Millennials are more trusting of and more likely to follow brands on social media than older Australians, but traditional ads are on the nose among all age groups, a new survey has revealed.
The online Newspoll survey of more than 1,200 Australians aged 18-64, conducted as part of the Crossman Insights research series, has shown nearly six-in-10 claim to rarely or never click on advertising on social media.
That figure is just as high for the digital natives as it is for the older generations, according to Newspoll chief executive Martin O’Shannessy, suggesting while millennials are “more trusting, they’re very discerning”.
“We see [the younger generation] becoming closer and more accepting of the commercial aspect of social media, which is interesting because earlier studies showed people being very sceptical,” he said.
“But don’t mistake the familiarity effect for any kind of weak-mindedness. They’re not idiots, they don’t click on it just because it’s there. The lesson for marketers is you can’t just build it and expect they’ll click on it – you have to get smart and subtle, build relationships.”
The survey found six in 10 people aged 18-64 follow or ‘like’ brands on social networks – 70% of 18 to 34-year-olds, 55% of 35 to 49-year-olds and 49% of 50 to 62-year-olds.
The younger generation is also more likely to believe and trust branded social media content – 70% of 18 to 34-year-olds, compared with 55% of 35 to 49-year-olds and 49% of 50 to 64-year-olds.
However, the younger people showed more in common with the baby boomers in one aspect – just 7% of those aged 18-24 and 6% of those aged 50-64 claimed to regularly click on social media ads, compared with 15% of those aged 25-49.
On average, just 12% of respondents said they regularly click on social media ads, with 26% saying they do occasionally, 31% rarely and 28% claiming never.
Jackie Crossman, managing director of public relations firm Crossman Communications, which commissioned the study, said the results reveal an opportunity for brands in Australia.
“We tend to think of the younger generation as being apathetic and increasingly discerning when it comes to attempts to market to them, but this shows that when they are on board, they are clearly open to branded messaging,” she said.
“The rate of engagement is strong and that reflects brands shifting towards truly integrated digital strategies where social channels are treated as key messaging platforms.”
Crossman said despite increasing investment in online advertising, deeper engagement wasn’t necessarily occurring, pointing to recent ComScore research showing more than half of advertising banners were being clicked by accident.
“Marketers using social media seem to be building trust over time with editorial-style content, but the poll would suggest that overcoming consumer reticence to advertising may continue to be a tough sell.”
Newspoll’s O’Shannessy said viral content and native advertising were “just one of the places it will go, and later on it’ll go somewhere else”, but planners still needed to change their thinking.
“In the modern day, shared content is the equivalent of word-of-mouth, but for planners that’s very hard to value,” he said. “Click-throughs are easy to measure, and there is the tendency to do things you can measure.”
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