5 Steps to Reach Millennials Through Social Media

Millennials and their social connect

The largest percentage of online shoppers is the 25 to 34 age group – in other words – the millennials- as per the Pitney Bowes 2016 Global Shopping Survey! Three-quarters of the workforce will be comprised of millennials or the “digital natives” by 2025.  By 2030, millennials are likely to comprise 50% of the population in Australia and also likely that almost all of them will be on social media. A well-thought-out strategy will help you reach out to this diverse and dynamic age group on social media.

The five steps to help you marketing to millennials

 Step 1: Research, research!

 Researching on the habits, preferences, expectations and opinions that define millennials will help devise a social media strategy to draw them in.

• Which devices do the millennials prefer?
• Which social media platform resonates better?
• Preference for a great experience than materials!
• Millennials want equal attention from marketers
• Selling with rather than selling to

The smartphone fetish: A Nielson study shows 98% of millennials aged between 18 to 24 years own smartphones, followed closely by the 25 to 34 age group. As Peter McLachan, co-founder of Mobify, says, the word “mobile” will not be used in the future because it is understood that all digital interactions will take place via smartphones. Clearly, smartphones need to take centre stage if businesses want to marketing to millennials.

Millennials and Social Media: Instagram and Facebook are the platforms to watch out for with more youngsters tuned in on these than on any other social media avenues. If your business involves products or services that are for men, LinkedIn may be a great platform as more men are on this than women. YouTube and videos on Facebook have a huge audience and are effective in social media marketing to millennials. Whichever platform you use, knowing when are the millennials most active on various platforms is going to help you optimize your ad reach while saving significant dollars.

Selling “with” and selling “to”: Millennials want to be involved, taken seriously and talked “to” rather than talked “at”. This generation frowns upon hard-sell tactics and would want more of a balanced interaction. Before marketing to millennials you should know that they are more focused on “experiences” rather than on the product alone.

Step 2: Provide accurate and reliable content

 The digital natives prefer content that is genuine, unbiased and accurate. Featuring multiple points of view from authoritative sources is likely to find more acceptance.

While designing content, focus on and leverage user-generated content that comes from millennials themselves!

Millennials prefer highly visual content as videos, high-quality graphics and virtual reality platforms as compared to the boomers.

• 59% of millennials like a website because of its amazing graphics
• 57% of millennials visit a website for its well-written content
• 58% of millennials look for more engagement in social media

Videos are gaining over other formats of digital ads and already 87% of marketing professionals are using videos to reach out to millennials on Facebook.

• In a week, more than an hour of video is watched on Facebook by close to 45% of millennials
• Every day 500 million hours of videos are viewed on YouTube

Most of the uploaded content on Facebook and Instagram is on videos. Using videos to tell a compelling story is the best way to reach out to millennials.

Avoid boredom and repeats

With the sea of information and advertising content on social media, repeated, boring content will create “ad fatigue”. The rotation of ads and regularly refreshed content is a great strategy to keep the millennials engaged.

Step 3: Provide social proof

 The more you engage with millennials on social media, the higher the degree of trust as millennials and social media go hand in hand. A majority of millennials trust reviews and recommendations from users, friends, family members and even strangers more than the brand itself. A study shows users read at least ten reviews online before making a decision on a purchase.

Step 4: Talk about a cause

 Social causes resonate well with the millennials and they would like to be a part of something that is bigger than themselves. According to a study, 89% of millennials are willing to switch brands to support a cause they believe in!

Step 5: Create multiple touch points

 Millennials look for multiple touch points and would want to be engaged before, during and after sales. Blogs, articles, reviews and other forms of engagement are worth investing in. About 80% of millennials would rather trust information from well-written blogs and articles than being bombarded with ads that self-proclaim.

In the end

Clearly, the influence social media has on millennials cannot be underestimated! Marketing professionals need to keep pace with past and future trends in social media to tap into the huge consumer base.