In case you missed it, Gen Y surpassed Gen X’s share of the workforce a couple of years ago. IDG recently published a report, Marketing Your Technology to Millennials, on communication preferences of 20–30-somethings as IT decision-makers (ITDMs). Here are a few highlights from IDG’s findings with respect to videos for marketing to millennials in IT.
97% watch tech-related videos
In general, millennials use fewer sources of information than their colleagues. It’s not that they’re uninterested or negligent — they may spend more time doing research, but they’re less likely to read your white paper or visit your website. On the plus side (for us video specialists :-), 97% of millennial ITDMs reported watching a tech-related video in the past three months. This includes how-to’s, subject-matter expert interviews, tech analyst reports, and product reviews.
It’s worth noting that “tech-related videos” doubtless includes product reviews and unboxing videos on popular channels like Marques Brownlee and UnboxTherapy, so a lot of this viewing doubtless goes to personal technology solutions (phones and drones), not the sort of enterprise technology solutions we specialize in.
For technology-related videos, YouTube rules
YouTube is top destination for viewing technology-related videos (79%), followed by vendor websites (64%) and tech content sites (58%), and social feeds (34%). Social-feeds-wise, it’s worth noting that this group uses LinkedIn for business much more than Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube. Vendor sales teams should take advantage by posting (and reposting) relevant videos routinely.
On a side note, the report points out that millennials are more likely to trust sources that appear in the first page of their search results (36% vs. 16% overall). So video can can help with trust issues, too, since Google search results tend to favor YouTube video. Even if you prefer to host your videos elsewhere, don’t ignore YouTube. And you might want turn up the energy level of your product demo videos a notch or two, given the predominant style of tech videos there.
Other significant stats
Millennial IT decision-makers are no different from their colleagues, and, like the rest of us consumers, they value a consistent and relevant buying experience across channels.
- They download an average of eight pieces of informational content during the purchase process
- 83% say they prefer vendors who educate them through each stage of the decision process
- 63% prefer video or webinar demonstrations of products
The data adds up to this: technology solution vendors who want to communicate better with millennials on the buying team should 1) make more videos attuned to later stages of the sales process; and 2) make more user-friendly interactive demo videos with chapters, annotations and stories.
