The Millennial Market: How to Gain the Loyalty of the Largest Customer Base
There are now as many Millennials as there are Baby Boomers and Generation X’ers. That said, it is more important than ever before for franchisors and franchisees to tap into the “Millennial Market” on social media. Millennials are the social generation and founders of social media. They should be marketed where they know best – through social channels.
Social media can often times be unchartered territory for a busy older generation of franchisees and franchisors, but failing to utilize these virtually free marketing mediums will only result in the loss of a growing and loyal customer base. Millennials are all about “sharing” “retweeting” “instagramming” and “snapchatting” the brands they love most, and that is quickly becoming better than any word of mouth when it comes to standing out amongst similar brands in a competitive market.
So how do you get this social media savvy generation to “like” “snap” or “tweet” their support for your brand on the World Wide Web? To understand how to attract the Millennial, it is important to understand what they’re looking for as they sift through the infinite number or marketing ploys on the internet each day.
According to research conducted by Nora Ganim Barnes, PhD, and Ava Lescault, MBA, at The Center for Marketing Research, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, 84% of Millennials who have liked companies on Facebook say doing so is a way to show their support for the brand. Other common reasons for liking brands on Facebook include wanting to receive updates (83%) and a desire to get coupons/discounts (66%).On Twitter, getting coupons/discounts is the top reason Millennials engage with companies (85%), followed by supporting the brand (78%).
But how do you get Millennials to support your brand and make that initial click to provide them with the coupons and discounts they want in the first place? It is relatively simple. Millennials want to be heard. To hear them, you must “ask” and “respond” to let them know you’re listening to their generation, and that you care about their business. If you ask and respond online to their needs and concerns, they’re brand loyalty will almost always follow.
“ASK.” Millennials want to feel as though your brand relates to them and that your brand wants to adapt to their needs. The best way to for a franchisee and/or franchisor to learn what factors contribute to this is to utilize the Millennials who might be right at their fingertips. Those running their cash registers, stocking their shelves, waiting their tables, asking for theirWi-Fi password, or the one’s pulling up an email coupon through an app as they go to check out. Stop and take the time to ask the Millennials that you have face to face interactions with what makes them attracted to your brand, or what you can do to make it better for them. In doing this, you are almost guaranteed to gain valuable insight into how to further engage others, and hopefully get them to digitally engage their friends in the brand that they now knows cares about what they want.
“RESPOND.” Millennials post more reviews, comments, and complaints online than any other generation. Most of the time a disgruntled yelp reviewer is often ignored, but this is not what Millennials want. They want you to respond, and more importantly they want you to respond to the good just as much as you doto the bad. Millennials want to feel as though someone is listening to what they have to say. When they tweet about the coffee that saved them during their Monday morning commute, they want a tweet back telling them you’re glad you could make their morning. When they post about how a barista ruined their morning by messing up their non-fat, medium, two-pump, mocha-caramel, light ice, latte, all they want most of the time is a quick comment back from a company stating that they’d like to make things right the next time they need their caffeine fix.
Lastly, in today’s social media controlled marketing world, the successful brands will always be the ones who make themselves useful to consumers. By useful, I mean providing them the responses, information and incentives in a time and manner that is convenient for them. Through no other medium out there can franchisors and franchisees meet this need – especially in regards to Millennials – cheaperor quicker than through the channels of social media.
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