Katie Cooper
OMG. BRB. LOLz. Millennials may get a little lazy (or perhaps it’s efficient?) when it comes to spelling out phrases in their entirety, but when it comes to consumption, they’re nothing but active. With 80 million millennials in the United States alone and $ 200 billion in buying power, marketers everywhere would be mistaken to discount the value of their eyeballs.
While marketing days of old may have enticed audiences with outbound methods that included magazine ads, direct mail campaigns, radio ads, etc., millennials require a bit more “out-of-the-box” thinking. According to Forbes, 33% of millennials place their trust in blogs and other forms of social media before making a purchase, compared to just 3% for TV, magazines and books.
What does it take to connect with such an influential and modern crew on your business’ social channels? Let’s break it down.
You’ve Got 8 Seconds
Surveys have shown that, thanks to smartphones, the average human attention span has dropped from 12 seconds to 8 since 2000. And for a demographic that didn’t know a world before the advent iPhones, the span could be even shorter.
This means your campaigns, your content has limited time to set the scene. Get to the point and build a connection right off the bat, which means visuals are your best friend. Just make sure if you opt for videos, to keep ’em short and sweet. Like, seconds worth of short. Ain’t nobody got time for one minute.
A Feed Full of Besties
89% of millennials trust recommendations from friends and family more so than brands themselves when it comes to purchasing products. It’s no surprise influencer marketing has gained such traction in the last couple of years, huh? Use your business’ social channels to breakdown the wall that separates brand from actual human being. And if your current marketing team runs into difficulty doing so, find the advocates that’ll do it for you.
The content produced needs to draw a line to something other than your product. Be natural, be genuine and as counterproductive as it might sound, stop selling. Find the right message and the story behind your content will do all the selling for you.
A couple takeaways to keep in mind with this “best friend” approach. Get natural with your copy. This doesn’t mean throwing around emoticons and “lol” all the livelong day but at the very least, don’t fear a contraction. “You’re” comes across more casual, more natural than “you are” every time.
Kick those stock photos to the curb. No matter how pretty they might be, millennials can smell staged [and fear] from a mile away. Whip out that smartphone and capture moments.
Appeal to Curiosity
Even the most boring and seemingly not hip product can find common ground amongst a group of trendsetting millennials. It comes down to embracing technology and giving glimpses of products in ways previously unseen.
Take a company like Downy, for example. Fabric softener? Whatever, square. But a GoPro recording from inside a washing machine? Now you’ve peaked some interest.
Take millennials beyond their screens and appeal to the endless curiosity always found in abundance amongst the younger generation. They’re on their devices discovering something new and making decisions on what’s worth their time every day. Make sure you’re showing up where it counts.
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