Check it Out: How’s Your ‘Tweenspeak’?

hey BF4L chillax — I got the cheddar — cant talk MOS — l8r

If you don’t understand this, you’d better learn. It’s the language of your future.

As the use of cell phones and texting explodes, tweens and teens are using this type of “tweenspeak” in their texts, e-mails and instant messages every day. As computers become second nature to them, they spend more time — and money — shopping on the Internet. As a result, you may have to change the way you communicate with them.

In fact, according to Chicago-based C&R Research and its syndicated YouthBeat research report, 69 percent of teens (children in grades nine through 12) on its panel shop online. In addition, 57 percent of tweens (grades five through eight) and 34 percent of children (grades one through four) shop online. Their favorite sites are Amazon.com and eBay.com, according to Brenda Hurley, senior vice president of C&R Research.

Younger kids buy toys and games, Hurley says. Then as they get older, they move on to clothing and accessories, and video games. That’s no surprise, but this is: More boys shop online than girls. Fifty-six percent of boys and 51 percent of girls on the YouthBeat panel shop online.

Internet Over Retail
Children shop Internet-only stores more frequently than brick-and-mortars. Boys, for example, shop via Internet-only stores 3.6 times a month and brick-and-mortar stores 2.7; girls shop online 3.2 times a month and in stores 2.7 times a month.

What does this all mean? Marketers should spend more time learning about tweens, teens and children — their likes and dislikes, language, and emotional states — because these groups are online buying merchandise and influencing their parents’ choices.

It’s not just their parents doing the shopping anymore. Youths use their parents’ credit cards — and even their own in some cases, as well as gift cards they receive from friends and relatives — to buy merchandise.

When marketing to children, tweens and teens, consider the following:

• Be authentic. Youths are jaded. They can tell when they’re getting a snow job. Keep it real.
• Keep it simple. Thanks to all the technologies available today, kids’ attention spans are shorter than ever. Say it in a sentence.
• Solicit feedback. Youths love to communicate with their peers, and value their opinions very much. Soliciting feedback, however, may be best used when targeting teens.
• Follow the law. Be compliant with all Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act rules, which restrict marketing online to those less than 13 years old.
• Finally, try tweenspeak, but use it in an
  authentic way. While it may sound silly, you’ll want to keep up with it because that’s how kids communicate today.

(By the way, translated into real English, the tweenspeak in the lede says, “Hey best friend for life. Chill/relax. I have your money. Can’t talk now, my mom is looking over my shoulder. Later!”)