“Millennials,” “Gen Y,” “Gen Next,” “Screenagers,” “The Baby-on-Board Generation,” whatever name you call them, as an advertiser, you cannot ignore them.
Somewhat 75 million strong, spending over $200 million a year by estimates…Yes, these numbers hint are impressive: the Millennials are instantly growing into the most influential consumers and the prime target audience for brands.
- A large group, and will become larger.
You can never overlook the a group comprising the current largest demographic. Between the ages of 18 and 34, Millennials currently number 2.5 billion worldwide and total 75.3 million in the US alone, just surpassing the 74.9 million Boomers. With increasing number of young immigrants, the Millennial generation continues to improve its rank in the U.S. This is a large group, and is growing larger.
- They are spending much, and will spend more.
How does $200 billion sound like? That’s what US millennials spend per year. These young people already control about 20% of consumer spending. But they are expected to contribute more, as projected to hit a $200 billion annual spending from 2017 onwards, or roughly 30% of all US retail sales.
In as few as five years, millennials will enter their peak earning and spending.
— Boston Consulting Group March 2013
Millennials currently account for 34% of the workforce and they will make up a half of the country’s workforce by 2020. Moreover, 75% of them belong to mid and top segments by monthly income. Easy logic: When they are earning more, they can spend more. To catch the next wave of consumers, Millennials are the kind of audience you want to target at, with buying power in the billions.
- Facebookers!
The amazingly high buying power is not the only reason you should adopt strategies to reach out millennials. Here comes another one: they are early adopters of new products or services and easily reached as compared to other generation.
Thinking about your millennial friends, or yourself if you are one of them: They are sticking to their phones; never stop connecting with friends remotely. The generation of Millennial is the only generation that has grown up with digital technology instead of having had to adapt to it. Thus, they see social networking and technologies as the norm, as part of their nature, not something new.
According to the recent GWI audience report, 80% of millennials have a smartphone and use mobile Internet actively and 93% have at least a social media account.Mobile technology will continue to expend, and millennials, these digital native, will catch the next mobile wave. They are not only chatting on Internet, they spend money there: 2 out of every 3 millennials do shopping online.
This demonstrates the magnitude of the opportunity that exists to engage with this generation. Just as Joe Gutierrez said,
Millennials can make or break brands with just a few keystrokes.
Where can you find millennials? Target them on Facebook! The Facebook messenger remains the most popular messaging app among Millennials.
Then, the next thing you want to know is how to attract Millennials, these mobile, digital natives?
