What Kinds of Marketing Methods Work on Men?

There is no doubt that men and women shop differently. In fact, eCommerce Platforms reports that men actually tend to stop shopping after they find the first workable product. In other words, men favor a simple and straightforward shopping experience. For this reason, it’s critical for marketers to reach men early in the customer journey. But what platforms should marketers use to reach men most effectively?

1. Utilize Google Ads

Businesses who intend to reach men through different marketing strategies should find the digital platforms that men frequent, which are not limited to just social media sites. Unsurprisingly, a staggering 90% of men who are online use search engines, and 43% visit them every single day, according to a Pew Research Center report.

That being said, a targeted search engine ad campaign can reach these dudes during the moments they spend online searching for products. In fact, Small Business Trends indicates that men are more likely than women to research products before buying, so search engine advertising is an obvious course of action.

However, marketers must wisely choose which search engine ad strategy to use. According to a PageFair and Adobe report, 54% of millennial men use ad blockers. So why use Google ads at all? Typically, the hidden ads are only banner ads, rather than search results ads. Advertisements that appear within search results are vetted through Google’s algorithms based on keyword relevance, expected impact, and landing page experience, so they are considered higher quality than banner ads.

90% of men who are online use search engines, and 43% visit them every single day, according to a Pew Research Center report.

Because of the high percentage of ad blockers that most adults have installed on their devices, it is evident that people are doing their best to avoid ads. According to Cision, conversions are more effective and occur more frequently due to earned media and trusted sources for recommendations. That’s why paid endorsements through social media micro-influencers are more effective than search ads.

2. Invest in Micro-Influencers

Micro-influencers have garnered their audiences through lifestyle content and by building trust organically over time. These content creators share moments of their lives in visually captivating, meticulously curated ways that reflect authenticity and honesty. Post by post, a micro-influencer builds a community that has emotionally invested in his or her life.

While influencers can be found in nearly every genre of content, many men follow micro-influencers in categories including:

• Career and work-life balance
• Fashion
• Fitness
• Food and beverage
• Humor
• Parenthood
• Skin and body
• Travel/adventure

Interestingly, traditional “masculine” content is falling by the wayside. Male micro-influencers are now using their digital platforms to reach audiences through their authentic interests, which often include traditionally-female interests such as fashion and personal care. What’s more, male influencers have actually surpassed female influencers in some categories—Think With Google reports that 68% of skin & body care influencers in the past six months were men.

Micro-influencers that align with brands often showcase branded products through sponsored posts. These endorsements essentially act like product reviews and are often regarded as such by consumers. In fact, 59% of people trust online reviews from strangers as much as those from friends or family, based on a ReportLinker study. Fortunately, finding a micro-influencer to represent your brand effectively is made simple through an influencer marketing agency such as ApexDrop.

3. Build Your Own Brand on Instagram

Along with micro-influencer partnerships, your brand should optimize its own social media presence. Instagram is a particularly valuable tool for improving audience reach organically, as engagement on this platform is significantly higher for brands than on other channels, based on research by Socialbakers.

To be exact, brands can generate over four times more interactions on Instagram compared to Facebook—most likely a factor of the combination of appealing visuals and a different algorithm for displaying relevant content. Additionally, Social Media Examiner reports that 52% of marketers have even seen a decline in their organic Facebook reach over the last year.

72% of Instagram users say they’ve purchased a product that they saw on the app.

Moreover, men ages 18-34 make up the largest demographic group on Instagram, according to Statista. A brand that chooses to supplement its social media strategy with a strong presence on this platform directed towards men should personify its brand through its profile. Your Instagram profile is no different than any other landing page, and thus, you want it to clearly (and visually) explain who you are, what you stand for, and what you’re about.

4. Place Ads on Instagram

While organic reach is essential, brands find social media success through a combination of organic and paid efforts. In fact, Business Insider reports that 72% of Instagram users say they’ve purchased a product that they saw on the app. Crucial to brand success on this platform is Instagram’s “shoppable tags” feature, which allows companies to connect consumers to products through a link within a photo.

Additionally, Instagrammers have become fans of the platform’s “stories,” which appear at the top of a user’s feed for only 24 hours (unless otherwise saved). Facebook reports that more than a third of active Instagram users say they’ve become more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in their stories. Brands that tap into this added feature also typically see a higher reach—Socialbakers says that brands actually get up to 37% of their total Instagram impressions from stories.

5. Earn YouTube Reviews

If your brand is not producing video content, or at least engaging with someone who is, you’re missing out on one of the most heavily visited platforms on the Internet. Based on a Pew Research Center study, YouTube predominantly has more male visitors than female (57% vs. 43%). This fact means that, of YouTube’s many visitors, brands have the chance to reach nearly one billion men each month.

What’s more, while these viewers are looking for entertainment, they’re also finding information, product reviews, music, and oftentimes content that they weren’t even searching for in the first place. In fact, Think With Google reports that 90% of consumers have discovered new products and brands on YouTube. So what categories are men watching on this platform?

According to two different reports from Think With Google and Statista, gaming content, comedy, music, and sports are among the top video categories for men. Men find content pertaining to these subjects valuable enough to spend the majority of their screen time watching and learning about them. But what can brands do if they do not fall under these categories?

Rather than creating content that may or may not be relevant, brands can partner with YouTube micro-influencers with established audiences to promote branded products in videos. Popular for brands that choose this route include influencers that produce gaming content. For example, gamers can live-stream their gaming adventures through YouTube (or Twitch, which has garnered over 700,000 concurrent viewers, according to Streamlabs) and intermittently display or discuss a sponsored product.

As previously mentioned, influencer-endorsed products double as product recommendations and reviews. When a brand aligns with a micro-influencer to showcase a product, followers trust the advice as much as they would a recommendation from a friend. And because 37% of men say they always check online reviews, compared to only 15% of women, having your products reviewed is crucial to building brand awareness.

6. Cross-promotion

While integrating the above strategies into your marketing efforts, keep in mind that all users, including men, are constantly digging for fresh and engaging content across platforms. They switch between apps in search of newness, only to swiftly close the app when boredom strikes. Here’s where cross-platform-pollination comes in handy.

Brands should not only produce varied content on each social platform to cater to different audiences, but they should also include links within one platform that directs a user to another. This consists of a brand’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube channel, website, and any other platform a brand is using to produce a different experience. The longer a brand keeps a consumer engaged across platforms, the higher the chances of conversion.

Get Started

It’s tough getting your message through to the men you’re trying to reach. If your brand is interested in utilizing micro-influencers to showcase your product, reach out to ApexDrop. We’ll match you with vetted influencers who only endorse products they believe in. For more information and to schedule a free demo, contact us today.