Entifying your brand among Twitter-using millennials

Members of the Millennial Generation (‘millennials’) are strongly attached to their smartphones and engrossed in social media. They frequently post pictures and tweet about the products they like and buy. Consequently, established consumer brands unable to master the use of Twitter and other social media are likely to lose their ability to communicate with this generation. This article reports findings from a study of millennials’ Twitter usage and presents the concept of brand entification as the next evolutionary stage of brand personality made possible by this social media. Brand entification refers to a distinct emotional and cognitive attachment between heavy-Twitter-using millennials and the brands they like, and to a unique set of attributions they make toward the brand. Herein, we explain the nature of brand entification, describe how it emerges, and distill some key lessons for brand managers interested in reaching Twitter-using millennials.