Optimize Generation Y (Millennial) engagement.

The average person’s attention span lasts 8 seconds. It’s a fact that you will be lucky to have a person spend 15 seconds viewing your website. The truth of the matter is that our world has gone visual.

Relying on text alone to communicate a message doesn’t work anymore. And millennials respond to visually dismal websites and other digital components how a food critic would react to an Arby’s roast beef sandwich. Don’t miss another millennial customer, client, or consumer. Let’s discover why this generation remains essential to marketing success.

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Millennial presence continues to grow.

Today, millennials comprise 48% of the workplace. Currently, they make up approximately one-fourth of the U.S. population. The millennial mindset of collaboration, contribution, and life-long learning has transformed workplace environments, education requirements, and much more. This group is positioned to become the earliest adopters of the world’s most successful visual platforms.

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Millennials spend time consuming visuals.

The time it takes to watch Forest Gump 2 to 4 times. That’s how long your millennial audience peruses the web. Instead of chasing millennials where none exist, play in their playgrounds – Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest – and by their rules.

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Millennials share frequently

When millennials share content, it reaches a network size four times larger than that of your typical baby boomer. According to an infographic from SocialTimes, millennials share memes nearly 55 percent more than the generation above them. This year, maximize the value of your millennial audience by creating share-worthy visual content on the social platforms they occupy.

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Quick Visual Tips

Now that you’ve opened your eyes to the gravity of the situation, here is a list of the appropriate standards to test your visuals against for optimum millennial engagement:

• Select visuals that serve a purpose – Research shows that visuals increase retention by 42%. But take that one step farther and implement the germane load of cognitive load theory. For example, if your presentation to a room of millennials is about dogs, the image you display on the screen should be that of a dog.

• Create dynamic content – Millennials prefer to participate in dynamic media sources. Use motion design and innovative illustrations to foster a narrative journey for your millennial audience. Face-to-face electronic communication is preferred by over 40% of millennials, so consider using a webinar to engage them.

• Include more people – At the core of the millennial perspective on society is a desire to form connections. Join imagery and video of people with text that utilizes second-person pronouns such as “you” and “your” to resonate with millennials. To truly grasp the attention of the millennial generation, your visuals must tell a story. They must fulfill some entertainment aspect. Across all ages, millennials opt for entertainment content over any other genre.

 

With 65% of individuals on this planet identifying as visual learners, their inclusion in our content marketing strategies may never end. But as we move toward 2022 – millennials will dominate our offices and economy – brands and companies have to shift their emphasis to visual elements with a storytelling approach. This approach could very well be the only way to keep this generation on the hook

 

Why is your brand not connecting with millennials? Visual identity can make or break a company.
Millennials are a unique demographic to crack, and their internet-savviness and skeptical approach towards brands mean they’ve become an enigma to even the most experienced marketing experts.

But once brands understand the simple foundation of what millennials are looking for, it becomes easy to implement or avoid key visual concepts. Simply put, millennials want brands to be well-designed, reliable, personal, and most of all – genuine.

 

Six Ways Visual Branding Can Attract Millennials:

1. Be unique

2. Keep it pretty

3. Make it personal

4. Consistency is key

5. Stay true to your brand: Be authentic

6. Show them, don’t tell them

 

One. Be unique
As the first generation to be raised alongside the internet, millennials have seen it all. So to keep them intrigued, it comes down to using interactive and unique web design. Keeping visitors on your page for longer means they’re more likely to develop a relationship with your brand.

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Use interactive graphics to increase the likelihood of users exploring the site. Video content has also been highly successful in engaging millennials – but stay away from stale, corporate methods and try something out of the box.

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Two. Keep it pretty

Coming up with an unconventional idea for your brand’s visual identity is one thing, but making sure it’s aesthetically pleasing is even more important to millennials. Have you ever visited a website that made you decide to close your laptop and take up meditation instead? If you don’t know what that feels like, maybe you should check this out.

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A key factor for building online trust with millennial audiences is website design, while a poorly designed webpage is usually an early deterrent. If in doubt, keep it simple - a straightforward layout with beautiful images can work wonders, as Another Escape proves.

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Three. Make it personal

When Airbnb started, they decided to find ‘100 lovers’; this meant finding 100 people who loved their brand, rather than a million people who liked it. They did this to understand what their core users wanted and to develop an emotional connection – and it worked. Millennials know there are humans behind every brand, and they want to see that. Invoking an emotional response in your audience – whether that be through humor or storytelling – can make your brand seem approachable and human.

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If your target audience, or your ‘100 lovers’, are playful, speak to them through playful, fun branding; this doesn’t mean an analytical target audience needs bland branding: Instead use you can use clear, logical graphics, like For The Record, that are no less exciting.

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Four. Consistency is key
Imagery and branding across your websites and social media should be unwavering. Just like the tone in written copy, a comprehensive visual style guide can ensure your brand stays on-point always. Creating a consistent image across all forms of communication through logo, typography, color palette, and imagery will create a cohesive package to attract your target audience.

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Five. Stay true to your brand: Be authentic.

Millennials want the truth, not a sales pitch. They value transparency above all else, and their skepticism helps them quickly determine whether or not to trust your brand. So what should you avoid? Faux social media activism is a big no-no. Millennials are sick of seeing brands jumping on the bandwagon of on-trend social movements without walking the walk.

 

So instead of posting #MeToo or selling that feminist tee to make a quick buck, consider aligning the image of your brand with social movements by genuinely giving back. Millennials are loyal to brands that care about more than profits and don’t use their activism as an explicit marketing ploy; rather, it should be an implicit part of the brand.

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Six. Show them, don’t tell them.

Using the above techniques, you should be showing – not telling – your audience what you want them to know about your brand. Millennials are itching for unique experiences. Are you innovative, unique, fun, and authentic? Don’t write that on your webpage. Instead, use your visuals to communicate this. It’s time to consider what your visuals are saying about your brand.

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