How to Build a Millennial Community Around your Brand

Who is a Millennial?

The Millennial Generation is the biggest generation in US history (a group of 1,688,526,106, according to Goldman Sachs) — those that were born between the years 1980 and 2000.

Online communities (e.g. Facebook) are a promising social channel for reaching Millennials, and therefore a go-to strategy when brands are trying to impact and connect with an audience segment where millennials are present.

What could happen in these communities?

Customer loyalty is encouraged by the community sentiment that customer members will share, and product knowledge can be exchanged between them, improvised and challenges, and community managers support customers represent the brand as an involved, accountable caretaker of those using their product (customers).

What Community Builders Need to Know About Millennials

To begin with, the main reason that a platform like Facebook is a powerful voice that will reach millennials is quite simple: it’s their natural habitat, they’re a socially-dependent breed. After all, it’s a community that was initially created by a millennial himself — Mark Zuckerberg.

Why Millennials Appreciate Facebook

So, what is it about millennials that are drawn to a community like Facebook, so much so that they’d be the ones who would (and did) to invent the community?

Millennials are known to be completely comfortable sharing their entire life online. Stereotyped for being ‘empowered’ or ‘entitled, in order to catch the attention of a millennial, you don’t just need to speak loudly and hope that they will hear you. You need to go inside their territory/habitat and speak to them directly.

The stats speak for themselves, as millennials themselves have stated (51% of them) that when they’re researching a product, brand, or service, they trust user-generated feedback over the information given on a company website. And what could be better than an enclosed community of product users that speak openly about their experiences? This is a millennial’s ideal forum for this type of information.

How to Grab Millennial Attention (Once You’ve Found Them)

Building on the understanding that that you’re going to have a hard time getting their attention unless you seek them out in their own space, you need to earn their time, too. It’s not enough to be around them, you need to make it as easy for them as possible to engage in your discussion.

The more conversation and feedback-oriented your language is, the more interesting your words will be to the community. Even a Q&A forum is ideal, because spectators can quickly evaluate if the discussion is ‘worth listening to’. These types of dialogues are perfect for Facebook communities, because information is exchanged quickly and with a purpose, and is extremely accessible to all members. True, community members may most rely on user-provided information, but community leaders can facilitate the conversations and build a positive presence around the chatter.

How to Think Like a Millennial

An oxymoron of some sort, millennials are known to be highly capable of innovation, yet are also frowned upon for not valuing hard work or commitment.

If so, without the hard work, how can they be innovative in a successful way? Just like they’re busy sharing their whole life online, millennials are a hyper-connected, over-stimulated group of multi-taskers — and they’re constantly embracing the world of technology. This is another reason why Facebook is a great language to build a millennial community around — it’s ultra relevant to their lifestyle, and since you’re speaking on their terms, their most likely to respond to language that’s familiar.

How to Know If Your Community is Making a Difference/Succeeding

When a millennial is engaged, he’s quick to pass on information in his community, like share an update in a group, post a comment to a Facebook page, or even update his profile status for all his followers to see.

He, along with his co-inhabitants, thrive on real-time contact, and if relevant information is given to them exactly when they need it/as it happens, you’ve given them exactly what they want.

Best Practices

Proven Examples that Told Millennials What They Wanted to Hear

Coca Cola, a brand who has been around since long before millennials entered our world, has proven their successes with how to speak to millennials so that they’ll listen.

Although Coca Cola is old enough to be a millennial’s great grandparent (or even great-great grandparent), just because the brand has been around since 1886 doesn’t mean they’ve lost a common language with the Generation Y age bracket.

Past research shows that “78% of Millennials are more inclined to become part of a brand if they have face-to-face interaction with it.” They thrive on experiences, and if you have a powerful impact on them through dialogue, you’ve reserved a spot in their brain.

This is why Coca Cola’s ‘Share a Coke’ campaign was so successful among the millennial community. Coca Cola framed their product around a connective experience that allowed millennials to connect with their friends, which is why they were so happy to buy the beverage. They weren’t being told to buy the drink — they were told to reach out to someone they cared about, and buying the drink was a part of this process.

When millennials experience things through communities and the people they connect to, you’re connecting them to your brand.