Reflection #2:

How to Market to Millennials

Christina Baldassarre's article "10 Tips for Millennial Marketing" caught my attention because it is interesting to read the opinions of the non-millennials on how they think millennials should be marketed to. According to Baldassarre, millennials do the majority of their shopping, reading, and reviewing on mobile so she encourages companies to expand their advertising presence to mobile platforms. I believe social media is the most effective way to reach the millennial generation because that is where we spend a lot of our free time, interacting with our peers and colleagues who share the same thoughts and opinions. As  Kietzmann states in his paper Social Media? Get Serious! Understanding the Functional Building Blocks of Social Media "firms should recognize that social media presence is influenced by the intimacy and immediacy of the relationship medium, and that higher levels of social presence are likely to make conversations more influential" (Kietzmann 246). Being more present on social media and interacting with users can help a company seem more credible in the eyes of the millennial generation. These are a few of my own tips on how to market to millennials:

1. Don't pander to the audience
   Everyone loves a good meme, but don't advertise your product or company by flooding the newsfeeds of your followers with out-of-date jokes in an attempt to be "relateable". We know you are trying to sell us something so just advertise your product honestly.
2. Interact with your followers
   Have you ever reached out to your favorite brand on social media with a question or comment, but never got a response? Did that change how you felt about that company? The benefits of having a social media page for your company is you have a direct line of communication with your consumers at all times. Take advantage of that by interacting with them, responding to their concerns, treating them as if they are more than just a username. Doing this will build trust and loyalty between companies and consumers.
3. Encourage user involvement
   We all know that millennials are all about posting and sharing their own content. So why not encourage user generated content and promote your business at the same time? For example, hold a contest for your followers to create the best ad they can come up with and the winner will have their ad posted on the company's Facebook or Twitter. Again, this will help you gain the trust of consumers because they will feel as if their opinions are actually being heard by someone.
4. Don't be afraid of freebies
   Every once in a while reward your followers with a coupon or discount code for your product. It is more than likely that they will share this code with their friends, which means more business for you, and it is a great way to hold the attention of your audience. Everyone likes free stuff!
5. Make sure your website is mobile friendly
   There have been countless times where I have tried to pull up a company's site on my phone only to find out their website is not compatible with mobile devices, which makes the site very difficult and frustrating to navigate. Like Baldassarre stated, "55 percent of millennials use only mobile devices to access their profile or pages", so make sure your site is mobile friendly if you want to reach the majority of millennials.
6. Don't limit yourself to one social media account
   Just about everyone has Facebook page these days, but that doesn't mean you should only use Facebook to promote your business. There are so many different social media sites out there, and more are being created every day. Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat are great platforms to use to market to millennials. Also, having multiple social media profiles shows your users that you have an active presence online which will make you seem more approachable.

Kietzmann J.H. et al., “Social media? Get Serious! Understanding the Functional Building Blocks of Social Media,” Business Horizons (2011) 54, 241-251,http://busandadmin.uwinnipeg.ca/silvestrepdfs/PDF06.pdf

Baldassarre, Christina. "10 Tips for Millennial Marketing." Entrepreneur. Entrepreneur Media, Inc, 09 Feb. 2017. Web. 27 Feb. 2017.