18-24 year olds offer key insight into digital marketing

Everyone wants to target the 18-24 year old segment, and why not? They’re young and not afraid to spend their hard earned money on whatever catches their eye. But after the announcement earlier this year that only 54 percent of 18-24 year olds in the U.S. are employed – the lowest rate in 64 years – marketers have to wonder just how much disposable income this carefree demo has.

Regardless of their employment status, the Millennial generation is certainly more in tune with technology than any other segment. They grew up in the age of the Internet and text messaging, and while they may not have the steadiest source of income (how many of us did at that age?), marketers would be wise to use a tech-based strategy when reaching out to them.

Consider the following tech-usage facts about this key demographic:

• 95 percent of 18-24 year olds own a cell phone (Source: Pew Research Center)

• 18-24 year olds send or receive an average of 110 text messages per day and more than 3,200 text messages per month  (Source: Pew Research Center)

• 43 percent of 18-24 year olds say that texting is just as meaningful as an actual phone conversation with someone (Source: eMarketer)

• 52 percent of consumers ages 18-24 are likely to try new technology-enabled payment tools, compared with 23 percent of those ages 55-65 (Source: American Express survey)

• Millennials with a college degree are more likely to have a social networking profile than those with no college experience, 86 percent to 59 percent (Source: Pew Research Center)

• 93 percent of Millennial’s use Facebook, making it a more popular social network than Twitter (53%), Google+ (45%), LinkedIn (32%), Tumblr (31%) and Pinterest (26%) (Source: YPulse 2012)

MARKETING LESSON: The 18-24 crowd might be motivated by their passions, but they communicate that passion through technology. If your brand isn’t utilizing those channels, you could be missing out on this key demographic.