What is a “Millennial”?

You’ve heard the term, so what exactly does it mean to be in the millennial generation? Well, first, you have to have been born in between 1982 and 2004. Actually… that’s it. You're a Millennial, or Generation Y, as some people call it.

Just because it is easy to define a Millennial doesn't mean it is easy to understand a Millennial. Take it from me; I’m a Millennial, and I still get confused on what my own generation wants to see and hear. This very problem is why many advertising and branding firms are running in circles trying to market to the largest generation in U.S. history.

According to Business Insider, the Millennial generation “grew up during a time of economic prosperity, then many entered the workforce during a recession” and were consistently “surrounded by the rapid advance of technology, particularly the Internet.” Fact.

The article also points out that  “they expect quick advancement and don't expect to stay at any one organization for very long, a legacy of living through the financial crisis and the resulting weak economy.”

So there you have it. We, as Millennials, expect things to move along more quickly, but mostly because that's how we grew up. Besides the obvious age factor, here are a few ways you can tell you’re dealing with a Millennial:

• Slight (and understandable) impatience. They get mad if a webpage doesn’t load in 5 seconds. Seriously.
• Important updates via internet. Oh, did you not know your daughter or son was in a relationship? Well, now you do, because it’s on Facebook.
• Instant gratification. Why can’t the new Arrested Development season on Netflix air sooner? What are they waiting for? Are they trying to torture me? (I can back this one up.)
• Video crazy. They LOVE YouTube videos for every occasion. If you get a YouTube video on your wall for your birthday, that Millennial sure does love you.
• Quick response time. They get irritated if you don’t respond to a text quickly. My mom may not understand how she’s making me angry, but my friends sure do!

Of course, these are just a few examples. In future posts, I will delve into how to market to Millennials and give some examples of successes/failures.

You can also take this fun quiz by Pew Research to see "How Millennial Are You?"