5 Reasons Why Every Marketing Team Needs a Millennial

Editors Note: This post originally appeared on the official LinkedIn Marketing Solutions blog. 

Millennials: The cohort of Americans born between 1980 and the mid 2000s and the largest, most diverse generation in the United States. Research shows that this group is more tech-savvy, creative, career driven and has invested more in human capital than previous generations. Despite the plethora of positive facts surrounding this group, there are also plenty of misconceptions out there. For example, some might feel Millennials are lazy, more sensitive, or more entitled in the workplace.

Aside from all of the research, facts and stereotypes, there are a few things I have found to be true about millennials in marketing. When you sit down to put together your killer content team, here are five reasons why at least one of them should be a millennial:

1. We Have a Fresh Perspective

It takes a team with a diverse set of personalities and skills to make great content. Every member of the LinkedIn Marketing Solutions team has strengths they bring to the table: There’s the idea person, the social architect, the editorial strategist, the product experts and many more.

Each person has a unique point of view that is based in part on their age—how they grew up, what was going on in the world when they were kids, the pop culture that shaped their thoughts. Millennials bring a fresh worldview that can keep your content from going stale.

1. We’re Hybrid Marketers

I’m not going to say that every millennial is automatically a master of marketing tech, of course. But we are Internet natives who grew up engaging with multiple social channels. We are accustomed to having the entire history of human knowledge at our fingertips, and we know what makes content findable in the digital noise. We understand how social media, SEO, lead gen, content marketing, and PPC all work together.

Because we grew up online, we are used to having mountains of data to help quantify and understand the world. We love data; we’re not afraid of it and we know how to use it to get results. We understand full funnel marketing. You don’t have to take our existing marketing experience and graft technical knowhow onto it. It’s already in our DNA.

1. We Value Authenticity

We’re not willing to put on a show for our company. We're not content with being cogs in the machine. But if we are truly inspired by the company we work for, we will sing its praises through every available social media outlet. Millennials make great brand ambassadors; provided, of course, that your company is keeping it real.

We also value authenticity in the workplace. We surround ourselves with inspirational, creative people, and we would rather create something extraordinary than crank out product for a paycheck. Money is great, but it’s not as powerful a motivator as the chance to do something meaningful.

1. We Speak Your Audience’s Language

Millennials have a purchasing power of $1 trillion annually. And the B2B buying power of millennials is only going to keep climbing. As I said in the last point, we value authenticity and we can smell a phony a mile away. So if you are going to speak to millennials, it’s not enough to replace your Vanilla Ice jokes with Eminem references. Millennial marketers can engage your audience in a thoughtful, believable, sincere way.

1. Non-marketing Is the Only Marketing We Know

As social media natives, we are used to brands building a relationship with us, rather than pitching a product. We are not only comfortable with building a brand together through dialog, it’s the only way we know how to do it.

We value experience over the corporate narrative. We were in our teens when Doritos started their user-generated Crash the Super Bowl campaign, and Red Bull started building its content hub. For us, the present state of content marketing is not the end of a journey. It’s the starting line.

Millennials are currently having a moment. We are uniquely positioned to excel at modern marketing. We have the digital skills, passion, and life experience to create authentic content that speaks to your target audience. So hire a millennial. Strike while the iron is hot. We still have at least five years before the post-millennials crash the party.

Are you a millennial marketer? Join the conversation below in the comments section.