6 Tips For Marketing To Teens

A recent REELSEO article about marketing to teens posted that they discovered a number of items that I think we all already intrinsically knew already. In fact, you can say that marketing to teens isn't all that different from anyone else, except that each point is a bit more extreme than with adults. Here's what they found.


1) Teenagers love video and they especially love to share it with their friends. Always make sure that there are sharing buttons right next to the video for Facebook, Twitter, email, even video messaging for smartphones. The difference between a video with a couple hundred thousand views and a video that spreads like wildfire with a hundred million views depends upon how sharable it is. Presenting the viewer with easy, immediate ways of sharing will make it even more probable that it will spread quicker and wider.

2) Humor is the most important factor when trying to catch the attention of teens. They love videos that are funny, original, memorable, or spoofs riding on the coattails of other popular content. If it’s hilarious, it’s more likely to be shared between peers than any other type of video.

3) Gossip and spreading things like wildfire, social networking, communicating, and watching online videos is what teens do best. Throw the right video to the right crowd in the right place, and the rest is history.

4) Teens can be watching and talking about your video, but only for a short period of time. How short? Maybe days, but maybe only hours, so don't plan for a long campaign. It's best to have a follow up plan for when the viewing stops.

5) Put a lot of thought into the keywords in the title of your videos. Teens are very responsive to keywords, as well as the very first few words in the title and the paragraph. The first sentence of descriptive text around the video makes them want to read the rest of the paragraph.

6) Teens find new platforms first. Many teens are now getting formspring accounts, and 27% of formspring’s users are under the age of 21 according to Quantcast.  The network currently has over 25 million accounts and 3.5 million unique visitors every day, even though the site is only 18 months old! The average user spends over 11 minutes on the site and answers 10 questions per day, so it’s not only getting a lot of views, but lots of engagement. The best way to take advantage of formspring is by holding Q&A sessions about your brand, music, or products, then pointing them to videos for community review.

Keeping these tips in mind can guarantee an instant viral success with teens, but it sure can help.

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