How Millennials are Changing the Digital Advertising World

The technical capabilities of the 80s, 90s, and 00s have cultivated a generation devoutly tied to the exploration of the Internet. Through the use of social media platforms, mobile applications, and various computer software, the generation dubbed the “millennials” may have harbored some invaluable skills with all that time spent online. With that much time dedicated to exploring newly generated content, especially when it’s content used for advertising purposes, millennials have definitely changed the operations of the digital advertising world.

As many companies and brands actively pursue the marketing opportunities present in the 18-35 age group, research revolving around the millennial audience has divulged more complex data. For example, socially conscious brands tend to be three times more popular amongst millennials than luxury brands, according to a report by Noise: The Intelligence Group. Connecting with social influencers, who often share a more personal connection with millennials through social media, rather than traditional celebrity picks is also an emerging trend since the advent of the internet. Additionally, since ads are everywhere online, not only is there an influx of advertisements that flash before the user’s eyes, but ad-blocking applications have become more and more popular.

So how can marketers effectively capture the interests of this age group? Brands have to keep in mind the saturation of digital ads in today’s age, so uniqueness and creativity are key points in developing interest amongst the target audience. According to a report on advertising strategies to millennials by comScore, brand differentiation was the biggest campaign driver among millennials. It beat out factors such as competitive comparison, claims of superiority, and new feature information. Figuring out ways to communicate uniqueness through a small advertising space is crucial in grabbing the interests of millennial audiences.

Additionally, the rising popularity of vloggers and services such as Snapchat highlight the importance of authenticity. Millennials are the core users of Snapchat because they simply want to look at photos or watch videos of their friends rather than be marketed to, explains Steve Hwang, the director of operations at Snapchat. Vloggers are also huge influencers in that age group because there is a greater connection through a shared user platform, such as YouTube. Marketers must think of digital advertising as a way to connect rather than to sell. Giving audience members a way to get involved is a great way to peak interest.

In order to effectively market to millennial audiences, marketers must develop an understanding of the changing brand-user relationship to target a specific demographic of the market. While traditional advertising strategies may still garner product and service interest, there is a greater demand for unique and creative strategies to effectively advertise digitally. Stay tuned for more at Elevate My Brand.

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