Understanding the demographics of your target audience is one of the first steps to writing engaging content. True engagement in content marketing today is hard to come by, but any marketer knows that with engagement comes recognition, trust, and eventually a purchase. So let’s take a look at how to develop content for this highly influential demographic.
The “Selfie” Generation
The generation born between the years of 1980 and 2000, dubbed “millennials,” presents one of the largest and most powerful consumer markets around right now. This generation outnumbers the “Baby Boomer” generation in size and in purchasing power. But what makes them tick? While this cohort is anything but homogeneous, in short, millennials are a digital-centered, fast-paced generation. So the content you write needs to have a few things in mind.
First Impressions
Visual design, mobile optimization and page load times are all important parts of the first impression someone will have on your web page. With a generation of people used to instant access to information (having never known what it was like to rely on libraries for information) a confusing design or slow loading speed will instantly turn them away. There’s always something else to look at, so your window for capturing attention is small.
Bold Text and Brevity
Why say something in 300 words that could be said in a few sentences? With today’s information overload, written content needs to be both easy to digest and concise to capture any audience, especially a younger one. Millennials won’t have the patience for a huge chunk of text with no guidelines if they are not yet loyal to the source of it.
Using bold titles, paragraph heads and shorter paragraphs helps retain the public’s ever-shrinking attention span. Breaking larger thoughts into smaller chunks makes it easier for someone to quickly digest the information presented, especially if the information flows well.
Create a Compelling Story
Millennials are not strangers to empty advertising. Plenty of content exists without providing any value to an audience, and millennials are acutely aware of the way large corporations sometimes forgo morals for money. Because of this, creating a story with a narrative that speaks to the values of the younger generations – things like social justice and corporate responsibility – will more than likely illicit a greater response than the same old empty copy that anyone could have written.
Creating a compelling story is also about speaking to the familiar, day-to-day aspects of the audience’s lives. Does the narrative you are creating pertain to the average millennial’s reality?
Is it something that provides value in some form or another? It’s easy to write from one’s own perspective, but flipping the script and writing from another’s point of view will create more engaging content.
It’s easy to write from one’s own perspective, but flipping the script and writing from another’s point of view will create more engaging content. Tweet This!
Authenticity
Creating a compelling story is worthless if that story isn’t true. More consumers value honesty about products and services over anything else. Trying to use fancy rhetoric or stretching the facts to trick a generation who has grown up seeing through vapid marketing ploys not only will be difficult, but it will completely lose you the respect of this vital demographic.
While millennials may often be viewed as selfish and entitled by older generations, the truth is much more complex than that. Millennials inherited a world filled with technology and instant access to information, so in a world full of information overload, you have to stand out for the right reasons.
Get more insights in 8 Surprising Facts About Millennials and Gen Z for Marketers.
Emily D enjoys thoroughly researching any topic in order to craft pieces like an expert. Her natural ability to communicate combined with her attention to detail make her a diverse and skilled writer.
