Look around you, everything is going digital. If your publication isn’t already on social media, then you need to make it happen right now. Social Media is the way to reach the millennials and boost your engagement. Here’s all you need to know about the millennials and what it means for your news and media publication today.
Millennials Expect Today ‘s Information Yesterday
As with any generation, the millennials have gotten used to the technology space of the current day. Most have forgotten the time without computers and cell phones since they have been using them since a very young age.
For the millennial generation, there is the expectation that they will get news right here and now when they need it. News today has a shelf life of hours and a full day at the most. Yesterday ‘s news is old news – it’s worthless because there is always something new to read or hear about. If you don’t get the information to them quickly, they will forget about your existence.
Social media has been the key driver to instant information. People get breaking news updates on their feed and expect news media to publish and share news immediately.
Millennials Will Use Social Media to Share Updates
Millennials want quick and easy access to news and are also interested to stay engaged and share the content. People want to comment on a story and share their thoughts and opinions. They may (and likely won’t) agree with your view or the angle that you’ve taken, and they want the ability to share that. In all cases this boosts your audience.
Sharing news is simple and just a click away. Consider retweet of a story on Twitter with a little line of thought or reply in a tweet with a bigger explanation. Facebook allows to tag a friend if they were just talking about the topic or share on their own newsfeed. Pinterest, Instagram, and even Google+ gives them the ability to share stories around the world.
Such means of sharing are very financially viable for you. You safe up on spend marketing and consumer acquisition. Social media activity from the millennials is more reliable, effective and affordable than traditional methods of reaching out to readers.
It ‘s Time for You to Take the Plunge
If you’re not in the digital space, it’s time to get into there. If you’re not in social media, it’s definitely time to get involved in that. The great news is that it’s so much easier than many people expect.
Let’s just start with the social media platforms. Yes, there are many but there are certain ones that people use for sharing and commenting on news. Facebook, SnapChat, and Twitter are all examples. Find out where your audience is likely going to be. Having presence on Facebook and Twitter is a must just to get yourself started.
Next, setup a Buffer.com account. Buffer allows you to schedule your content so there is always something new being shared. Buffer also allows you to post the content across several social media platforms at the same time. Old news may still be current, especially if it is more of a social type of information – like list articles or tips and tricks pieces. These types of blog posts will get a lot of love over the months and years to come, because it’s the time of content that doesn’t have a date stamp. Re-post and surface old blogs or news articles as the situations call for.
Sharing is half the job. Staying active and replying to comments, questions and concerns/complaints from readers covers for the other half on having online real-time pretense. While millennials want news fast, they also expect quick reply and clarifications as need be.
Measure the Activity on Social Media
The majority of social media platforms have some type of engagement counter or stat tracker. You can see the number of followers you have, how many unique or returning users you get, how the impressions are growing, and the type of content that is clicked on and read vs abandons.
Measuring readers activity will help understand if you need to share more of certain types of content or if you need to cut back on others. It will help get an insight into the types of posts that are shared and popular to those that have less attention. These metrics help you decide the right news to publish for your readers and hence grow.
Now is the time to get on social media, connect with the millennials as they are on it to consumer news you take to them.
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