Where are millennials spending their time online?
Millennials, or those who were born between 1982-2000, make up about 25% of today’s US population, making them the largest living generation, or the largest pool of prospective consumers available to you as a seller. So, how do you reach them?
The average millennial spends about 8 hours a day online, meaning if you can reach a screen, you’re more than likely going to reach a millennial. While a lot of millennial time online may be work-related, we can almost assure there’s a Facebook window open – 87% of millennials use it, and 64% can be found on Instagram!
To stop the scroll on millennials’ favorite social media platforms, your best bet is… a pretty picture! Yep, that’s it. Too much text can look like an alphabet soup to a scrolling millennial thumb, so attract with an image and then inform with your words.
After you’ve grabbed the initial attention, millennials will begin to do some homework. This is where user-generated content is going to be critical to your sale. Millennials believe that user-generated content if 50% more trustworthy and 35% more memorable than branded imagery. So, how do you get a millennial to trust you?
You use other millennials.
A perfect example is the Influencer! Influencer marketing as we know it today is an excellent tool to prove your brand to the millennial market. The millennial audience follows influencers they admire or are at least interested in, and those influencers recommend their favorite products and services. The millennial feels as if a friend is giving their endorsement, and the millennial is more comfortable trusting the brand.
Maybe an influencer isn’t going to work for your brand, but that’s okay! Using the same principle in ad marketing has the same effect – a millennial wants to see their peers and friends using a product, and then they will, too. Think of your ad like a mirror: if your audience can see him/herself using your product or service, it’s more likely to happen. Promoting reviews and success stories will also take you far with your millennial audience. If you’re able to take it one step further with video testimonials, tutorials, etc., existing on YouTube – another widely relied upon Millennial platform – will take you far.
When it comes to the message you present to your millennial audience, it’s most important to value and empower. Millennials are largely in a stage of life where they are focused on improvement – whether it’s buying their first home, growing their family, advancing in their career or personal life, even changing their world – and they want to associate themselves with brands that support those same values. Millennials also value authenticity and can spot sales tactics coming from a mile away. Keep things conversational, real and transparent, so don’t just market to them, but connect with them.
Pro-tip: A simple way to win over a millennial is to be speedy in your responses. If a Millennial senses there’s a real person available to them on the other end of the media, they’re more likely to see you as a human instead of a machine, and therefore find your brand more trustworthy. 30% of millennials engage with a brand on social media at least once a month, so you must engage with them, too!
Millennials account for about $600 billion in the United States each year. If you want a piece of that, it’s important to optimize your marketing strategies to not only reach your millennial market, but to relate to them as well.