If you're like most people under age 50 today, you're consuming a significant amount of your news content digitally versus turning to traditional print newspapers and magazines. According to Pew Research Center’s September study, this holds true for the majority of those under 25. As a member of the Millennial generation who grew up writing book reports on the computer and cavorting through the virtual playgrounds of the cyber world, I can understand my peers’ natural inclination toward digital journalism. But does this shift in preferred mediums indicate a prevailing desire to change the experience of receiving information altogether?
Despite being natively adapted to the wonders of digital technology, I still ignore just about every video supplement sprinkled into news articles unless there are baby sloths involved, or another truly compelling reason to consume the story visually. There seems to be a growing assumption that because multimedia is newer, flashier and more expensive to produce, that it's the universally preferred method for receiving content.
But my Millennial eyeballs prefer to scan articles at my own pace and skip over to parts that I find most relevant, and my attention deficit plagued fingers remain partial to the interactive experience of scrolling. A study released this month by the Pew Research Center suggests I actually may not be such an anomaly.
According to the survey, 60% of people under the age of 40 preferring a traditional, print-like news reading experience on tablets, free of interactive components like audio and video. And those over 40 expressed similar preferences. Magazine giant Hearst President David Carey was cited at Mashable’s November Media Summit sharing his experience in the industry:
"We had to find out whether people wanted something all-new and interactive, or if they just wanted the magazine in mobile mode. The industry overshot the interactivity early on. What we discovered is that most people just want the product itself," he said.
Carey’s statement echoes observations made by editor in chief of Popular Mechanics Jim Meigs last October: "We've found that video is not the heart of [the tablet reading experience]. Despite all of the interactivity, readers were still saying, 'We love the articles, we love to read.' Good pictures and text, great storytelling -- those are at the heart of the magazine."
So what does this mean for your business’s inbound marketing strategy?
Many businesses are turning to vlogging, or video blogging, as an alternative to the more traditional print-like experience of blogging. Marketers praise video for enhancing their ability to convey brand personality and for adding diversity to their content. There’s no denying the potential for video to enrich your audience’s experience with your brand, but how do you know if vlogging is right for your business? It’s important to consider its value to your ideal customer base before making the investment. Creating a professional quality video isn’t cheap, and you need to determine whether your audience will even feel inclined to press play.
When determining the best medium(s) for your message, consider the following findings from the Pew Research Center:
- Women are more likely to discover news stories on social networks like Facebook and Twitter.
- Men are more likely to watch news videos on mobile devices as well as read traditional, lengthy news articles.
- Higher income smartphone users are less likely to watch video on their smartphone (6% for households making $75k+ versus 12% for households making less than $30k)
Speaking of mobile devices, let’s consider the impact vlogging could have on smartphone users: According to research done by the Economist Group, 62% of smartphone owners say they use the devices for news at least weekly. But rich multimedia experiences chomp through limited monthly data allocations rapidly, and load times on mobile networks are less than ideal. Data use package pricing regimes are standard in Australia and New Zealand. If your audience can’t watch it, they’re probably not going to share it either.
Understanding who your ideal customer is, where they go for information, and how they would prefer to consume this information is crucial when determining how to communicate your content. It’s not just about tailoring messaging for your audience personas; marketers need to consider how their ideal customers will respond to manner in which the messaging is delivered. This can be done by creating buyer personas, the process for which we've outlined in our free e-book "Defining Your Target Marketing Using Buyer Personas."