This week is week four of my review of the different generations in our society. I have so far reviewed the silent generation, baby boomers and Gen X.
I now proceed to the next generations in chronological order, generation Y, also known as millennials, and also known as my generation.
Gen Y/Millennials defined
Generation Y, also known as Generation We, Generation Sell, the Millennial Generation (or Millennials), Generation Next, the Net Generation, or the Echo Boomers are the demographic cohort following Generation X. There are no precise dates for when Generation Y but they arecommonly known as those born between 1980 and 2000. Members of this generation are called Echo Boomers, due to the significant increase in birth rates through the 1980s and into the 1990s, and because many of them are children of baby boomers.
There are 8.3 million Millenials in Canada, that is 26 percent of our population, according to Statistics Canada.
What you need to know about Millenials
- Millennials live and breath online: we spend on average 23 minutes on social media a day. Over 50 percent of us get our news from online.
- We saw the birth of social media: today nine in 10 millennials have a Facebook account, and 12 percent of us never log off our social networks.
- Millennials are not so much on Twitter: despite popular beliefe, just because we saw the birth of social media doesn’t mean we are all over it. We love Facebook, but only 13 percent of us love Twitter too. And of those 13 percent, we follow friends and celebrities, not brands.
- We are educated: over 1.6 million students are enrolled in colleges and universities and 75 percent of them are millennials.
- Technology is part of our DNA: 97 percent of us own a computer, 94 percent of us own a cell phone and of those 94 percent, 52 use their mobile phone to review purchase before they buy.
- We have digital dexterity: we grew up in a media saturated and high technological and brand conscious world. We are cautious and can spot fake advertisement.
And in my experience…
I am a millennial. And if I were to give marketers and public relations professionals tips on communicating directly to me I would ask the following:
- Stop with the street teams. People in matching t-shirts handing out flyers are just annoying. The flyer goes from my hand to the garbage. I also look at it as being wasteful. If you really want a street team, have them doing something – a performance, a flashmob, a demonstration, etc. – don’t just stand there and make noise and hand out flyers/coupons.
- And two, just talk to me. Today, I can see up to 5000 brand messages and ads in one day. If you are not talking directly to me, I won’t notice you. Get personal, find out what I like and become my friend. I promise, if you build a relationship with, I will not only buy from you, but I will be come a lifelong loyal customer.
If you enjoyed this post, you will love this video. A lot of the points above came from this video, called Millennials Rising.