Millennials Love Social Media…Right?

As a college student and intern, lumped into the “millennials” group, social media is a huge part of my life. I’ll be saying in 50 years to my grandkids, “I was there when it all started…”, looking back at Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, (the list could go on forever) with fond and loving memories.

Social media is a way for me and my friends to communicate, find out what’s going on in the world, see the latest trends, and catch up with our favorite celebrities. Now, as I’ve entered “Corporate America” with two internships that have implemented social media platforms, and have learned almost all that there is to know about social media and marketing, (ok, not really, but it sure feels like it!) I find myself wondering how people are responding to the tweets that I write. Would my friends be interested in what I’m tweeting for the company? Is this something they would want to hear? Really, I don’t even know what millennials want out of social media. So, I decided to delve a little deeper into the subject.

64% of 18 to 24-year-olds want companies to respond to them when they talk about them online, according to results from a survey by J.D. Power & Associates and NetBase. In simple terms, we just want to be heard. We like to feel our thoughts and opinions matter. Millennials trust social media, and they also trust what peers are saying about a brand on social media. According to the Boston Consulting Group, 60% of Millennials spend time rating products and services and uploading videos, images and blog entries online. It’s all about the conversation!

Millennials also LOVE multitasking. We’re always doing a million different things at once. The TV is on while we’re writing a paper, and looking at Twitter, and responding to texts. What can I say? We live a connected lifestyle. Responding in real-time is important; then we move on quickly.

With 84% of millennials being avid social media users, per eMarketer, it’s important to tailor a message so that it meets our interests. How can we connect with what you’re saying? What will make us want to respond? What’s going to catch our attention?

I know what you’re thinking – is it actually possible to get all of those things into 140 characters? Yes. We want information, we want it fast, and we want someone, like a peer, to back it up. And we love social media. As long as we get those things, we millennials are quite happy. Maybe marketing to millennials on social media isn’t so hard after all.

  This article originally appeared on Innovation and has been republished with permission.
Find out how to syndicate your content with B2C

---

Author: Meredith Morris

View full profile ›