It's time to start paying attention to Millennials.

While Millennials generally have a reputation of struggling in a tough job market and residing in their parents' basements, they are starting to become a force in real estate.

According to a recent National Association of REALTORS® study, Millennials are now the largest share of homebuyers in the country at 34 percent. The tide seems to be shifting as this massive population segment starts to enter the real estate market.

They don't represent a ton of commission for real estate agents at this point, with 66 percent being first-time home buyers and most being quite price conscious, but the sheer numbers of this group creates a trend that must be noted by real estate professionals.

The Best Way to Reach Millennials

In general, this is a group that fears the phone, thinks email is antiquated and can't remember a time without being able to "Google it." If you can't fit it into a tweet, a Facebook post, or an Instagram picture, it will not be understood. In order to successfully capture Generations Y's attention, here are three helpful tips to keep in mind:

1. Get Online

This is a group that spends 53 hours a week online. A lot of this time is spent on the big three: SnapChat, Facebook, and Instagram. These are actually awesome places to post pics of your latest listing and your neighborhood. Build your credibility with this group by going where they go and keeping it visual. Most millennials wouldn't even make it this far in this blog post. Pictures are your friend. If you are interested in placing Facebook advertising as part of your marketing efforts, here is an article to get you started.

2. Be Original

This group isn't going to respond to typical branding or corporate jargon. They want content that feels genuine.. When you are on social media, let your authentic self shine through. If you want to garner support from millennials, you have to relate to them. Keep it conversational.

3. Get Referrals

According to our recent white paper, Generating New Business in Real Estate, 44 percent of leads come from referrals, and the overwhelming majority of closes come from referrals. What does this mean for targeting millennials? It means you need to create content that is shared. Twenty-five percent of millennials share online content to their social networks—a rate of nearly four times that of the average user, according to AdWeek.

Millennials are more likely to buy something or go somewhere that's recommended to them by a friend. So don't create content to be read; create content to be shared.

Conclusion.

Referrals, authenticity and social media. Those three things are the key to appealing to millennials. For this new generation, we must keep these new and fresh ideas in mind while marketing to them.

If you are interested in keeping and converting millennials on your website, here are some tips and tricks to help conversion rates with this group.

To view the original article, visit the Onboard Informatics blog.