In today’s world, people are consuming multiple forms of media throughout their day. From television to social platforms, people’s attention is constantly being pulled in hundreds of directions. In fact, according to Screenmedia Daily, this overstimulation has people consuming most of their media at the same time.

Meet the multitasking millennial.

Marketing has always been a contest to find out who could grab people’s attention the best. As the different marketing channels have evolved, the overall strategy has stayed relatively the same: get in front of the right people, at the right time. But what happens to it when this time comes and your audience’s attention is being split 3-4 different ways?

Let’s take television for example. For a long time, television advertising has been a powerful way to reach your ideal audience… networks could charge top dollar for prime-time advertising slots, knowing marketers would see good ROI. That is until other media channels came along. According to the Deloitte Digital Democracy Survey, 92% of consumers are multitasking while watching TV. Millennials specifically are – on average – doing four additional activities, including surfing the web, using a social network, checking email, text messaging, etc. If this is the case, why would brands want to spend their marketing dollars advertising to consumers that may not be paying attention?

Although that idea may seem relevant, the lack of dedicated attention is not the consumer’s fault… it’s the marketers.

It’s time to start understanding the new generations.

Every day consumers are being exposed to hundreds, if not thousands, of advertisements. This number has surely grown as more and more consumers divide their time between multiple forms of media. What this has created is a major contradiction; I’m going to call it “overexposure tolerance”… where consumers are exposed to so many advertisements that they barely even realize it anymore. That sounds like a marketer’s worst nightmare, am I right?

Alas! This advertising acceptance should actually be exactly what new age marketers are looking for. Because consumers are not longer sitting back and accepting passive “one size fits all” marketing strategies, it’s opened the door for opportunities to create more creative, engaging and – ultimately – successful marketing than ever before.

Marketing real estate to millennials.

We published an article that outlined a couple of main ideas to attract millennial home buyers, both online and offline. After reading through the Deloitte Digital Democracy Survey, we felt it was more important than ever to offer some additional insights to help you capture the attention of those multitasking millennials (inspired by Tintup.com’s post “Marketing to Millennials“) as they’re the largest generation in the housing market today.

1. Start sharing User-Generated Content. When it comes to making purchases, 84% of millennials say that user-generated content [such as reviews and social media engagement] influences their decision. Put together a list of home buyers and sellers that had a positive experience working with you and send them a note asking them to share their experience online – ideally on Facebook. Once you’ve built up a nice portfolio, promote them everywhere that you can.
2. Personalize your social media profiles. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again – millennials are looking to interact with people that they trust. If your social media profiles are nothing more than property listings and sales pitches, they’ll run the opposite way without looking back. Make sure that your profiles represent you as a person and not just you as a brand. Give them reasons why they should trust you by showing them a little more about yourself and a little less about your listings.
3. Be relevant. The real estate industry has been around a lot longer than millennials have been. In a new age filled with endless amounts of media and technology, it’s important to illustrate to prospective buyers and sellers why – even in today’s world – real estate professionals are still necessary when it comes to buying and selling a home. This involves staying up today on the real estate industry AS IT IS NOW. You can do this by simply writing blog posts about current real estate news and/or trends and promoting them on social platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

The key to marketing to millennials is keeping your content engaging and value-driven… now that you know more about what millennials are looking for when it comes to their purchase decisions, it’s easier than ever to start creating marketing strategies that will not only grab their attention spans but also keep them interested.

Want to learn how to learn more about adapting your real estate digital marketing strategy? Connect with us today for specific recommendations on how to grow your business.