7 Ways Online Sweepstakes Grow Your Youth Customer Base

While contests and online sweepstakes are nothing new, they’ve taken on a new life with the continual growth of social media. Now more than ever, online sweepstakes are easy, affordable, and effective. As the marketing landscape continues to evolve, sweepstakes will serve as a helpful strategy to increase the number of people who interact with your brand and deepen existing connections.

When executed correctly, online sweepstakes create a win-win situation for brands and entrants alike. Most often, they are used for the following reasons:

Increase brand awareness and generate word-of-mouth “buzz”
Deepen engagement
Nurture prospective customers through email capture or text opt-in
Drive customer conversion and sales

If your brand is trying to engage with Millennials and Gen-Z, you must execute in a way that feels authentic and relevant. Below are eight tips for capturing the attention of these demographics, while also creating a lasting impression that will keep your brand top-of-mind.

1. Make It Easy

Don’t ask for too much from entrants. When utilizing an online entry form, minimize the number of form fields to increase completion rates. Only ask for the information that is absolutely necessary. The more questions you ask, the less likely your participants are to complete the form. When entering an online sweepstakes, your entrants will weigh the amount of effort against the value of the reward, and you want to balance that scale in your favor. Whenever possible, integrate a social sign-in option to further ease the process.

2. Ensure the Prize Feels Attainable

Wondering what factors influence participation? According to a report from HelloWorld, 72% of people will enter an online sweepstakes if the odds of winning are high. Sixty-seven percent of people will enter based on the size and price value of the reward. As you can see, it’s important to structure your sweepstakes in a way that makes the prize seem both attainable and valuable. Consider offering a higher volume of a mid-range prizes to increase the likelihood of participation (as opposed to offering one top-tier prize).

3. Bigger Isn’t Always Better

While second to the odds of winning, the actual prize is important. When choosing between gift cards, physical products, or experiences, it’s important to know who you’re targeting in order to align the prize with potential interest from the desired audience. To help inform your decision, you can simply survey a subset of customers on what types of prizes and incentives would motivate them to participate. And don’t worry if your budget is tight, the prize is not the sole driver of participation—a quality and meaningful prize is key.

4. Bring the Prize to Life

If Millennials and Gen-Z are able to physically see what they might win, it becomes more tangible. Consider announcing or promoting the online sweepstakes at physical events.

5. Lean into the Power of Social

In addition to utilizing your brand-owned channels to promote the online sweepstakes, you should also encourage entrants to share the sweepstakes with their social networks. If your budget allows, utilize relevant, brand-right social influencers to increase awareness within your target audience. Newer or small brands will especially benefit from the automatic validation of being associated with a well-known peer or public figure.

6. Optimize Your Entry Page for Mobile

Millennials and Gen-Z use their phones more frequently than their laptops, so having your sweepstakes’ entry page be mobile-optimized is critical. Don’t make the assumption that participants will be entering the sweepstakes on their laptop, especially if you’re collecting entries at a physical event. Make the entry experience both smooth and intuitive. If your website is confusing, people will likely drop off and participation will decrease.

7. Bit.ly or URL

On the topic of mobile, if collecting entries at a physical activation or extending the reach through social, ensure that the website is easy to access and remember. URL shorteners like Bit.ly allow you to shorten and customize the link, which also makes it easier to share.

Like other tactics, online sweepstakes can be extremely effective when used as a part of your overall marketing strategy. Consumer facing brands, as well as many business-to-business enterprises, can take advantage of sweepstakes by using the seven tips highlighted above.

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HOW CAN YMC HELP?

Want to engage the coveted Millennial and Gen-Z demographics? Finding the right partner is key to your success. Here at YMC, we’ve been helping brands connect with 15- to 29-year-old consumers for two decades—and we’d be happy to share our wealth of knowledge with you. Contact us today!

YouTube Influencers Are Changing the Face of Advertising

Let’s face it: traditional advertising just isn’t cutting it these days. Recent studies show that 96% of consumers prefer the genuine feel and appeal of influencer-generated content versus overt brand-generated content. More than ever before, brands are relying on relatable YouTube influencers to create authentic and engaging content on their social channels in order to stay top-of-mind with consumers.

With the value of print ads and traditional commercials decreasing, YouTube, in particular, has become a prime social platform for Millennial and Gen-Z influencers to share high quality and engaging content. User-generated content on YouTube gets 10 times as many views as videos created directly by brands. In other words, if you’re trying to increase brand awareness, YouTube is a prime medium to do so.

Here are four industries that are using YouTube influencers to change the game:

1. Consumer Goods

In the consumer goods industry, beauty and fashion brands alike are leveraging influencer marketing to help drive sales amid the shift in consumer retail behavior. Consumers most often search YouTube for product reviews and rankings from beauty and fashion gurus, to guide them to the right products.

As an example, watch this sponsored video for Sephora. YouTuber Kristin Johns tells a captivating story and effortlessly weaves Sephora’s latest lip products throughout the video in a subtle, yet effective way. It’s clear from the hundreds of positive comments left on her blog posts that her followers and fans appreciate this creative approach to sponsored content. Consumers also look to more traditional YouTube videos, like product reviews and rankings from beauty and fashion gurus, to guide them to the right product.

2. Travel

Millennials and Gen-Z seek travel inspiration from social influencers and are even selecting destinations based on the social content they’ve seen. Content creators use YouTube to share their adventures through cinematic video blogs (vlogs). One look at this vlogger’s trip to Bali and you’re bound to get the travel bug!

