Leveraging Social Data to understand, acquire and retain Millennials

This webinar talks about Millennial consumer traits and purchase behavior concentrating on understanding this audience, effectively reaching out, attracting and retaining them as brand’s customers.

The spotlight is the use of social data as a key element in gaining Millennial consumer.

Who are millennials?

A lot of brands across different industries have recognized Millennials buying potential and are actively trying to attract this consumer group with dedicated marketing and communications strategies.  However, a lot of these efforts have little success and low ROI.

With 2.3 Billion Millennials worldwide, they are definitely the consumer force to be reckoned with. They were born approximately between 1982 and 2004, that means that they are the first generation to be born in the midst of technological revolution and widespread technology adoption.

With a lot of them joining workforce, they are also rapidly gaining tremendous spending power. By 2018 Millennials will surpass Baby Boomers in spending power at $3.39 trillion that is more than that of any other generation. 88% have one or more social media accounts. 51% actively uses them to share their opinions about all sorts of issues and experiences.

Millennials want to take part in creating a better society, and they expect corporations and brands to do the same. They want to help improve products and services they consume.

It is important to note that this consumer group is the most diverse segment compared to previous generations with 44% being of a minority race. However, it is usually treated as a homogenous segment by Marketing and Communications teams, a strategy that significantly impacts effectiveness due to the fact that cultural values play a significant role in consumer behavior patterns.

Millennial Consumer Traits and Purchase Behavior

This generation was born into abundance of products and services, and they adapted in a unique way to better navigate consumer space.

• Now, Faster, More attitude.
• Predisposition to instant gratification.
• The most informed generation.
• Think in terms of Networks of like-minded people. Millennials rely on Networks they are a part of to make decisions about everything that surrounds them, including purchasing.
• The need to be connected at all times.
• Involved in social and economic issues.
• Informed about the business they buy from, its history and corporate values.
• Actively share their opinions, passion and pain points, personal experiences on social media.
• Want to take part in creating a better world and expert everyone to be a part of this agenda

More than ever, it is crucial for brand’s success to listen and engage with Millennials and adjust the strategy accordingly.

It is undeniable that Millennials’ affinity for technology is reshaping the way companies do business.  They are also a baseline for the Generation X that follows and shares a lot of the common traits.

Patterns in which this generation consumes content, finds products and services, demands instant availability puts even more pressure on companies to be at the right moment at the right time to get noticed.

According to Acceso data blended with insights from Ipsos and Pew Research:

• 57% are comparing prices in-store
• 48% say word-of-mouth influences their product purchases more than TV ads. Only 17% said a TV ad prompted them to buy
• 43% have liked more than 20 brands on Facebook
• 83% connect with a brand on social media
• 63% stay updated on brands through social networks

As Millennials are turning to online networks to make purchasing decisions, the ROI of the traditional ways of marketing is decreasing.

 Purchase Behavior Highlights:

• Deal Shoppers who won’t compromise on quality
• Share experiences and opinions on social networks. Social media is a preferred communications channel
• Demand connected, multi-channel shopping experience
• Trust customer content over any other info. They seek advice not only from friends, peers and family, but also from people within their online networks

Acceso research shows that without consumer input, Millennials don’t buy almost anything.

Digital Data as a source of insights about millennial behavior and a key to understanding, attracting and retaining this target segment.

As we have previously identified Millennial target segment is diverse. Taking into account Millennials’ dependence on the technology and online sharing patterns, social intelligence is an excellent way to provide more insights about differences and identify sub-segments.

Traditionally companies use social media to promptly understand the tone of voice about a brand, product or service. It is a good way of identifying problems with the product or service, consumer preferences as well as promptly respond to the consumer demands.

However, this approach does not provide insights about the audience that is having a conversation with the brand, most often existing customer. It also does not provide information about segments of interest and their characteristics, especially the ones based on advanced targeting (ex. life stage).

Acceso has developed a solution to leverage social data beyond sentiment and provide more insights about existing segments as well as help brands uncover new lucrative audiences. Our approach allows to understand Millennial:

• Market size for a particular category, product or brand
• Existing and new consumer segments
• Consumer Interest drivers
• Behavioral patterns, Habits, Passion and Pain points
• Language and semantics
• Media and message preferences,
• Target demographic and socio-economic attributes

These insights and recommendations help brand leverage social data to understand, attract and retain Millennials and other consumer groups.

Our colleague, Katherine, Acceso US Country Manager have created this webinar to provide a strategy how to apply the power of the social data to create a unified marketing and communications strategy based on insights to reach Millennial target market.

To learn more about the approach and its implementation, you can watch the recording of this Webinar here.