Blogging: How To Engage A Younger Audience

We all know that in today's age people have an abundance of information right at their fingertips. As such, people will only read a blog for an average of 37 seconds (source).

If you’re writing for a younger audience, this means that you need to tailor your writing to relate to them specifically. 

Young people aged between 18-27 have become scarily skilled at judging content with the scroll of a page.

Initially, they'll not be so focused on the content of the writing, but more on how easy it looks to read, and whether or not they can spot a couple of headlines that relate directly to their question.

So what can you do differently to engage your younger audience?

Let’s take a look at some simple but effective techniques…
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👉Use emojis

Using emojis helps to engage a younger audience

In a recent survey, it was shown that 56% of brands who used emojis in their email subject lines received higher open rates; and in another survey 72% of young people said they’d rather use emojis instead of words when texting.

In other words, emojis have become a popular part of our everyday lives. They've come to symbolise contemporary and trendy content.

Using emojis is speaking the same language as your younger audience!

👉Use contractions

Don't panic, we haven’t just suddenly switched to discussing birthing techniques… a contraction is how you shorten words like do not and it is into don’t and it’s.
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This creates a less formal and more relatable tone to your writing.

👉Be colloquial

Colloquial language is one of the best techniques you can use to relate to your readers. This means making your language conversational.

Which one of these sentences means more to you?

1. It is common knowledge that people of a younger demographic have a tendency to dress in loungewear when situated at home.
2. We all know that young people like to wear trackies and pjs when they’re at home.

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Obviously the second sentence is more relatable because it’s using everyday language.

👉Use images

Using images helps capture your message

Blogs that use images gain 94% more views.

Young people are bombarded by visual content every minute of every day and have developed a subconscious pattern to form an opinion on their content through its use of images.

That means you too need to use images to help convey your message in a quick and effective way.

👉Format your text

Young people are spoilt for choice when it comes to content.

If you can’t deliver their information quick and fast in a blog post, chances are your competitor will. 

A great way to make your blog easier to read is by using these formatting techniques:
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💥Break it up into sections and use headers (like this post)
💥Highlight key details in bold and italics
💥Ignore paragraph grammar rules - it’s okay to have 3 consecutive sentences take a separate line each!

Conclusion

There you have it, folks! Writing for a younger audience is a different kettle of fish. You’re dealing with an extremely competitive blogging market so you need to own your brand voice if you’re going to keep your young’uns engaged.

Try adapting these techniques consistently for 2 months and watch your post engagement levels increase.