Stumped about how to sell to a millennial market? Fear not. We’ve got you covered. Millennials aren’t just our key audience, they also make up the majority of our own team.
The average age of a bride on our site is 31 while the average groom’s age is 32 at the time of their wedding. They’re very much part of the millennial generation (born 1977-2000) that’s known for being avid content creators and users.
According to Millennial Marketing, 80% of millennials want brands to entertain them. So, what does it take to entertain them? Meet them where they are, speak their language but in a positive and authentic way, and give them more engaging content.
At Easy Weddings, we create custom storefronts and marketing for our clients in order to take the mystery out of all these components. We also hit you with everything you need to know about selling to millennials via webinars, articles, events, and so much more.
Get access to engaged millennial couplesWhat’s included in this article:
23 millennial phrases
We would never tell a non-millennial to start using slang they don’t understand or know the meaning behind, and we certainly aren’t advocating for that now. But, we do encourage you to become familiar with common phrases that get thrown around so you don’t feel silly or out of the loop when a couple tells you they want their dancefloor to be lit!
Practising brand authenticity is much more important than using lingo you don’t like or understand. If you’re a Gen X wedding celebrant, no millennial expects you to go around referring to your husband as bae. Instead, focus on what you do best and your audience will love you even more for it.
And while you’re at it, get a handle on these millennial phrases so you can spot them in the wild.
Lit
Describing a fun and carefree attitude on a night out, usually induced by alcohol.
In a post: My hens this weekend is going to be lit.
Cinnamon roll
A being too pure for this earth who must be protected at all costs.
In a post: What a cinnamon roll.
Fam
An abbreviation of the word family, often used to describe friendship groups alongside actual close family groups. Sometimes used colloquially with the phrase ‘fam bam’.
In a post: Can’t wait to celebrate my cousin’s wedding with the fam.
Ham
When you go ham on something, you overdo it in every sense of the word. You go hard as a mother.
In a post: This bridezilla I know went ham making her own wedding cake. It was 6 tiers and had fireworks coming out the top!
Dead
A figurative phrase referring to laughing uncontrollably, but when you’re not actually laughing uncontrollably. Often prefaced by the word ‘literally’ (of course meaning figuratively) or spelled as ‘ded’.
In a post: Check out this vid, I’m dead.
Doggo
A millennial and meme-induced term for the word dog. Can also be used with the phrase pupper, referring to a puppy.
In a post: Look at this doggo!
Bae
A colloquial term for the word babe. As with the 90s term babe, often used to describe close girlfriends as well as a partner.
In a post: Hey bae!
Extra
An accepted term for something being over the top.
In a post: This wedding dress is so extra, I love it.
Shade
A millennial term for slyly or indirectly making fun of someone within a casual conversation. Also known as “throwing shade”.
In a post: Stop throwing shade pls.
Troll
Someone who posts on the internet for the sole purpose of causing trouble, or posts to continually abuse or attack someone. Also known as ‘trolling’.
In a post: She’s being such a troll.
YOLO
You Only Live Once, the millennial version of carpe diem or seize the day. Accepting that there will be consequences to your actions but you don’t care in the present moment.
In a post: Meant to be saving up for rent but just booked flights to Europe YOLO.
Salty
To be obviously annoyed or frustrated at something and letting people know it.
In a post: I’m still salty about the fact that my high school cancelled our Central Australia trip (true story)
Humblebrag
When referred to by someone else, this is when you have been caught talking casually about a situation but could be considered bragging. Alternatively used when you do want to brag about news but not be seen as conceited.
In a post: This is the third time you’ve posted from Europe, humblebrag much?
Spicy
Juicy or interesting news that is worth listening to, often gossip.
In a post: This episode of Riverdale is going to be so spicy.
Spill the tea
To share a secret or piece of gossip to someone else. Often referred to as “spilling the tea”.
In a post: What does this status mean, go on spill the tea!
Woke
To be aware of trending societal or political issues as if ‘waking up’ to the situation around you.
In a post: After attending that lecture I feel so woke.
Savage
To be harsh or critical to someone or something in a way that is endearing or accepted to those around you.
In a post: This rejection is SAVAGE.
Shook
To be shaken up by something that you previously didn’t know or didn’t expect.
In a post: Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin actually already got married and we are shook.
Feels
Similar to its original ‘feeling’, to have feels is to have an emotional reaction to something.
In a post: This movie gave us feels.
NSFW
Not Safe For Work, often prefacing to a crude or inappropriate post on the internet to warn people not to open the post until they’re at home.
In a post: NSFW: What you really want to tell your boss NSFW.
Goals
Pointing towards aspirations of a particular event or situation, referring to life goals and often used under a hashtag.
In a post: This wedding is #goals.
Sorry not sorry
Pretending to apologise for something you know you shouldn’t have said or done but don’t regret. Has a similar meaning but is more apologetic than the phrase “no regrets”. Often used as a hashtag.
In a post: At the Grand Canyon this morning, how’s your Monday? #sorrynotsorry
Basic
A insult for someone or something that is considered plain or boring.
In a post: Her Instagram is so basic.
Selling to Millennials
The absolute best advice we can give you for selling to millennials is to meet them where they are. How do you do that? Hone in on the places where they spend most of their time. According to eMarketer, millennials spend 7.2 hours online each day. But where are engaged couples spending that time?
Social media, obviously. If you’re not on Instagram and Facebook, we strongly encourage you to get your content ready and set up accounts on both platforms. Not sure where to start? Tune into our Easy Weddings Bootcamp Webinar: The Social Media Edition for all things social strategy. Follow our accounts too so you can start keeping an eye on how we use Instagram to boost many of the businesses in our network.
We know millennials spend time on social media, but they also rely on review-based sites like Easy Weddings to get the information they’re looking for when making purchases or researching wedding suppliers. In fact, Millennial Marketing says that 40% of millennials refer to online reviews and testimonials before purchasing from a brand.
Having your reviews, beautiful content, wedding packages, and detailed information about your business all in one place is key to being discovered by couples, and what’s even more valuable is if all that info is optimised for search engines and regularly visited by the audience you’re targeting. This is exactly why we continue to improve our Easy Weddings storefronts.
Another thing to keep in mind is that millennials really aren’t phone people. Check out our guide to email and SMS messaging for a millennial audience so you can enjoy more responsive comms with potential couples.
At Easy Weddings, we have over 410k monthly visitors, the vast majority of which fall right into that millennial target market. We also have over 245k social media followers. And yes, you *can* sit with us!
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Creating Content for Millennials
According to Sharethrough, 83% of millennials believe online content is very useful in helping them make purchasing decisions. So, when it comes to selling your wedding services or products, if you can get your images and online content right, you’ll see a tremendous improvement to the way millennials interact with your brand.
As any wedding content marketing pro will tell you, your business is only as good as the images you have to show for it. You could have the most incredible menu offerings and five-star service, but if you only have low-quality, unedited photos of the food to use in your marketing collateral, you’ll never get the same results as your competitors who have professional, styled content.
Take a look at our Complete Image Content Guide for Wedding Businesses to see what types of images convert versus those that flop. The guide will also help you get a handle on photo best practices to make sure you’re using images you actually have permission to use.
Video content is another way to connect with your audience. Unless you have a wedding videography business, we’d suggest relying heavily on your network to create video content if you’d like to incorporate video into your social strategy. Instagram stories are a great, approachable place to start because you can produce everything yourself and don’t need all the bells and whistles of professional video lighting and editing. Here’s a guide to getting started with Insta stories.
