The death of Twitter has been proclaimed for the past several years, as other social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat have gobbled up the desired young demographic that used to drive Twitter’s popularity.
But despite its decline in social media relevancy, young consumers are still gathering on Twitter, but the question is: how do you engage them? Well, the answer is that cleverness and imagination is always good, and the examples below orf how brands are using Twitter may be helpful to marketers looking to create new campaigns on this once-thriving platform.
Amnesty International
Multiple studies have found that Millennials are much more likely to involve themselves in social causes and social protests. So it makes sense that Amnesty International would have this demographic in mind when crafting it campaign to fight homophobia throughout the world.
This campaign was built around the idea of a ‘gay’ turtle that looked different from other turtles, with the tag line of, ‘Love is love. Hate is a choice.’
What makes this effective at reaching Millennials is that the hashtag is instantly memorable, and the image on Twitter is easy to understand, and has an immediate impact.
Millennials are more likely to respond to hashtag campaigns that are clever and easy to remember, with an image that resonates.
L’Oréal Paris
This Twitter campaign by world-famous brand L’Oreal was launched under the hashtag of #WORTHSAYING.
The vibe was all about supporting female empowerment, which is a big issue among Millennials, but L’Oreal knew that it couldn’t just trot out dry statistics about the state of women throughout the world.
Instead, it came up with a campaign built around the tagline, ‘Because you’re worth it,’ and it recruited famous influencers such as Jennifer Lopez to help drive the theme.
By challenging young women to think about what they thought was worth saying, L’Oreal not only created an intriguing campaign, but one that put the power into the hands of women across the globe.
Champions Against Bullying
An organization named Champions Against Bullying (CAB) wanted to get the word out about the prevalence of cyber bullying on Twitter. But how could it get through to Millennials who may be aware of the issue, but are inundated with so much raw data about it, that they just tune out?
What CAB did is to create a Twitter campaign built around the hashtag, #TheNIceBot, which was a bot whose sole purpose was to tweet positive messages and comments.
The company made a spambot that tweeted a positive message to every Twitter user throughout the world, which amounted to an estimated 300 million messages with one transmitted every 30 seconds.
The guiding principle that drove the company was, ‘We hope to make the Internet a nice place, one tweet at a time.’
What made this campaign so appealing to Millennials were its cleverness, its sense of playfulness, and the worthiness of the cause.
Millennials as a group are much more connected to social causes, but you can’t market to them by throwing out statistics, or trotting out the same talking heads to urge them to get involved.
Takeaway
While the demise of Twitter as a marketing tool to Millennials may be overstated, the truth is that brands that seek to reach this demographic can’t rely on tired tropes or going-through-the-motions type of campaigns.
Millennials are now flocking to instant gratification platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat, so to retain their interest on Twitter, you are going to have craft campaigns that are clever and imaginative, with images and videos that are captivating, easy to grasp and distinct.
And your hashtag better be memorable, funny, poignant or revelatory, and if possible, all of those things combined. It won’t be easy to create Twitter campaigns that resonate with Millennials, but it is possible, and judging by the fact that 36 percent of the adults who use Twitter are 18 to 29, you can still reap the benefits of targeting this consumer group.