Millennials make up a large chunk of the population (30% in America) and, with them being the most lucrative market, it’s no surprise that brands want to know how they could possibly hook in this influential group of people that could potentially turn into loyal customers.
Generation Y has become a priority but marketing to them is a mystery to many brands, especially if your marketing team is older and slightly out of touch. Here are five handy tricks to follow if you find yourself in brainstorming sessions scratching your head, frantically trying to come up with ideas on how to appease millennials with your brand’s messaging.
Ensure you ALWAYS utilise online
It should come as no shock that millennials love to browse the internet, with it being found that they spend an average of 25 hours per week online. They are actively searching for content to interact with and, if you aren’t utilising the power of the internet, your brand will seriously lose out.
You need to make sure you are creating engaging content that will excite a younger generation. For example, creating a tool or calculator which will give them a personalised outcome will encourage them to interact with your content, as well as possibly share it on their own social media channels.
Create informative content
Gone are the days that magazine ads or direct mail campaigns were the only way in which a brand could reach their target audience. Instead, brands should be looking to create informative content such as whitepapers, blogs or even videos that millennials can read or watch and learn as they do so.
Generation Y trust experts and are 247% more likely to be influenced by blogs or social networking sites, so getting this informative content out on your social media channels and on landing pages of your website is a must.
Video content should be created when appropriate too; millennials have a large appetite for video marketing, with 76% of them revealing that they follow brands on YouTube.
Engage with your audience
As a brand, you need to be ready and willing to engage with your audience via social media. Some of the best brands have conversations with their followers in their own, tailored tone. Some prefer to be witty and comedic, others choose to be more informative; but whatever tone you do choose to take, you need to make sure you are replying to as many existing or potential customers as possible.
It has been suggested that 84% of companies believe that social media marketing does enhance relationships with their customers, so utilise this amazing tool and ensure you aren’t being left in the dust.
Piggyback
Piggybacking on awareness days, news and events can be a great way to attract new millennial customers. With generation Y constantly browsing their social media channels and the wider web, they often seek out news on events or national days, so you need to tailor content surrounding this and ensure you are using the correct hashtags to get involved.
For example, if it’s National Pet Day, you could create an image of a dog or cat, relate it to your brand in some way and then hashtag #NationalPetDay to make sure anyone looking up this incredibly ‘important’ holiday will see your content and maybe be encouraged to follow you.
Utilise influencers
A recent study by Defy found that whilst millennials hate traditional advertisement, 58% of them wouldn’t mind sitting through an advert if their favourite digital influencer was somehow involved.
Social media influencers and YouTubers have become the new A-listers and should always be considered when a brand is looking to appeal to millennials. There are plenty of platforms out there, such as Tribe, which can help brands get paired with appropriate influencers, but you can also always directly communicate with agents to get their insight. Just make sure you do not get overcharged as influencers can ask for a hefty sum for just one post. Always haggle and shop around.
