The Secret to Attracting Millennial Customers: User-Generated Content

Is your small business looking to attract those desirable Millennial consumers ages 18 to 33? If so, you’ll be interested to know that user-generated content is one of the best ways to do it, according to a new study from Ipsos MediaCT.

The study found that Millennial users spend a whopping 18 hours a day consuming media (social media, TV, Internet, radio, social networking). Clearly, they’re frequently doing two or more things at once, such as checking social media while watching TV with the radio on.

However, what’s really of interest is that some 30 percent of their media time, or 5.4 hours a day, is spent with user-generated content—in other words, things such as social media status updates, online reviews and blog posts created by their peers rather than “experts.”

Millennials still spend slightly more time with traditional media (radio, TV and print account for 33 percent of their daily media intake), but they prefer user-generated content. More than seven in 10 (71 percent) say they check social media daily, while the next most popular type of content, TV, is consumed daily by just 60 percent.

Last, and most important to you, Millennials trust user-generated content 50 percent more than they trust information from all other media sources, and say it’s 20 percent more influential in their buying choices than any other type of media.

What does this mean to your marketing? Here are some tips:

• Focus on peer reviews. If you aren’t already doing so, make sure you’ve claimed your company on popular review and rating sites and that your listings are up to date. Then, encourage customers to review your business and share their reviews with others. Highlight reviews on your own website and make it easy for customers to create reviews by putting clickable links to your listings on your home page.
• Get in the social media mix. Encourage your social media fans to spread their love to their friends and family by sharing, liking or commenting on your posts. Create interactive social media posts, such as asking your fans to post their own pictures on your Facebook or Instagram account, conducting polls or holding contests. By getting your customers involved, they’ll create their own content related to your business.
• Spotlight your customers. If your business creates online videos, get your customers into the mix by highlighting them in a video or videotaping short testimonials. Do you have a business blog? Create a post that spotlights your customers’ best advice for doing something, or ask them to write a guest post for you.