Grabbing Viewer Attention in a Content-Heavy World

Posted on by Cameron Spera

Gaining and retaining attention of media consumers can be a hard task in a content-swamped world. Whether it is online media, television, magazine and newspaper advertisements, or billboards on the side of the road, attempting to connect with an audience and having that audience understand your product can be daunting.

Because there is so much content available, attention becomes a commodity. Companies must attempt to use new technologies, apps, and different techniques to connect with consumers in a way that will make them remember their product. Many attempts at attention-grabbing media result in positive attention, but companies can also receive bad publicity from advertisements or posts that may get your attention for the wrong reasons.

Companies having a strong online presence has made it so that advertising does not necessarily even seem like advertising anymore. Businesses and groups who participate in social media actively and responsibly become a part of our daily online lives and many of them don’t feel like intrusions. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and many other online media sites have provided a way for advertisers and marketers to interact with their consumers on a personal level that appeals to different age groups.

As a young adult who participates in online media, there are many things that grab my attention when I go onto social media platforms each day. One of the most significant ways that advertisers grab my attention is excelling at appealing to millennials. Many companies have nailed the type of voice and tone that the millennial generation connects with. They have social media reps who use modern lingo and are in tune with things that make us click the retweet button.

One group that really grabs my attention through this idea is Major League Baseball. MLB clearly has put a lot of time and effort into connecting with younger fans like teenagers and young adults. Baseball as a sport has always struggled to gain a younger following, but through their use of online social media, they have really captured my attention.

I’ve always been a baseball fan and I didn’t need social media to prove that, but the MLB Twitter account has become one of my favorites and I am constantly retweeting and favoriting their content. The MLB voice has become one that relates well with people in my age demographic. For example, they often tweet phrases and words that are popular with teenagers and young adults.

Yes, this is grammatically correct- to a millennial. This use of popular lingo gives MLB a unique edge in my mind. It feels super personal and makes me feel like I am reading a friend’s tweet on my timeline; not an advertisers.

MLB also has embraced the use of emojis, which is incredibly popular in younger age demographics right now. Even though emojis can often feel ridiculous or like too much, I think that MLB has made a good attempt at using them in an appropriate way. It doesn’t feel like they are trying too hard or don’t understand what they mean. I think it is actually pretty effective.

Oh, @busterposey You’re so funny. 😂😁

A photo posted by MLB ⚾ (@mlb) on

Once again, this makes me feel like I am connecting with MLB in a more personal way because the way they market their product online is so similar to the ways that millennials speak and engage with each other.

Another page that really intrigues me is “MLB GIFs.” Still related to MLB and baseball highlights and stats, but with a twist. This account embraces the use of the GIF format, which allows for short animated videos to be embedded into tweets. The MLB GIFs page not only utilizes this technology that teens like, but also incorporates a great element of humor. They use the GIFs to highlight great plays and memorable or funny moments that happen during games.

Not only is there a funny video to watch here, but they use a similar technique as before with the word “bae.” Bae has become a term that people use to describe their significant others, or people who they wish were their significant other, and the fact that a well known organization like MLB is using that to connect with a young audience is awesome to me. It shows that they are in tune with what is trending now and pay attention to popular culture in a way that other marketers may not.

The MLB GIFs page to me is like watching the SportsCenter Top 10 Plays with comedians for commentators. Their captions and the expressions that they use make it really personal and hilarious and it always leaves me wanting more, much like in the example above.

Another account that really grabs my attention is the Twitter page for Beats By Dre. Beats headphones are really popular right now and their online presence presents them in a very interesting way. The Beats page has come to represent a really intimate relationship between music and sports. They do this by not only having popular athletes advertise their product, but also through the ways that they show the athletes.

Beats uses athletes to show off their product, but what they also do is show off the athletes. They create videos, commercials, and stories that show the behind the scenes of their training and pre-game rituals, both activities where music can really pump someone up. I think they do a great job of making the connection between sports and music and how music can set the mood for an athlete and really get them in the zone.

In this example, we see three football superstars- Cam Newton, Colin Kaepernick, and Marcus Mariota- who use Beats By Dre during their training. This provides a way for viewers to see big time, professional athletes in a more personal light and people really connect with that. Seeing athletic role models and celebrities as real, hard-working humans makes an impression.

There are a lot of ways that advertisers and marketers work to grab people’s attention, but overall, adapting the millennial voice, including humor, and showing an intimate relationship between products and their endorsers captures my attention most often. This is a hard task in a world where there is so much online content, but many companies and products have what it takes to wade through the content and appeal to wide audiences.

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