary elections in March, the country experienced a rare shock. A political party whose leaders are known for their extreme opinion – inclining to fascist ideology (which I even find hard to conceive in the 21st century) – has been elected to enter the parliament by over 8% of all votes. Polls revealed that the greatest part of these votes came from first-time voters. It has been disputed that the reason had not been that Millennials incline to extremism, but because they are frustrated by the “standard” politics of their parents’ generation. They rather choose “extreme” over “standard” without much regard of what “extreme” actually represents. Less in volume, more in quality More than 90% of Millennials are online. 90% of those are on social networks. They are fully equipped for the digital/virtual life, knowing all its pros and cons and they are beginning to prefer their smartphone over their notebook. They read opinions online, they write their opinions online, and are even aware of the fact that they are influenced by opinions posted online. Yet they feel they don’t want to be deceived, and certainly not by brands. They feel that content that is branded or sponsored by brands should be visibly marked as such. They feel that online space is overwhelmed by the amount of commercials and content marketing. Today, a brands’ decision on online communication with Millennials is not so much about choosing what percentage of the budget should go to online media, rather how to control their online presence to make it build a relationship with their audience that relevantly delivers valued content and thus the desired marketing message. Where the parents do not go The boom of social networks swept over all age groups. Today, Facebook reaches as many as 95% of heavy online users in Slovakia. The number of users on Facebook has been (almost) constant for 2 years now, but older age groups (45+) are still increasing in volume while the young groups have begun to shrink slightly. Imagine yourself in your twenties, doing something that your parents think is cool. That sums up the situation. That’s why Facebook, although powerful in reach, is becoming less attractive for Millennials. But Instagram, for instance, works very well with them and niche networks make up what we miss in volume. However, it is increasingly difficult for brands to target young audiences on networks where advertising opportunities are more limited than on Google or Facebook. Author: Richard Szabó, Research Specialist, Branding