Melissa Gonzalez and Chelsea Krost speak about how brands and retailers create experiences that answer the needs and wants of today’s millennial consumer.

Chelsea’s beginnings as a millennial expert were rooted in her teenage frustration of older generations labeling teenagers as lazy and narcissistic. By channeling that frustration into creativity, she created a platform made by millennials for millennials that was empowering rather than belittling. Over the next 12 years, that idea turned into a television live show and millennial spokesperson opportunities. She became a bridge between brands and millennial consumers, and helped brands and businesses understand the mindset of the millennial consumer audience. 

We asked Chelsea how has this generations expectations shifted and how brands and retailer stay on the pulse of it. What Chelsea has seen a change in over the years is brand’s and business’s mindsets when it comes to digital and social. Rather than needing to convince brands and retailers the importance of integrating digital and social into their business’ to be successful, they already know. That includes the importance of influencer marketing, and aligning influencers with the digital landscape and also physical in-store events. 

Melissa and Chelsea continue to talk about what the best way to interact with millennials is. Every industry has social media channels that favor it. For fashion, brick and mortar, influencer marketing, Instagram is absolute dominating channel. For press, PR, event marketing, twitter is a great social media channel. So there isn’t one answer, brands have to understand where their consumer group is and where their audience is. Brands don’t have to be everywhere, the best is to pick the top 3 channels that are most effective to engage their customer within their industry. Chelsea says LinkedIn is a must, and then to choose other channels that are most relevant to your consumer group.

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