Millennials And Video Marketing: How To Connect With Generation Y

If you’re a company who lists millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) as part of its target demographic, you’d be wise to include video in your digital marketing strategy. Millennials are predicted to spend $200 billion annually starting in 2017, which means it’s more important than ever to understand their communication and buying habits. A recent study by Animoto reports that a whopping 80 percent of millennials consider video when researching a purchase decision. These Generation Y-ers are actively involved in your marketing process, with 76 percent reporting that they follow companies or brands on YouTube. That’s huge. Never before has there been a generation who is digitally native — many millennials have never known a world without the Internet, and are therefore way more likely to see through phony marketing schemes or cheap ploys for engagement. Authenticity is important, and so is your video marketing strategy.

Millennials and video marketing go hand-in-hand.

There are a few key ways you can use video for your millennial marketing.

Encourage Video Product Reviews

Millennials are an incredible 150 percent more likely than Baby Boomers to use video to comparison shop in-store. If you’re a company who relies on informed, comparison-based purchase decisions, implementing video into your marketing strategy is a non-negotiable. Are you constantly receiving rave reviews from your customers? Encourage them to record video product reviews — if you have a loyalty system, consider giving extra points or rewards to those that do. Luckily, you’re in with the right crowd: research from Aimia shows that almost half (44 percent) of millennials are willing to promote brands on social media in exchange for rewards. Don’t forget to respond to every review, not just the bad ones. Why would anyone go through the trouble to do your company a favor if you can’t be bothered to thank them? Sharing positive video reviews on your site or YouTube channel will encourage others to do the same, so make sure to have a system in place to manage all of that incoming praise.

Find An Expert

Millennials love experts. So much so, in fact, that 44 percent of them say they’re more likely to trust experts who happen to be strangers. Remember, this is the generation that practically lives for researching purchase decisions online, so it makes sense that they would rely heavily on information from experts. If you’re a product-based business, it would do you good to get your item in the hands of an expert (preferably someone who publishes online video). Especially for those of you in the beauty, gaming or fashion industries, prioritizing relationships with online content creators is key to success with millennial shoppers.

Spotlight Your Company Culture

One of the best company culture videos we’ve ever seen is this one from Twitter: It’s silly, fun and 100% aimed at Gen Y-ers. They will, after all, make up 50 percent of the workforce by 2020, and are constantly looking to work for companies who “keep it real.” Twitter does that by mixing real workplace benefits with self-deprecating humor and some cringe-worthy bad edits. If your organization has a brick-and-mortar location, or sells a service that relies on connection, video might be the answer to convincing a millennial to break out their wallet. While you don’t have to induce eye-rolls like Twitter did, you can be funny — or sentimental, or serious or light-hearted. Whatever direction you choose, just make sure it’s authentic.

Spice Up Your Mailing List

As marketers, we’re aware of the power of a strong email newsletter. When it comes to millennials, dropping another bland email into their inbox probably isn’t the best route. After all, 60 percent of millennials report that they’d rather watch a company video than read a newsletter — and half of them would rather open an email that contains video. Hosting platform Wistia has a ton of great ideas for sending out video to your mailing list, and even some information about A/B testing your subject lines. No matter how you go about it, incorporating video into your email marketing strategy is a must.

When In Doubt, Opt For Animation

Millennials love cartoons. From Cartoon Network revivals to the unpredicted success of shows like Bob’s Burgers, it’s more evident than ever that the age-old art of motion isn’t disappearing anytime soon. It’s easy to see why. When you look at movies that millennials grew up with, a staggering number of the most popular films have been animated flicks. There’s just something only animation can do — some heart strings only an imaginary land can pull. If Generation Y is in your target market, never has there been a better time to invest in a custom animated video to help them understand or connect with your business. Whether it’s a brand story, how-to explanation or even just a silly little piece of content, animation is key to bridging the gap between you and your youthful consumer — and it’s just plain fun. Ready to talk about unlocking the powers of animation for your business? Click here to learn all about the video production services we offer.