Ushering the world into what could be the top earning period in history, millennials are predicted to eclipse the earnings of baby boomers by 600 billion dollars next year. As the prime users and providers of information and communications technology, supposing they’ll also be the biggest spenders in the coming years is not beyond the realm of possibility.
Indeed, including millennials in your YouTube marketing strategies is essential. Not only will they drive economic changes in the future, they do also love YouTube. In fact, 81% of millennials use YouTube, and it reaches more of them than any cable TV news network in the US.
So how do you make YouTube campaigns that appeal to millennials? How can you make a brand and produce content that millennials can easily relate to? Let’s find out!
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About Millennials
Understanding the mind of the millennial is crucial to your goals. So, before we move on to strategies you can use to market to them, let’s first examine some marked characteristics of the generation.
Millennials are tech-savvy people who have, for the most part, never known a life without computers and who possibly cannot live without the Internet.
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They like to stay connected and will never leave the house without their smartphones. They are notorious for their short attention span and known for their values like gender equality, climate change, work-life balance, and more.
As consumers, they are demanding and hard to please. They value authentic experiences and are easily turned off by the slightest hint of advertising. However, once you’ve earned their loyalty, some studies show that they are more receptive to advertising than the average consumer.
YouTube Marketing Tips to Attract Millennial Viewers
The general consensus when you’re marketing to millennials is that you should appeal to their emotions and their values. Whether you’re connecting your campaign to animal rights, LGBTQ rights, or climate change, you should always be genuine.
Be authentic and take a personalized approach
82% of millennials interact with brands and some 49% also follow their favorite brands on social media.
They aren’t stupid and can tell an advertisement from not, but they prefer subtlety and if your ad isn’t deceptive, 44% might even share it. If you create personalized ads, 47% are also more likely to pay attention.
Image credit: comScore
On YouTube, you can tap influencers to create personalized ads to attract attention and to retain authenticity around your brand. If you choose YouTube creators who can truly incorporate the use of your product in their lives, your campaign won’t look like a sham.
When you make videos, don’t talk down to your audience. Be sincere and honest. Engage with your viewers in the comments section, address them by their names, and every now and then, create requested content to make your followers see that you’re responding to their needs with personalized videos.
You can easily attract more views and subscribers this way. Pair this strategy with bought YouTube Views, and you’ll start gaining even more organic attention. Videos with a ton of views will attract more new viewers, compared to videos with just a few views.
Encourage user-generated videos
This selfie-snapping generation doesn’t mind being center stage. Follow in the footsteps of GoPro’s marketing campaigns, take a rest from filming videos and ask your audience to submit their own content instead.
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Ask viewers to send in videos of themselves using your products and then reward the best video for any categories you come up with. Millennials love showcasing themselves and publishing their user-generated videos will definitely be a hit with them. Not only will you connect with them, you’ll also find your videos being shared not just from your page but from theirs as well.
Create attention-grabbing videos
Millennials have short attention spans. They’re constantly on their phones checking the like count on their latest post or browsing their feeds for fear of missing out on something important (FOMO, as they say).
Having them glued to their phone screens might be good for you because YouTube, after all, has a mobile app. But it doesn’t change the fact that they are prone to distractions. So, make every minute, especially the first few minutes of your videos count.
Invest not just in the content but also the recording quality of your videos. Content and video quality should go hand in hand on YouTube, as much as possible.
Create eye-catching thumbnails, as well, and anything else that may catch and hold a millennial’s attention.
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Make your videos compatible with multiple devices
You’ll want to make videos that look good on smartphones, tablets, and laptops or desktops.
In a study conducted by Google and Ipsos in 2014, 98% of their millennial respondents use smartphones to watch video content. However, in a study conducted by the University of Southern California just last year, it appears millennials now own multiple gadgets and that 55% of them watch videos several times a day on multiple devices.
Make it easy for millennials to watch your videos by getting them higher up in search results. You can do this by increasing their view counts, buying high-retention YouTube views that will make your videos more attractive and search-worthy.
Popular videos are more visible online, and if your videos appear on top of YouTube’s search pages (and Google’s), your content will naturally attract more views.
Time To Make Your Mark!
Millennials find YouTube more relatable, so half of your work is pretty much already done. All you need to do is to make your videos as appealing to them as possible.
It is not easy, by any means. However, knowing what attracts and draws the attention of millennials will greatly help you get to YouTube success. We hope, then, that these tips will be useful when you’re creating or modifying your YouTube marketing strategies today.
Now, go back to making awesome YouTube videos!
Image credit: Melissa Reid
