The Millennials, part 2: Advertising To Us

Though the prevalent term for my generation is the "Millennial Generation," we're sometimes referred to as the Facebook Generation. Millennials have grown up with the Internet and basically live online; most Millennials at least have access to the Internet 24/7 and many are logged on for hours at a time every day. Some statistics:

• 97% own a computer
• 94% own a cell phone
• 76% use instant messaging
• 34% use Web sites as their primary source of news
• 28% own a blog; 44% read blogs
• 73% of university and college students have a Facebook account

Those numbers are based on a study involving Canadians born between 1981 and 1994, but they're probably quite similar for the U.S. Because of our online and communication habits, advertising methods for our generation are, and need to be, somewhat different than the approaches used for Gen X-ers or Baby Boomers.

Yet before companies rush to invest in only online advertising, take note of some other statistics:

• 58% use magazines to find out what's "cool and hip"
• 71% enjoy reading magazines, even if the same information is available online
• Magazine advertising, of all the major media, is viewed most favorably
• Millennials spend less money online than any other generation
• 70% find Internet advertising annoying

Millennials are skeptical, can see right through dishonest advertisers, control how they ingest messages, don't appreciate advertising shoved in their faces all the time, and want to participate and interact.

So, some tips on advertising Millennials:

In general, we record our TV shows, so TV commercials aren't the best way to reach us. If a company wants to use video, they should instead enable Millennials to create the video, using YouTube, Google Video, etc. Several companies have already had widely successful viral video campaigns at little to no expense for them.

We spend huge chunks of time on social networking sites, but pay absolutely no attention to the plethora of ugly, irrelevant, poorly executed ads all over MySpace and Facebook. (I go so far as to use Adblock in Firefox, so that the ads don't even show up.) Want to get our attention through these media? Then actually use them. Create a profile, group, or band page on MySpace. Make it attractive, make it interactive (songs to play, skins to use, games to play), and make it relevant. On Facebook, created a sponsored group, a regular group, a page, or an application (or all of them). Make it interesting, make it relevant, and make it interactive (forums, photos, free downloads, videos, coupons, games). Just look at the Apple student group on Facebook: 423,076 members, many of whom joined for the free downloads the group offered. Or the PostSecret group, which has 22,230 members who have uploaded 4,137 digital postsecrets.

Don't even bother with newspapers, because we don't read them. Well, not traditional print ones, at least. If you want to advertise to us alongside the news, advertise on the Web site for a non-local newspaper (though the Wall Street Journal probably isn't a good choice).

The best way to reach us?
Be where the action is and get people talking.
We might seem to live online, but we actually do get out sometimes. Hold your own events, or sponsor events. Promotions and freebies are always good; we tend to have an "it's free so I gotta take it" mentality. So, we'll take your freebie, realize it's pretty cool, and then tell everyone we know about it. And that's a lot of people: I have a Facebook network of 553. If a Millennial likes a TV show, Web site, or whatever, she'll tell an average of 18 people... who will each tell an average of 18 people... and so on. When I pass along an online service I like, 7 of my friends, on average, will then join the site.

References:
> "Five Tips on Successfully Advertising to Gen-Y" @ Marketing Breakthroughs
> "Give Your Campaign a Millennial Makeover" @ iMedia Connection
> "Millennials in the Marketplace" @ WKSU News
> "Millennials Like Traditional - Not Just New - Media" @ Marketing Analytics
> "On Millennials, Marketing and Money" @ Digital Design Blog
> "Podcasts and cell phones and blogs, oh my!" @ coloradobiz
> "Which Medium Most Impacts 'Millennials'?" @ CTI Advertising