What Teen Girls Can Teach Us About Social Media

girlshairArticle written by Kathy Scott, Digital Communications Director/Social Media Strategist

#1DFANDOMSTICKSTOGETHERTHROUGHTHICKANDTHIN

Yes, that was a hashtag that was trending a few weeks ago on Twitter.

Social media is dominated by adolescent girls, but you would hardly know it unless you actually pay attention to the hashtags. While you’re working selling your brands, placing ads on Google+ and tweeting about your products, teen girls have created an almost bee-like phylum and set up a labyrinth of very complex tunnels under the social media radar that is responsible for multibillions of dollars in sales and the creation of celebrity brands made famous by communicating via little colonies connected to communities, then pushed out on individual pages that are liked, commented on, shared and posted again.

Teen girls have made celebrities out of boys who create Vine videos – 6 sec snips of content! – and are single-handedly responsible for the job creation of hundreds of thousands working in the boy and girl band industries – Little Mix, 5 Seconds of Summer and 1975 to name a few.

Youtube make-up blogger, Bethany Mota, has also built her business by connecting with this group as well as the Kardashian girls. Case in point: Kim Kardashian: Hollywood, an iPhone app that launched just a month ago by Glu Games. Sure you hear the usual grumbling from people about the Kardashian clan including from their own viewers, but they continue to be loyal. So loyal, the 30+ day old app is estimated to make Kim Kardashian more than $85 million dollars according to Forbes. The game has been given over 100,000 A+ reviews in the iTunes store and is said to be so addictive to teen girls that even the social media manager at the EPA got sucked in, tweeting from the official account, “I’m now a C-list celebrity in Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. Come join me and become famous too by playing on iPhone!” The plus side, kind of, is that it was retweeted more than 2500 times before it was deleted.

Fortunately, the EPA took it in stride tweet out:

epatweet

What can companies learn from this army of committed loyal young girls who can take a simple brand and skyrocket it to stardom in a matter of days using social media? Here’s a few key takeaways:

1) Girls want to be Loved: This is a universal theme in advertising, but many brands have forgotten its fundamental power and how it translates to every consumer. If you can get your product or service to “love them” through engagement, giveaways, storytelling, you will increase your market share. Loyalty for those that love us is powerful.

2) Girls like to Celebrate: #1YearOfBestSongEver – Now trending. What do you have to celebrate? Any special giveaways?

3) Girls can’t get Enough:- When I first was introduced to Fan Fiction, I was shocked. Unknown writers create stories about the celebrities teen girls love and it NSFW! The writers are usually older women and the readers are young girls hungry for more stories about their Crush. Get a Fandom.

4) Girls Treasure Hunt: Even with their long list of favorite brands, Girls continue to look through Tumblr, Spotify and other places where online friends post favorite songs and stories. If you have a brand, remember to offer other ways to connect in as many places as possible. And make it should always be a two-way communication where possible.

5) Girls Don’t Listen: Until they do. Analyzing the habits of teen girls and their creation of megabrands is a strategy that should be studied daily. Girls rule and they have money. That has been said for nearly every audience I’ve worked on. The key is to connect your brand to the influencers, create a narrative they can share and let them know you love them. Piece of cake.

Find Kathy Scott on www.MeandMy1000Girlfriends.com