Why are millennials so attracted to video marketing?

 By Dana Rathke, Social Media Specialist

Millennials were born between 1980 and 2000 during the birth of the digital age and grew up surrounded by technological advancements. Chances are they don’t know a world without mobile phones and tablets. They crave engagement and they acquire this from watching video. They are a powerful consumer group and marketers are increasingly using video as a marketing tactic to reach this generation.

So why would you and how can you use video to market to this important purchasing powerhouse? Shaq Abboud of Scope Productions answers these questions and more below.

Millennials Watch a Lot of Video

Opting for services like Netflix, Stan, and other digital streaming platforms, millennials are watching less television than older generations. Therefore, they are not as responsive to the commercials and print advertisements that worked for baby boomers and generation X. Millennials crave engagement and acquire this from watching video. Video marketing is considered one of the best alternatives to television and print advertisements when wanting to capture the younger generation. The average millennial spends at least one hour a day watching video online. And by 2020 mobile internet traffic will increase eight times more, with 75 percent being video content.

Millennials Are Not to Be Fooled

We must remember that millennials have grown up with advertising thrown at them from every angle. So, they will not be fooled easily by marketing ploys. They realize how important their demographic is to sales and will not play into schemes unless the plans are authentic.

It is important for marketers to truly understand this diverse generation. Young people are attached to their smartphones and obsessed with social media such as Instagram and Snapchat. Millennials are less likely to follow societal norms and instead adopt a decentralized mindset, whereas big corporate structures embrace a more centralized view and take on a less personalized, mass-market approach.

On the whole, millennials want to receive knowledge and information with marketing clutter and manipulation cut out. Product promotion is viewed as old-fashioned and will fall on deaf ears with the younger generation. That is why social media and video efforts are now playing a huge role in marketing campaigns.

Millennials Love Social Media

Millennials consume video not only for entertainment but also to learn about companies and make purchasing decisions. In fact, 85 percent of millennials are more likely than baby boomers to watch a video before purchasing a product or service.

Since YouTube was introduced in 2005, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have joined the social video movement. You have only to scroll through your Facebook Newsfeed to see that video is starting to run the show when it comes to content marketing. The content on Facebook in five years will mostly be video, according to Mark Zuckerberg. Millennials not only keep up with friends on social media but also companies and brands. As it happens, 84 percent of millennials follow brands and companies on Facebook, 75 percent follow them on YouTube and 47 percent on Twitter.

As a rule, millennials thrive on being connected to others via social media – sharing and tweeting photos and videos – so now is the time to start with a video marketing strategy.

The Kind Of Videos That Attract Millennials

So, we know that millennials love video, but how do they like it? Firstly, they want to know about the people and values behind a brand and are less focused on a hard sell. So, it is important to put the spotlight on the people as well as the product and show your audience just how you can help them.

Secondly, with the millennial generation having such short attention spans, be sure to make your huge impact in the first ten seconds of the video, or your viewers will get bored and move onto the next one. Keep your videos concise and to the point. Remember, millennials value immediate gratification.

Finally, young people love vlogs. And no, that isn’t a misprint. If you have a blog, consider replacing it with video blog or vlog. A how-to or review video of your product is something your millennial audience may take great interest in.

And there you have it, a close insight into why millennials are so hell-bent on watching videos. They spend a lot of their time watching, sharing, commenting and buying online. Why not get in on the video marketing trend and start running with the millennials if you want to reach out to this specific audience?

Shaq Abboud is the Creative Director of Scope Productions.

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