How do you connect and begin to understand the Millennial mind? Are we lazy and entitled as people often say? What are our interests in life? Below you will find information developed by researchers that examines the characteristics and statistics of Millennials and the importance this group has when it comes to accepting and applying changes that reflect our wants and needs.
The Baby Boomers generation resulted in over 79 million births, and therefore have defined every era they have lived in. Fast track to today and we see that the Millennial generation has surpassed the Baby Boomers population and is beginning to capture and influence standards, expectations, and common behaviors in our culture.
Lookout world, Millennials are taking over the workforce! Brookings Data Now, found that by 2025, 75 percent of the workforce will be made up of Millennials. Despite this, we are earning 20 percent less than our parents did when they were our same age. Even with a higher percentage of us earning bachelor’s degrees we are only making slightly more than our parents did without one in the year 1989. Choosing to attend school to earn a higher degree in the hopes of obtaining a better job have led us to amass $1 trillion in student loan debt.
Gathering statistics on the Millennial generation assists all aspects of businesses in how to best target us and our needs. An article by Forbes stated that by the year 2020 one in three Americans will be Millennials.
Our world has continued to turn toward creating more captivating visual content. In targeting the Millennial audience, visual content is a must, due to its natural appeal and its effectiveness reaching over 60,000 times more than simple text. On average, we spend up to 50 percent more time watching online videos than TV. Our video watching not only includes entertainment but also informative videos, which help us to decide the products and services best to purchase.
We really do love visuals and are twice as likely to want to use visual communication methods at work compared to Baby Boomers. When surveyed, up to 60 percent say that when something is visually communicated they are much more likely to comprehend the information quicker.
Speaking of visual content, social media and technology, in general, are big influences when it comes to Millennials. After all, 65 percent are likely to start interactions with a brand or organization online. A similar statistic found that 50 percent of Millennials will use the internet to research products before deciding to make a purchase. Nearly everything we do can involve using the internet to quickly gain the information we need. Look at the infographic below for more statistics when it comes to our social media habits.
Millennials are taking over! Maybe not literally, but we are valuable to all businesses. As a visual generation, we like our technology. Some even may say we’re obsessed with it. But, is it really a bad thing? One of the advantages is that we are much more digitally proficient than prior generations and therefore can accomplish certain tasks very quickly with the resources available to us. Despite the negatives people may think, Millennials are here to make a difference and prove our worth in the workforce and beyond.
