What Social Media Do Millennials Use Most?

Social media marketing is great for brand awareness, product or service promotions, and engaging with your audience. But it's important to know where your ideal customer spends their time scrolling. You shouldn’t waste your time creating content for LinkedIn if your audience is made up of Gen Z consumers. But if you are trying to reach Millennial professionals, LinkedIn might be the correct place to focus your efforts.

Social Media for Millennials

Let’s dive into some facts about different social platforms.

Facebook Reigns Supreme

Facebook remains the largest social platform with nearly 3 billion users, however, the audience skews older and time spent scrolling the newsfeed continues to fall as younger consumers flock to newer, “hipper” platforms. 

Millennials Love Instagram

In late 2022, Instagram announced it had hit 2 billion users on the platform, including over 78 million active monthly users. Millennials and Gen Z make up two-thirds of Instagram’s user base, and these generations’ buying power continues to grow. 

TikTok is Popular with Gen Z

TikTok is the most popular platform for Gen Z–over half of Gen Z consumers are on TikTok and, according to Hubspot, it is the social app they use most often.

LinkedIn: B2B Power

For B2B marketing and lead generation, LinkedIn is unmatched. The platform for professionals is built on connecting with colleagues, and while it may seem that Gen X and Baby Boomers have a stronghold, millennials are the largest age group represented on the app.

Why Should I Have Business Social Media Accounts?

As mentioned above, billions of people spend a good portion of their free time on various social media platforms, which includes your ideal, potential customers. Why not meet them where they already are?

Should I use Influencer Marketing?

Short answer: probably.

Long answer: this depends on your goals with social media marketing. According to Hootsuite, 37% of Facebook and TikTok users will make a purchase on the platform in 2023, followed by 35% of Instagram users. This means millions of people are shopping while scrolling through content on their phones.

Further, 50% of millennials trust influencers’ product recommendations, which means you could be missing out on revenue by not partnering with relevant influencers with engaged audiences. This is interesting to note in comparison to product recommendations from celebrities, which are only trusted by 38% of millennials. 

With Instagram’s e-commerce features, it makes sense to use the platform to sell directly to the audience that is already on the app. And this is exactly what marketers are doing–in 2021, 86% of marketers from the US enabled Instagram’s shoppability functions in their influencer marketing campaigns.

Do People Really Follow Brands on Instagram?

YES. According to research by Forbes, 90% of users follow at least one brand on social media. This shows the shift toward brand awareness and loyalty, where consumers are more likely to have engaged relationships with their favorite brands. So even if you aren’t directly selling on social media, it's an accessible way to gain your audience’s trust and build brand awareness to a larger audience.

Where Do I Start with Social Media Marketing?

If this all feels overwhelming, we’ve got you covered. Here are 5 tips for social media marketing in 2023. And if you need help with your social strategy, we’ve got a whole blog on the topic and we’re ready to work with you. Let’s chat today.