By Cheval John

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Recently, I saw a post on Twitter which captured my attention.

This post mentioned about a major brand, Cinnabon, responding to someone who had mentioned them on Twitter.

What was more interesting is the post about Cinnabon responding to a person came from a well known journalist who covers one of the major professional sports in North America.

I would expect someone to have that reaction when a celebrity or an influencer answer them in a tweet.

For a well-known media personality in sports to be in shock when a major brand answers them is surprising.

It should not be a surprise because it shows even well known major media personalities are human too.

If a celebrity or media personality is shocked by a major brand answering them, it shows most major companies as a whole are not great on social media.

It is disheartening to see how major brands are treating social media like another broadcasting platform.

The only time you will see them on social media is when they have something to sell or a major event they want to promote.

They fail to understand people (mostly the millennial generation) are much more savvy than ever.

They can sniff out a person or a brand who are trying to sell to them.

Here are some stats to back up this point:

Only 22% of brands are trusted-Search Engine Watch via (Havas Media)

43% of millennials rank authenticity over content when consuming news-Search Engine Watch via (Forbes)

32% of millennials find today’s brand communications helpful-News Cred

So if you want to be successful on social media and have a strong impact on reaching this generation, you have to meet them where they are at.

And follow the examples of companies who are communicating with this generation on a daily basis via blogs, podcasts, live streaming, Twitter chats, etc.

You might gain some creative ideas of building a loyal fan base and save a boat load of money on your marketing budget.

As a bonus, here is a list of twitter chats hosted by these brands who connects with the millennial generation and are building a loyal audience in the process.

#ContentWritingChat

Hosted by Express Writers on Tuesdays at 11 a.m. eastern time

#SweetTalk

Hosted by Cinnabon on Tuesdays at 1 p.m. eastern time

#SEMRUSHChat

Hosted by SEMRush on Wednesdays at 11 a.m. eastern time

#BufferChat

Hosted by Buffer on Wednesdays at noon eastern time

#SproutChat

Hosted by Sprout Social on Wednesdays at 3 p.m. eastern time

#HootChat

Hosted by Hootsuite on Thursdays at 3 p.m. eastern time

#StartupChats

Hosted by Startup Canada on Wednesdays and Fridays at noon eastern time