Marketing to Youth: 3 Things Businesses Need to Know (Part 2)

Updated February 28, 2025

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The second of a two-part post about marketing to youth and what businesses need to know. Let’s get to it…

2. Target Social Media

To successfully market to youth, it is essential to stay up-to-date on the latest trends. Facebook was the second most visited site in the US in 2011. Also in the top 10 were YouTube and Twitter. The youth group is hooked to these sites because there is an ideology that “the kid with the most friends wins.”

This fascination with popularity is why teens are so hooked on social media sites. When marketing to youth, use this to your advantage! Facebook allows businesses to advertise to individuals based on their “likes.” Use this tool to target the audience of similar interests as your product. Your ad will perform better if you are targeting a smaller, more personalized audience. Today’s companies invest less than 8% of their budget online. Yet, nearly 25% of all media consumption is online. There is an enormous gap here for market potential and your business to grow.

3. Your Message at Their Fingertips

Advertising via text is becoming a rapidly growing form of marketing to youth. 75% of teens own cell phones and 50% of teens send more than 50 texts a day. One in three sends over 3,000 texts a month. Essentially, teens are wired to their phones, and you have the opportunity to contact them quickly, directly, and cheaply.

As long as they sign up for it, opt-in-text messaging is a great way to keep in touch with your customers. It is important to only send brief, to-the-point messages that you think your consumer will want to read and share with their friends.

For instance, last week I received text for half off of a makeup appointment from a local business. Because the business was local and the message seemed personalized to my interests, I purchased an appointment and forwarded this deal to about five other friends. Successful marketing had taken place because, even though the business only sent one text to me, they were able to reach six total potential customers.

Teens are completely hooked to their phones. We check them before school, during school, and in between water breaks during practice. It is probably the quickest and most efficient way of reaching teens. Businesses take note! Personalized texts can be an extremely successful option of marketing to youth customers.

There are numerous ways to generate revenue in the youth market. Ultimately, it is about understanding the age demographic: their interests, desires, and how they spend their time. With these things in mind, businesses can market to new youth consumers directly and successfully.