We look around and find that Internet and digital technologies are revolutionizing our lives. This world appears to be a highly privileged place where people interact with each other, search for information online, buy goods and services. What were once known as traditional advertising techniques have now been significantly transformed. We remember the time when advertisement used to be limited to the selected media- e.g. TV, radios or movies. Now it has conquered new spaces with social networks. Indeed, in 2018, 40.2% of ads that the masses had seen were digital. Social networks has emerged as one of the most important areas of interest, acting as broadcasting and marketing tools for companies to promote their business and also carry out customer care.
Since, advertising has taken social media, the most exposed are the millennials –people born in the 21st century and reaching young adulthood. They have a strong relationship with social media. Comments and recommendations are very important to them. According to a Hubspot study, 71% of the millennials are more likely to buy a product if it has been recommended online.
Millennials relationship with social media-
• 65% of the millennials share their own pictures on social media more than once a week and 64% of them also share content coming from brands or media. This shows how interacting and sharing their feelings is important to them.
• With social media, communication has become viral. Knowing that they are now able of reaching people on a global scale and has empowered millennials to start their own business on social media. Big structures have seen this new economy appearing and they’ve chosen, wisely, to invest in it.
• HSBC’s main goal when it launched the “Start Today” campaign in 2018, was to attract younger community and to reach dynamic and connected customer base. The marketing concept is simple: sharing your revolutionary idea on Twitter with 140 characters. The results were outstanding: 6.9 million tweets generated in 6 weeks and the increasing of 40 % of the firm’s audience on Twitter has showed how viral communication can be on social media.
• After Facebook- Cambridge Analytics scandal had happened, all the public and private organizations that were dealing, manipulating or stocking personal data on their customers, were under scrutiny, including retail banking. Indeed, retail banking is one of the most monitored markets. This can be explained by the nature of their business and big potential bank failures. As autoregulation has shown its limits, public intervention is needed. Pricing, security and data were the main areas addressed by European financial regulators in 2018.
• How to restore confidence in an industry which has shown its weaknesses to all its stakeholders across the world? Implemented in 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) aims to protect the data and privacy of individuals in the European area.
• The European Union also came up with a legislative framework: Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II). It aims to bring more transparency on prices before trading operations in order to regulate the European financial market and to improve the protection of investors. The 70 000 pages of rules are expected to cost more than 2 billion euros to the European financial market for compliance.
• Social media have generated among the millennials a feeling to be part of a community. As they follow people who they share the same interest with and are more sensitized by the content they see. Meanwhile, they also want to be recognized as an individual and ready to buy any item that would be a distinction inside of their group.
• That’s why social media have such an impact: they shape the way young people act, dress, eat, and travel and more. The most relevant example must be Instagram. Young consumers are desperately trying to be recognized by their peers. That’s why a firm has to be very careful about the image it wants to convey. It should exploit this unspoken desire of recognition.