In the very near future, millennials (ages 18-36) will have the greatest combined purchasing power in history. Connecting with the group, however, will require some fresh approaches and new tactics. Millennials don’t respond to traditional media in the same way that other groups do. They prefer user-generated content (UGC) – content generated by their peers. This infographic is based on a survey of 839 millennials conducted by Crowdtap and Ipsos, reveals some statistics behind millennial engagement with media.
Millennials spend 18 hours per day with media, and 30% of that time is spent looking at user-generated media. 71% of millennials check social networking sites at least once per day – 11% more than watch TV. UGC creation ranges from difficult (creating a website) to easy (writing a tweet or pinning a post.) Other types of user-generated content include blogs, reviews, and status updates.
The millennials surveyed were of the opinion that UGC is 35% more memorable than other media, and 50% more trusted. When asked about various sources of product information, 74% of the millennials cited conversations with friends as being trustworthy. Peer reviews and social networking got 68% and 50% respectively. Traditional sources of media were seen as less trustworthy, including TV (34%), radio (37%), and print newspaper (44%). Professional reviews were considered to be as trustworthy as peer reviews, as 64% vs. 68%.
UGC has a major impact on millennial spending. Itis 20% more influential than other media types when it comes to millennial purchases. 59% of millennials use UGC to guide them on major electronics purchases, 54% on car purchases, 53% on major appliances, 46% on mobile phones, 45% on hotel choice, and 40% on travel plans.
Savvy businesses can encourage users to create favorable content for their brand. Consider including a testimonial section on your website, or run a contest that requests image or video submissions featuring your product. Has your business come up with an innovative way to spark UGC? Let me know in the comments.
