There’s been much ado about the millennial generation for the past few years. Whether decrying the cohort’s fondness for selfies or analyzing its symbiotic relationship with mobile devices and the Internet, there’s a glut of judgments and think pieces that attempt to define the attitudes and behavior of those born between 1980 and the early 2000s.

While opinions vary about the millennial generation, the facts are immutable. Millennials are the largest and most diverse generation in the United States. They are the youngest generation with money, and they will continue to be a considerable segment of the population for many years to come. Which begs the requisite business questions: What captures millennials’ attention, and what drives their spending?

Spare Me the Gimmicks

In the 1970s, the average American was exposed to roughly 500 advertisements each day. Fast forward forty years, and our ad intake has grown to more than 5,000 daily. Members of the millennial generation have come of age during a deluge of ads, and have developed, as a result, an innate distrust of insincere pitches and traditional marketing techniques. A survey of over 500 million millennials shows that a large majority have never once clicked on a sponsored story.

What Millennials Want

Millennials don’t want to be marketed to. Put simply, they don’t trust advertising. Businesses who want to capture the attention of this age bracket should seek to engage and educate potential consumers with authentic, shareable content that lets users take action. This means soliciting questions and feedback, utilizing interactive platforms such as quizzes or surveys, and allowing users an opportunity to be a part of a brand that contributes to society or the world in a demonstrable way.

Not only did they grow up deluged with ads, many millennials came of age in the shadow of 9/11 and amidst the spectre of climate change, with the constancy of 24-hour news cycles and the omnipresence of the Internet. Perhaps as a result of watching civilian and environmental catastrophes as children without agency, adult millennials seek an active role in bettering the world.

How to Connect

Though a vast demographic that indeed varies in many ways, millennials have been shaped by technology in a way no previous generation has. In order to remain relevant in today’s marketplace, here are several must-haves for businesses:

1. Mobile-friendly Website

Desktop usage is on the decline, while mobile usage is soaring. It’s no longer sufficient to have web presence. Successful websites are those that not only work on mobile browsers, but look good and are user-friendly. Ensuring that your business’ website is easily navigable on a mobile device, as well as interactive, are key components to your success.

2. Social Media Presence

Many millennials are digital natives, the first in history to have grown up with the Internet and digital technology. With the world at their fingertips and unfettered access to information and communication, they are cynical when it comes to traditional ad campaigns and can debunk myths perpetuated by marketing strategies in a nanosecond, with a simple Google search or a text to a friend.

Study after study indicates that even more than previous generations, millennials place an emphasis on friends and family. This generation thrives on sharing, and not just pics of meals or photos captured via selfie-stick. Millennials are most likely to go with the brands and businesses recommended by those in their social network, making it integral for today’s businesses to have social media presence in the form of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram.

Sink or Swim

Businesses need to continue to adapt amidst the exponential growth and change brought about by digital technology in order to survive and thrive. To borrow from the prophetic Bob Dylan:

As the present now

Will later be past

The order is rapidly fadin’

And the first one now

Will later be last

For the times they are a-changin’

Heather Candon is a writer living in New York.