Young women audiences are telling us what they want, if only we’d listen
Cathy Loughran
is an editor of the BBC Academy blog
When it comes to reaching that much-targeted audience of young women aged 16-25, there might not be a ‘silver bullet’, but – to borrow a catchphrase – the truth is out there, if only content producers would take the time to look, listen and learn.
The truth about the kind of media this hard-to-reach group wants to consume is out there on their favourite platforms (Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, less so Twitter); it’s in the language they use to message each other, if not broadcast to the world; it’s in the personalities they look up to (not always predictable); in the emojis that reinforce their communications and yes, even in the now controversial multiple exclamation marks that help them make their point.
Because it’s all about ‘tone of voice’, according to an expert panel of producers who gathered in the BBC’s Radio Theatre in London on International Women’s Day to share insights into the job of capturing this elusive audience.
It clearly takes work and there are precious few shortcuts. Here is a sample of some of the panel’s top pointers:
Hayley Shield, executive producer, Somethin Else
Hayley Shield was one of the brains behind the social media and digital side of the Brit Awards – complete this year with customised artists’ emojis and a Snapchat challenge to design a Brits trophy. She was strong on shareability and the need to “speak their language” so that the predominantly young, female audience that the campaign attracted would “approach us to enjoy the conversation”.
A vote on the night, across social channels, had “tapped into passions for the artists”, while “exclusive viewpoints” from multiple producers behind-the-scenes offered “snackable” video on the “platforms young women love”, like Instagram and Facebook.
All-important ‘influencers’ included social media stars and Radio 1 presenters Dan and Phil (pictured above, backstage with Ant and Dec), who hosted the YouTube live stream: “If you partner with the right people you have [the audience’s] respect,” Shield reasoned.
A word of warning: platform preferences change so fast for this audience, social strategies may sometimes need rethinking “in hours”, rather than weeks.
Nickie Latham, social media lead on The Archers, BBC Radio 4
A different warning from the former EastEnders social media boss: don’t generalise, categorise or presume this demographic is an “amorphous mass”. When she recently studied 16-25s for the BBC (street interviews, weeks of video diaries), “I’m not a typical 18-year-old” was one of the most common responses.
“If you make assumptions, you’ll fail,” she said, citing EastEnders “icon” Dot Cotton (Branning), beloved of 16-year-olds.
The search for an “authentic voice” was another priority: “The only way to get tone right is to get in there… spend time [with the age group], with an open mind, to build an instinct about what they feel about your brand,” Latham advised. And where possible, let the audience do the talking, as with a recent online invitation to all fans of The Archers, whatever their age (above).
Charles Ubaghs, social media editor, Global Radio (Capital FM)
Six months from launch, Global Radio’s music and internet culture site PopBuzz has a three million social weekly reachand more than a million monthly unique users, with 80% aged 16-24 and 70% female. Bingo!
His killer insights?
- “They’ve been raised to speak in content” (including emojis)
- They are their own influencers, spending a lot of time on messaging platforms, sharing content
- Success is when they want to share your content.
“They’re out there telling us what they want, and no one’s listening,” Ubaghs said. The man from Global also advised looking in the right places for new talent, having recruited a few YouTubers to his new brand as well as “a really good curator from Instagram”.
Alice Feinstein, editor of Woman’s Hour, currently leading The Green Room project on BBC Taster
“Young women live their lives online,” said Feinstein, but BBC content doesn’t figure hugely among their destinations. Research showed they liked personal stories, personalities, “life hacks”, role models and popular soaps.
So the offer in BBC Taster’s experimental Green Room was short, shareable videos shot behind-the-scenes at the BBC with some of the big names that pass through – an “emotional” way in, she suggested, with the prospect of beauty tips from Amy Childs or life lessons with Craig David (above). It was good for celebrities to be “off the cuff”.
Besides, this audience might not yet have discovered BBC Radio 4 but they all know Julianne Moore and might be interested in what she has to say about women and politics. The Green Room trial still has two months to run.
Helen Shreeve, executive editor, BBC News School Report
In its tenth year, today’s School Report (Thursday, 10 March) will see 30,000 11-16 year-olds reporting and presenting their own news to the nation, across BBC programmes and platforms.
Similarly, with this younger cohort, “tone and voice” were important to get right, as was the business of “handing over the mic” to the students: “I never thought anyone would listen to me,” was a sentiment Shreeve has heard a lot, over the years.
“Go to our Live Page, join us on Twitter, see what they’re talking about,” she urged, be it body image or refugees.
Having young people on the production team was her other essential – people like former School Report pupil Lauren Page and broadcast assistant Sophie Brougham, hired specifically for the project, who joined the panel discussion.
“A lot of young people disengage with the news because they don’t think it affects them, but if there’s an emotional connection through personal stories, that’s different,” said Sophie, one of six young women, aged 18-25, on Shreeve’s team.
There is a particular problem in attracting women of all ages to news. BBC News, for instance, has 880,000 fewer women consuming its content than men, revealed panel chair Anna Doble, online editor for Radio 1’s Newsbeat. Was that because so much of broadcast news was about “war and terrorism”, asked one questioner in the audience.
A final, rather sobering thought from Nickie Latham, whose task in wooing young women to join in with the goings-on in Ambridge was not under-estimated: “Tone [of voice] is different in all the different [media] spaces you’re in. The more you do, the less you tend to understand why you change your voice.”
Better get back out there…
Watch a video of the discussion about extending content reach to women aged 16-25 (available only to BBC staff).
Our section on social media skills
From BBC News School Report class of 2010 to a job as a BBC journalist
Digital interaction? Make sure it’s a two-way street: Blog by Anna Doble
