Marketing to the 18 to 24 Year Old Demographic

When asking 18 to 24 year olds how they spend the majority of their free time, a high percentage will respond by saying ‘on the internet’ or ‘surfing the web.’ Because of technological advances, not only are we able to do this from personal computers at home, but we can now access the internet from just about anywhere on smart phones. The World Wide Web has become an important part of most people’s daily lives. The internet is accessible for just about anything, ranging from sending e-mails, going grocery shopping, or even dating online.

One of the main uses for internet usage for this age demographic is social networking. Websites such as MySpace, facebook, and twitter have become increasingly popular over the past several years. One major perk users find is these websites cost nothing to use. However, someone has to pay for them. This is where social networking sites have become a great tool for advertisers. Sites like facebook are able to track what users do while they are logged into the network. Users are able to “like” certain pages that are associated with different brands or items they are interested in. By doing this, the website is able to show advertisements that are apt to be more appealing to the user and their lifestyle.

When users open any of the sites listed above, they find advertisements posted up and down the sides of the pages. The advertisements have eye-catching pictures or phrases to get the user’s attention or pull them in. The advertiser’s main goal is to make the user click on the link that takes them to their product.

Besides social networking, the 18 to 24 year old demographic uses the World Wide Web everyday for many other things. Search engines such as Yahoo! and Ask.com allow people to check news stories from around the world, search for things they might be interested in, play games, check e-mails, and perform many other tasks. These websites, much like facebook, also show advertisements along the sides of their main pages that are paid for by companies. Since so many people visit these websites daily, it has also become a good way for businesses to advertise their products.

A newer form of advertisement that has surfaced is by way of smart phones. As stated before, owners of smart phones are able to access the internet from just about anywhere. Because of this, advertisements are prevalent when people are out shopping