Posted on June 4, 2015

How to Properly Market Online to Millennials (Written by a Millennial)

YOU’RE PROBABLY SITTING THERE WONDERING WHAT A 24 YEAR OLD MILLENNIAL CAN TELL YOU ABOUT INTERNET MARKETING AND ADVANCED STRATEGY TO HELP YOU CAPTURE YOUR AUDIENCE ONLINE.

Don’t worry. I understand your doubts. However, I have been internet marketing since I was 14 without even knowing it by building my first website for my lawn mowing business. Once I got older, I realized what I was doing and found I had a passion for internet marketing. By 17 I was handling all the marketing for a restaurant, which I have established a very strong and successful marketing campaign for. By 22, I earned my college degree in marketing.

For the last 2 years, I have had the privilege of being taught the most advanced web marketing strategies by some of the smartest people in the industry. They are all here at Glacial Multimedia. I now represent 55 practices throughout the US, and I am personally in charge of establishing all new practices for the company. I work with over 100 physicians in ophthalmology, dentistry, plastic surgery, spinal surgery, and many more.

A millennial is a person born between 1980 and 2000. It has been stated that the millennial generation is even larger than that of the baby boomer generation. There are roughly 77 million Millennials in the US, which is a fourth of the population (Nielsen). If that number doesn’t jump out at you, that’s a problem. It should tell you how important it is to market to this generation, and the 1.3 trillion dollars in annual buying power that they have according to Boston Consulting Group. If you aren’t targeting them as aggressively as you target the boomers and generation x, you’re not targeting ¼ of the population.

Millennials and Social Media

It’s safe to say that no study is necessary to convey that millennials engage much more online (especially social media wise) than the baby boomers or generation x. Just look around- everyone is on their phone all the time. Think of family gatherings. When the older people in your family are usually gathered around the kitchen table or family room having conversations, the millennial bracket is commonly seen on their phones, showing each other their latest social media activity or best Instagram photo they have taken. It goes on and on – just think about all the platforms they keep up with: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, snap chat, Pinterest, Vine, LinkedIn, and countless others!

My point here is that millennials are using their smart phones much more on a daily basis than any other generation. According to SDL, a millennial on average touches their smart phone 45 times a day and it also states Millennials are 56% more likely to discover marketing content on social networks than via search engines or email. The study additionally states that fiive out of six millennials in the US connect with companies on social media networks.

In regard to internet marketing and medical practices, if you don’t have an efficient social media strategy or do not have your business on social media sites, you are behind when it comes to marketing to millennials. Social Media is all about branding and engagement; what your brand shares for values with its consumer. The reason why most millennials follow a company or “like” it is because they believe in what they stand for and feel that there is a meaning behind the brand. For example, almost every one of my friends wear shoes made by Nike. We all follow Nike online, as well as our friend’s local barber shop/clothing store and buy our shoes from him not directly from Nike. We do this because we believe in him, his brand, what he represents in the community, and what he is trying to do.

That relationship is no different than what your medical practice needs to build with its community and its patients. You need to give them a reason to want to engage with you, trust you (As Millennials in the US happen to be seven times more likely to provide their personal information to a trusted Brand (SDL)) and, most importantly, buy your product or services.

How to Engage Millennials via social media

Millennials love picture or video contests: the more opportunities to use their brand new selfie stick, the better. Interactive quizzes are also a great way to get a millennial to supply their information to you. Re-posting contests are also a great way to get them to not only notice you but to repost your brand or product to all their friends, which increases your exposure. You will find most Millennials are on Facebook, but are probably more active in twitter, Instagram and snap chat. With that said, it’s vital to focus your efforts beyond Facebook, reaching to channels such as twitter and Instagram.

Millennials and Websites

The cold, hard truth is that for most millennials, if their first experience with your company or brand isn’t pleasing or engaging they will probably never return to your site. Nine times out of ten, this will occur through a screen as opposed to a face-to-face experience, meaning via phone, tablet, or computer. As a millennial myself, my first interaction with most companies or services I am inquiring about is through the web or social media to see their reviews and what my friends say. If I happen to see your website doesn’t function well, I read multiple bad reviews or one of my friends had a bad experience with your company or service, you are immediately discredited.

If you have a well-designed website, and it passes Google’s new mobile friendly update, you are most likely all set. However a well-designed and engaging website is critical to how a millennial perceives your company. If there is any indication that your website is outdated ( ex. Flash, fixed width websites with outdated technology), this immediately makes a millennial think your medical practice or company is out of date, doesn’t have updated technology or services, and that it is therefore is easily forgettable or lacks credibility.

Sweye.com is a great example of a website that is technologically advanced enough to exceed a millennials expectations but bold and big enough to make it easy for the older generations to navigate. This website also was voted the best Healthcare Website of 2015.

Conclusion:

If your practice is trying to target millennials, I suggest you take a look at your website and social media outlets. Keep in mind the above points about how they want to engage with you and want to relate with you.