SMB Millennial Marketers Have Social-First Mindsets, Study Finds

Millennials in control of marketing budgets at SMBs buy into social media marketing first, finds Magisto, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based video marketing app provider. In its research released on Wednesday, “Unlocking the Most Powerful Shift in SMB Marketing,” (opens as a PDF) the vendor tells Target Marketing in an email that “Millennials are 136 percent more likely [than] Baby Boomers to create videos for social media; and virtually no Millennials marketing SMBs would invest in television advertising.” This finding dovetails with Target Marketing research that TM Editor-in-Chief Thorin McGee highlighted in a video last week, “Why TV Ads Don't Matter Anymore.” While TV may not matter much to Millennials, the print channel is all but dead to them, Magisto finds. This generation of marketers is “84 percent more likely to use social media to promote their small businesses than invest in print advertising.” [caption id="attachment_54821" align="aligncenter" width="397"] Source: Magisto[/caption] By contrast, one in three Baby Boomers in charge of SMB marketing budgets invests in legacy channels, which Magisto says includes TV. If this generation employs social media marketing, its marketers go about it all wrong. “When Baby Boomers use social channels,” states Magisto CMO Reid Genauer in the announcement emailed to TM, “they’re publishing outdated product-centric ads, and are missing their audience and the real opportunity by treating Facebook like late-night local TV.” Here’s what Magisto says marketing agencies and vendors, including marketing technology (MarTech) companies, should know about Millennial marketers: To Them, Social Is the New Mass Media. “Nine out of 10 Millennials at SMBs lead with social media in their marketing strategy,” Magisto says. They’re Authentic. “In order to make a sale within social media, Millennial marketers understand the need to speak with the authenticity that the channel requires. Over half of Millennials at SMBs lead with branded lifestyle video stories vs. traditional product overviews that their older colleagues continue to create.” They Understand Direct Marketing to, or Targeting, an Audience. “Millennials inherently understand how to push the right content to the right audience at the right time vs. posting media and hoping that an audience finds it. According to the data, Millennials are 183 percent more likely than Baby Boomers to post a video to Instagram.” Millennial Marketers Understand the Power of Video. [Author’s note: Magisto is a video marketing vendor.] “Millennials are using video marketing as a pillar of their marketing tactics,” the announcement reads. What do you think, marketers? Please respond in the comments section below.

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SMB Millennial Marketers Have Social-First Mindsets, Study Finds

Heather Fletcher

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