Pro tip: Combine branded content with a dreamy destination and watch the views roll in.

3. Food

With the rise in vlogging on YouTube, social influencers are sharing more about their lives than ever before—normal, everyday activities like a trip to Target or a coffee date with a friend are all recorded and captured in vlogs. Subscribers are anxious to know everything about their favorite YouTubers, including what they eat! Take this video by Lauren Elizabeth where she shares all of her favorite healthy snacks. Since consumers trust user-generated product reviews 12 times more than a brand’s promotional content, it’s a great time for the food industry to refine their digital marketing strategies.

4. Health & Wellness

Along with the rise of beauty and fashion influencers on YouTube, another huge genre of content revolves around the fitness, health, and wellness industries. Consumers look to fitness influencers not only for workout tips, but also suggestions on workout clothes, health and dietary supplements, and much more.

While we’ve seen a boom in YouTube content across these four industries specifically, any brand that is looking to target Millennials and Gen-Z would benefit from leveraging influencers. Not sure where to start or how to select the right influencer for your brand? Read our tips to find the perfect match.

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4 Key Differences Between Millennials and Gen-Z

“What is the difference between Millennials and Gen-Z?” That’s a question that has left many marketers scratching their heads. There are differences between the two generations. Big ones, in fact. Marketers need to be conscious of these discrepancies because even though Millennials seem to be the hot topic of conversation, Generation Z is growing their presence and influence. Currently, Gen-Z possess a buying power of $44 billion a year, and they will account for 40% of all consumers by 2020.

Experts say that when it comes to Gen-Z, marketers aren’t going to be able to target them as one homogenous group. So if it’s not smart to bunch Gen-Z together, it’ll be out right foolish to target them with Millennials. Here are the 4 key differences between the two generations that can help you make the right distinctions when targeting these groups.

Gen-Z is More Individualistic and Creative

Gen-Z is social, and they pride themselves on this uniqueness and their collective ability to create change.They’re also not fans of societal norms. In fact, the only norm they conform to is their generation’s tradition of embracing what makes them different from it. They defy gender norms, racial inequality, and any other social construct that attempts to box them in. Everything about Gen-Z screams individuality. And as they claim their independence from what the world wants them to be, they are constantly on the hunt for new artistic and creative ways to express that independence.

Now, why should this matter to you? Well, these young adults are more likely to engage with companies that align with their values and urge to be creative. Marketers should capitalize on opportunities to tap into Gen-Z’s passion of individuality and creativity.

Gen-Z is Less Price Sensitive

Millennials watched their parents run the world bankrupt and then forced them to deal with the ruins. Generation Y knows what it’s like to have everything and then lose everything; the Great Recession of 2008 taught them that. So it’s no wonder why Millennials are so price sensitive.

However, this is not necessarily the case for Gen-Z. Sixty-seven percent of Millennials surveyed said that they would go to the website to get a coupon, whereas only 46% of Gen-Z polled said they would do the same. One theory behind why Gen-Z are less price-conscious stems from the fact that most of them are still being supported by their parent, leaving them less inclined to be price hunters. However, another theory could be related to their desire to express themselves; sometimes it can be hard to put a price on one’s identity.

TRUE Digital Natives

A part of our misconception between Millennials and Gen-Z is that we tend to assert the same level of technical savviness to both generations. We often call Millennials the “digital natives”, but forget they still grew up with landlines, dial-up internet, floppy disks, and cassette tapes. Yes, they’ve seen the extremely rapid progression of technology, but this was still a process for them.

Gen-Z, on the other hand, is made up of the toddlers Apple first began testing usability with. All they’ve ever known is high-speed internet, free wifi and smartphones. 92% of Gen-Z has a digital footprint. They’re comfortable on almost every platform and are more tech savvy than their Millennial counterparts. That’s why we have to acknowledge that they are the true digital natives and are craving digital media.

They’re Techies, but They’re Softies

Millennials have caught a bad rep for being too plugged in since the rise of the digital revolution, and Gen-Z was expected to be just as bad, if not worst. However, Gen-Z has learned from the Millennials’ mistakes. In fact, 53% of Gen-Z value more face-to-face and personal interaction over messaging or emails. Granted, face-to-face doesn’t have to mean in person for Gen-Z. They have become accustomed to using platforms like Facetime, Snapchat, Skype and Google+ Hangouts.

Nevertheless, this desire for more human interaction is bound to gain significance as marketers try to figure out the best way to target this generation. Be prepared to find other ways besides emails and direct messaging to target Gen-Z. They value video content over everything else.

Remember to be both mindful and intentional when targeting Millennials and Gen-Z. It’s not a safe bet to assume that they are one in the same. Economist and historians have separated these two groups for a reason. There are obvious distinctions between them that marketers need to be aware of if they want to target the upcoming Gen-Z population effectively. Their individuality, buying behavior, tech skills, and need for human connection will guide how marketers reach and engage these influential young adults.

WANT MORE? CHECK OUT THESE BLOGS

HOW CAN YMC HELP?

Want to engage the coveted Millennial and Gen-Z demographics? Finding the right partner is key to your success. Here at YMC, we’ve been helping brands connect with 15- to 29-year-old consumers for two decades—we’d be happy to share our wealth of knowledge with you. Contact us today!