The Best Way to Reach Millennials with Your Content

There's a reason you hear and read about Millennials (those born between 1980 and 2000) all the time: they're a massive group of customers with huge purchasing power. According to a survey by the consulting firm Accenture, there are roughly 80 million Millennials in the United States who spend $600 billion each year. Millennials are no longer simply self-absorbed teenagers; they now include people in their 20s and 30s, those with jobs, homeowners, and parents. According to Accenture, this generation's consumer spending in the United States would reach $1.4 trillion by 2020, accounting for 30% of overall retail sales in the country.

This group of customers has also reshaped marketing, redefining what people expect from businesses both online and off. Millennials aren't interested in what worked for their parents and grandparents. “Gen C,” which Google Think also refers to as “The YouTube Generation,” is a “powerful new force in consumer culture.... individuals who care strongly about creativity, curation, connection, and community,” according to Google Think. Millennials make up 80 percent of Gen C, despite the fact that the group isn't defined by age. Reaching them is both simple and difficult: Millennials are connected to every social network via every known gadget on the globe. What works is interesting, smart, useful, and/or amusing material. One example is Tasty, Buzzfeed's food and recipe video network, which debuted less than a year ago and has now grown to become the world's largest food network. Its popularity stems from its ability to connect with its target audience, namely Millennials, by providing them with what they want, when they want it—short, aesthetically appealing, easy-to-understand, and possibly doable culinary videos.

To get someone to do anything, you must first catch their attention. That's difficult with Millennials, who are constantly inundated with hundreds of commercial messages. They tend to tune out anything that doesn't feel relevant or intriguing to them. It's your duty to get people to interact with your company and brand, which is where high-quality content comes in. Millennials are the first generation to engage with advertisements and content (not just receiving them). They'll share them, but only if the material is worthwhile, which isn't always the case. Every day, millennials consume a massive amount of material in a variety of formats, including blogs, news, online programs, social media postings, and video. They watch a lot of videos on a range of devices and platforms. Your company requires a multi-platform marketing plan that attracts Millennials with engaging, entertaining, and informative content. Above all, you should be producing and disseminating noncommercial content that customers will find helpful. It is not appropriate for content marketing to be self-serving (although ultimately it will serve the business). According to a YouTube-Nielsen multi-screen audience research, over 40% of Millennials don't mind seeing commercials if they're relevant to their life, but they're wary of advertising that aren't.

Millennials are social animals by nature, and their social activities, such as social networking, help them define themselves. According to Google Think, "they are what they like, share, +1, tweet, comment on, retweet..." It's also how Millennial shoppers make purchasing decisions. They rely on others for information, advice, and suggestions, whether it's friends and family or review sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, or Angie's List. By conveying the narrative behind your company and the people that make it great, your content will build a community around it. When people learn about you and your company's expertise, they are more inclined to trust you and want to be a part of it. Be genuine in all of the content you generate to promote your products, services, and brand. You want to elicit some type of emotional response from your Millennial clients, but the only way to do it is to be honest with them. They want to share information that is amusing, poignant, relevant to their lifestyle, or motivates them to take action. It provides them authority and legitimacy in their communities, which is why pithy, clever, startling, beautiful—you get the idea—content will be widely shared and remarked on. The most essential thing is that it will start the discussions you want to have with your consumers.