Marketing is one industry that’s constantly evolving. With social media and smartphones consuming larger amounts of our daily time (up to five or six hours!), being able to adapt your marketing strategy to today’s evolving world has never been more important. At the forefront of this social media revolution and quick access to the internet are Millennials and Gen Z. Millennials were the first generation to popularize social media massively and have now become a massive part of the consumer market.
So how can one effectively market to the next generation? Here are a few key tactics you can apply to your marketing strategy.
Be Concise
Social media has had a profound impact on young people’s attention spans. The average attention span of Millennials is said to be about 12 seconds, and even shorter for Gen Z at 8 seconds. The popularity of TikToks, Instagram reels, and other short-form content say it all! So when it comes to your marketing, convey as much helpful information as soon as possible. The NBA is one of the best examples of a brand that uses this strategy on social media, specifically TikTok. They promote key TV games, fan gear, and tickets via social media that encourages endless scrolling.
Solve A Problem
For consumers, the appeal of a company, product, or service comes from how well it can help solve a problem. Conveying the convenience you can bring to someone’s everyday life will make your marketing that much more effective. Millennials and Gen Z gravitate towards life that is made simpler. Emphasizing how your product is the solution will captivate your more youthful audience. For example, LinkedIn efficiently solves job searching problems, both for individuals seeking a new job and companies filling open positions. They focus on being a problem solver for the workforce and it has proven to be successful.
Engaging and Interactive Content
You already know how short our attention spans are, so being able to capture your audience with engaging content is vital. Informative content is awesome, but if it still comes across as boring and uninspiring, then you may still fail to draw in your audience. Creating content that leads to comments, shares, and other engagement metrics on social media, or interactive ads on Google and YouTube is key to increasing traffic and conversions.
A brand that does a great job of this is AirBnb. Their “Design Personality Quiz” is a perfect example of interactive content. Having users give insight on what their ideal stay looks like using this quiz is what it means to be engaging, interactive, and responsive. Users spend more time on their site and because of the quiz have a better chance of conversions, all because the brand provides a sense of connection.
Millennials and Gen Z are the catalysts of the new forms of marketing. Being able to creatively and effectively market to this demographic is a skill that can transform a business. Staying on top of social media trends is one of the fundamental ways to do so and will make it a little easier to be seen as more relatable. Make your younger audience feel heard in your marketing and it will reward you moving forward.