4 Must-Do’s for Natural Products Companies Wanting to Market to Millennials on Social Media

It’s no secret that millennials are a hot consumer market, with brands from all types of industries vying for their attention (and spending power). As the most sustainability-conscious generation yet, brands selling natural, organic and sustainable products and services have huge opportunities to reach these young shoppers through social media. To capitalize on these opportunities, merely having a presence on social media isn’t enough – it takes real effort from companies to be able to maintain the type of connection and engagement millennials expect to see from brands. If you’re a natural products company looking to maximize your social media presence, here are four strategies to help you win over millennials consumers:

Connect With Their Values:

When it comes to the millennial generation, personal values have the greatest influence on their decision-making, according to the Deloitte Millennial Survey 2016 – including their purchasing decisions and which brands they choose to align their loyalty with. As an inherently values-driven industry, this automatically sets the natural products industry apart, especially among a generation that expects brands to give back to society instead of just making a profit.

In order to connect with Gen Y and the values that drive them, you first have to get your story out there. This isn’t a generation that goes around throwing their money at just any brand. Instead, they want to know what makes your product stand out from the rest, and social media is one of the best ways to go about relaying this information. In addition to spending nearly 30 hours a month on social apps, 26 of which are on Facebook alone, millennials want to engage with brands on social networks. In fact, 62% of millennials say that if a brand engages with them on social networks, they are more likely to become a loyal customer, according to Forbes.

Create an Adventure:

New brands are popping up more and more everyday, yet they are selling products and services we’ve seen time and time again. As millennials, we’ve been accustomed to change and expect things to happen at a fast-pace. In other words, seeing and hearing the same thing over and over again quickly becomes boring. Instead of going the all-too-common route of fighting for Gen Y’s attention and money by flooding their news feeds with overly promotional posts, why not do something out of the ordinary (and maybe even a little “risky”)?

We’re not saying you have to have a 100% unique, stand-alone product or service (let’s be honest, who really does?) you just have to figure out what attributes, visuals, values, etc. you can capitalize on and tell a story about through social media.

Generate Shareable Content:

Due to the crazy amount of content being created each and every day, a good amount of the content that makes up a millennial’s news feed are either hilarious memes, borderline-annoying videos, or (hopefully) something interesting a company was able to pull off. So, what do all of these things have in common? They’ve all been shared at one time or another between friends, family, or social media acquaintances. According to the article, Millennials: It’s Time To Pass The Baton, “more than half of U.S. Millennials….are willing to share their brand preferences on social media, compared with 31 percent of Baby Boomers.” So, the fact of the matter is, millennials love to share their experiences and what they find on social media with others.

In order for the natural products industry to utilize social media and use it as their weapon, shareable content is a must. No matter if the content is funny, surprising, shocking, heart wrenching, or just downright awful, the more shareable it is, the more attention it gets. It’s incredible how fast brands are able to get their messages across to their consumers, so create something worth sharing and you’ll hit a home-run.

Finally, BE HONEST:

Have you ever heard the term “honesty is the best policy”? Well, it’s never been more true than in an era where social media, peer reviews and access to any info we want at our fingertips reigns supreme. As a brand in the natural products industry, this is especially important, as consumers have come to expect natural products/service companies to really stand for and deliver something better. Being authentic and transparent about your company’s values, where a product is made, or what it’s made of should not be news to anyone; however consumers, especially millennials, are inherently skeptical and have learned to question the authenticity of content they’re exposed to on a regular basis.  

As a brand, this means defining your values, voice and purpose through engaging content and avoiding being overly promotional, dishonest or purely fixated on yourself. While being completely transparent may seem like a hard pill to swallow, it shows vulnerability and ultimately, builds trust.

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Blue Bear Creative is a Denver social media agency focused on helping food and beverage brands market to millennials.