The Power of Millennials: Top 4 Social Media Behavioral Changes in 2017

Young, tech-savvy, and powerful. Millennials are imperative to the success of thriving companies—they have grown up with social media and the Internet, while being able to adapt and grasp the newest technology. For this reason, millennials’ online social media habits matter. As the top prospective consumers to reach by social media, it is important for businesses to understand how habits will shift in 2017 in order to remain successful. Explore this blog for the top 4 millennial social media behavioral changes that will take place this year.

Social Media and the Workplace

As more and more millennials grow into management or authoritative positions in the workplace, expect social media to become a professional norm of communication within the business. For example, social media can be used by employees in a professional manner for a boost in communication, encouraging faster updates through instant messaging (similar to LinkedIn or Producteev) among coworkers or colleagues. For some businesses, Facebook and Twitter are becoming more acceptable at work for communication tools. This leads us to believe that we might see a professional approach to established social media platforms to take on necessary business features for communicating and interacting with colleagues.

Reviews

An increasingly powerful trend that millennials love to participate in is leaving honest feedback for products, businesses, and discussions. As the top demographic that trust reviews and consumer feedback, we can foresee that ratings and reviews will continue to flourish throughout the year. Word of mouth is important to this generation and social media plays a huge role in spreading information and consumer interests. In 2017, we can predict more content algorithms in social media newsfeeds that reflect ratings by online consumers and the need for recommendations.

Real vs. “Social Media Reality”

One thing that social media has always reflected is the unrealistic perception of perfection. For millennials, the preference for what qualifies as truly engaging on social media is deviating from once important idealistic lifestyles, to wanting more social content that is genuinely engaging and alluring (see our blog from last month about Snapchats success here). Gone are the days of sappy wedding countdown posts, unauthentic posts of dream vacations, and displays of unrealistic lifestyles for the everyday person. It is more important than ever to show real images that millennials can relate and connect to. Original stories and perspectives are more valued and appreciated.

Concise and Nonverbal Communication

In the past years, mobile communication has transformed immensely as millennials are constantly craving more. This means that they want expansive content and information at a expedite rate. In 2017, we can only expect the push for even more succinct ways to communicate. The use of nonverbal communication with emojis, slang, and symbols will only grow from here. Facebook has already capitalized on nonverbal ways of communicating by adding different user reactions to Facebook content, adding to the previous singular “like” option. Studies continue to analyze millennials, and time and again the results show that millennials prefer simple and concise communication.

About Bigfin.com

Bigfin.com is an industry leader in online advertising, SEO and custom web design. Our comprehensive digital marketing solutions include social media management as well as social media advertising on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn and other social outlets. Looking for mobile website solutions or help with search engine marketing? Contact us online or by phone at (425) 822-8200.