Of course it is impossible to generalize an entire generation, but basic demographic information is extremely necessary if you want to market toward a target audience. Marketing is a difficult art. The ability to pinpoint your target audience and use their generalizations to help your marketing strategy is very important for any would-be marketer.

Generation Y consists of people born between the years 1977 and 1994. They are the generation of e-commerce and Britney Spears. A complex, extremely diverse group, those born in Generation Y exist to consume. They are materialistic, but not so much that they don't pay special attention and respond to particular advertising strategies. Generation Y is probably one of the most difficult groups to both categorize and market toward. They are second only to their parents, the baby boomers, in terms of diversification in their buying tendencies. Members of Generation Y are called "echo boomers" by marketers for two reasons: 1) they are the children of the baby boomers, and 2) they often mimic their parent generation's buying tendencies.

Echo boomers are a cynical group. They are politically savvy and opinionated, but their opinions are extremely diversified. As a whole, they accept race differences and diversity more easily than any other demographic generation before them. Because they grew up in the age of information, they are unlikely to purchase anything if they are confused or still have unanswered questions. Computers and the internet evolved during their youth, and they are avid digital fans.

Remember that the buying tendencies of the typical echo boomer are very computer-oriented. Anything digital makes your product or company more appealing. If you don't already have a website, develop one very soon. E-commerce is invaluable to Generation Y. Echo boomers are generally very trusting of online credit card transactions (often falling victim to credit card fraud or identity theft) and would prefer an email address to a phone number.

MySpace was introduced by parent company, eUniverse, in the summer of 2003. Anyone who has ever used MySpace recognizes founding president and first friend Tom Anderson, but obviously he did not create the largest social networking site in history by himself. Actually the company's employees are largely responsible for the sites' success. In the beginning, Myspace users were eUniverse employees. The company quickly promoted contests to see which employee could sign up the most users resulting in the sites' astounding exponential growth. For those unfamiliar with the concept, MySpace provides a manageable platform for an interactive, user-submitted, network of "friends" to share profiles, blogs, photos, videos and music. It is now reported that MySpace has over 100 million accounts and is growing daily.

Of course no great idea stands unchallenged. In February of 2004, Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook. The name refers to the paper facebooks given by many American Universities and Prep Schools to incoming students. Facebook was originally for Harvard students only but quickly spread among other Ivy League schools and universities. Presently, anyone over the age of 13 can create a Facebook page. Similar to MySpace, Facebook allows for the creation of an individual page which can then generate a network of similar users.

Both of these market leaders maintain a devoted following, but obviously there are some differences. One of the main differentials is the level of customization available to the user. Facebook will only allow plain text, where as a MySpace user can create a uniquely designed page using HTML and CSS.

So how does it apply to the industry? Social networking provides a free means of easily interacting with numerous residents and future residents. Emily Moore-Pleasant, Director of Strategic and Internet Marketing for Steven D. Bell says that her company, "...successfully capitalizes on the benefits of online social networking for providing superior customer service, creating buzz, leasing apartments, and even collecting on delinquent rents."
She continues by pointing out that, "...most of the marketing in the apartment industry is stale, boring, repetitive, and does not connect directly with the prospect on an emotional level that feels real." Maximizing on this success, Emily says that all Steven D. Bell properties are now "fully integrated within the major online social networking communities."

In terms of marketing, there aren't many other free platforms that touch so many consumers in such an engaging way. Keep in mind these profiles/pages do a great job of generating interest, but the presence of an individual website which allows the prospect to complete the application process, is the key to leasing your community.

Check out the Ellipse presence on the social networking scene by visiting our Ellipse Symphony^SM profile at myspace.com/ellipse_symphony and our Relate 24/7^SM profile at myspace.com/relate247. Friend requests are always welcome.

After attending multiple tradeshows and handing out hundreds of Belle cows, Ellipse would like to know . . . Where in the world is Belle?

We want to know that Belle has found a good home for herself. Please take a moment and share your pictures and stories with us. Jill Welborn, Regional Vice President at Greystar Real Estate Partners, shared a picture of her boys on a camp out with Belle.

We will be posting all photos on our Ellipse Symphony^SM MySpace profile at myspace.com/ellipse_symphony in the photos section. Don't forget to check back often to see all of the wonderful places that Belle has gone.