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Social Media Marketing to Millennials - Building Relationships

By Brian Kline | December 15, 2020

Much of the older workforce continues struggling with social media marketing while the millennial generation insists businesses first build a relationship before trying to make a sale (or real estate purchase). Many that began their careers in the non-digital world thought that putting up a Facebook page was all that was needed. Then came Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and a slew of other social media platforms. The rate of change has become mind-boggling to those used to measuring change over decades but now face dealing with constant change.

Millennials grew up and came of age in a world where the internet and cell phones had always existed. They have no idea what a Rolodex is. For them, every business either is on an electronic contact list or easily researched online. One thing that social media has revealed is how much the opinions/comments of others affect the decisions of friends, family, acquaintances, and even strangers. We've long known how powerful word-of-mouth marketing is but it has taken on a new life with instant messaging, Facebook “Likes,” Yelp, and all of the multiple ways people now have of quickly and constantly communicating with each other.

There are many important aspects to social marketing. Value-added content is critical but effectively placing this information in front of the right eyes is just as important.

Social Media Influencers

Recent statistics show that 79 percent of adults have a social media account. This is a 2 percent increase over last year and can be expected to continue increasing until 99 percent are connected. But using a business shotgun approach that targets all people, in the same way, is not the most effective. You need to break your audience into groups by how much influence each has.

  • Top influencers are previous and current clients that love what you offer and deliver. These people may already be sharing your value-added content and promotions with others that are within their sphere of influence. These people are often the ones that have signed up for your email list and those that have already completed a transaction with you. You want to take extremely good care of these people. They already love your brand and you want to keep that relationship growing. Offer these people discounts, deep insights into your brand, market trends, along with other value-added information. Your reward will be that these people share their enthusiasm for your brand with others in their digital community.

Eighty-two percent of Americans say they seek out advice from family and friends when making a significant purchase or transaction. Studies show a personal recommendation is 50X more likely to trigger a purchase by others than traditional advertising.

  • The next type of influencer that you want to establish a solid relationship with is other marketers that have an established community of followers. Typically, these are other business people having an audience that is similar to yours but are not in direct competition. These marketers benefit when they can offer their audience high-quality services or products from you as value-added content to their audience. Obviously, your take away here is reaching another audience of readers likely to become buyers of your services/products.
  • Online celebrities are the third level of influencers that you want to reach out to. These people may or may not be in your niche. However, they have a large online following through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, or other social media. One tactic here is swapping content with each other. Since these audiences may not be directly connected to your market, you'll want to start with basic information but be sure to include highly valued content that readers can immediately put to use to attract them as followers to your advanced content.

The Social Media Funnel

The basic formula to social marketing has expanded to multiple platforms but the strategy remains mostly unchanged. You first want to learn which platforms are the most popular with your followers and/or potential followers. When you go with multiple social platforms, be sure your message clearly communicates the same brand message across all platforms.

Your next task is connecting with your target audience. Not only do they want to hear from you but also they often want to hear from other people active in the community. You accomplish this by encouraging comments, posting testimonials, and even asking readers to make guest posts on your outgoing message platform.

Social marketing continues evolving at a very fast pace and goes much deeper than this short article. However, you won't go wrong when you begin by understanding who your influencers are and providing them with content that encourages them to share it with their community.

This is just the next step in word-to-mouth marketing. More to come as digital media continues evolving...

Please comment with your social marketing insights.

Also, our weekly Ask Brian column welcomes questions from readers of all experience levels with residential real estate. Please email your questions, inquiries, or article ideas to [email protected].

Brian Kline has been investing in real estate for more than 30 years and writing about real estate investing for seven years with articles listed on Yahoo Finance, Benzinga, and uRBN. Brian is a regular contributor at Realty Biz News
  • 3 comments on “Social Media Marketing to Millennials - Building Relationships”

    1. When I originally commented I clicked the -Notify me when new surveys are added- checkbox and after this each time a comment is added I get four emails concentrating on the same comment. Is there in any manner you are able to eliminate me from that service? Thanks!

    2. Each age group of people are using social media now a days. Therefore social media marketing is good for every business. One will definitely increase there sales using social media. In these article you have said right that before selling the product you first need to build relation with your customers. Thank you for sharing such a valuable article.

      1. Shivangi,
        Thank you. although relationship building is always important, it is especially important with the younger generation.
        Brian Kline

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