The ‘3 Seekers’ of Gen C – Entertainment, Connection and Information [Google Research]

Google has just published a report segmenting ‘Gen C’ (connected consumers) into three ‘seeker’ profiles based on their primary motivation for going online

• Entertainment seekers
• Connection seekers
• Information seekers

Logically enough, Google suggests that your digital marketing should start with – and match up to consumer motivations.  But, according to Google – information seekers should be your priority because they are better customers and better ‘word of mouth engines’ – they buy more and refer more (1.6x).

So how do you market to information seekers? – Google asked them and found three critical success factors.  In addition to useful information (of course), the survey based research found that information seekers want information to be presented within the context of their personal passions and interests, and for the information to talk about company purpose and principles not just products (e.g. Unilever’s Project Sunlight).

Practical, Passions, Purpose – that’s how to influence your information seekers – those consumers who buy more and refer more.

There are a bunch of other insights in the report, including the power of product demonstrations on YouTube  and the not-so-surprising-but-always-worth-repeating insight that event for Gen C, the most influential way to reach them is old fashioned word of mouth. And a close second – store visits.  Not digital. Digital does not reign supreme, even for the digerati.

Download the PDF report here.