The best way to reach younger investors? Screen time, of course.
Retirement services giant Empower Retirement has expanded its social media strategy to reach Generation Z and more millennials.
The firm has launched video campaigns on Snapchat, which it notes is a mobile messaging application widely used by young adults, as well as Instagram Stories.
Both campaigns aim to speak directly to young adults ages 18 to 34 “about the idea that it’s never too early to start saving for their future financial freedom.”
Empower Retirement claims it’s among the first retirement services firms in the nation to take its message to Snapchat, which reported 186 million daily active users in Q3 2018.
Pew Research Center reports that 78 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds use Snapchat and 71 percent visit the platform multiple times per day.
“Empower wants to be in the spaces where young employees congregate and discover new ideas,” Stephen Jenks, Empower Retirement senior vice president and chief marketing officer, said in a statement. “Snapchat is a terrific platform to start a conversation with young adults about planning for their future financial success.”
The first campaign features five new animated videos, developed by Empower, that have some fun with a “rare artifact” theme.
The second campaign provides financial “pro tips,” and allows users to “swipe up” for additional educational content.
Successful Social Media Effort
Both campaigns, designed vertically, specifically for Snapchat and Instagram Stories, are part of Empower Retirement’s social media effort to continue an on-going conversation with millennial savers and start one with Generation Z—those born from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s—about the importance of saving early.
Longer videos will be featured on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Empower says it’s had previous success in connection with younger generations on social media.
In its last Snapchat campaign, the number of users in the 18 to 34-year-age range watching the entire video was nearly double the completion rate of other social media platforms.
The message about saving for financial freedom appears to be resonating with young adults.
Millennials—those who were born between 1981 and 1994—are on track to replace 75 percent of their income in retirement compared to Generation X workers who are on track to replace 61 percent and baby boomers that are on track to replace 58 percent, according to an Empower Institute survey of 4,000 working Americans ages 18 to 65.
“Our research tells us that young adults are embracing the concept of saving today for their future financial freedom,” Jenks concluded.
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
