The 5 best practices to engage with millennial generation

Are you a digital marketer, who wants to see an increase in traffic, sharing and engagement? Try targeting the millennial generation. This generation, which was born anywhere from the early 1980s to the early 2000s, currently represents the biggest portion of the working market. They are sometimes called Echo Boomers or Generation Y. They control $600 billion in annual spending the U.S., and that number is set to increase as this generation improves their earning power.

Engaging with the millennial generation can be important for brand awareness, customer acquisition and retention. According to the Pew Internet Research Center, they are set to become the most educated generation in history. They are also the generation that is most tech-savvy, having grown up in a social media world, so it’s important to know how to reach out to them in an effective way.

Shape your campaigns around their characteristics, demographics, engagement tendencies and purchase decisions, and you’ll be sure to have a buy-in from the millennials. Just make sure you understand millennials first. They are an ever-changing demographic that challenges expectations and redefines consumer behavior.

Who are the Millennials?

To engage the millennial generation, you must grow to understand them. This generation has some stunningly different characteristics from their predecessors, Generation X, and their parents, Baby Boomers.

Some of these differences include:

• Staying connected to the web – Millennials were raised among the Internet revolution, and many of the younger members of their generation don’t remember what it’s like to *not* have the web around. It’s natural for them to stay connected via mobile devices.
• Shorter attention spans – A lot has been written about the short attention spans of millennials and there have been several major studies. But what these studies are telling us is that millennials are just better at selecting what appeals to them. It looks like short attention span, but really, it’s just fast filtering.
• More diverse, less cohesive – While previous generations can be grouped together quite easily when it comes to marketing and advertising, millennials have a broader spectrum of demographicsthat make up their numbers. It’s important to get niche wherever possible with your marketing in order to make a connection.
• Ad avoidance – According to the Everything Guide to Millennials, a report on the attitudes of the generation, 77% of those surveyed actively tune out ads. In addition, 75% of them see all advertising as disruptive. Advertising isn’t going to work through traditional methods, so don’t waste money in that direction.
• A preference for new forms of media – Hulu. Snapchat. Whatsapp. New technology rules when it comes to the media habits of millennials. According to the same report, more of this generation has subscriptions to Netflix than cable television. They engage with media when and where they want to.

So what do you, as a marketer, do with this information? It seems like you’ve got a tall challenge ahead of you if you want to market to this generational group. However, by taking a strategic approach you can effectively engage with the millennial generation and find traction with this burgeoning part of the consumer market.

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