According to a study from Edelman Digital, social campaigns may be key to reaching Americans born between 1980 and 1995.

With the holiday shopping season here, marketers will want to tap the newly employed millennial demographic with their campaigns. According to a study from Edelman Digital, social campaigns may be key to reaching Americans born between 1980 and 1995.

The report, entitled The 8095 Exchange: Millennials, Their Actions Surrounding Brands and the Dynamics of Reverberation, shows that these young consumers increasingly defer to friends and family members when making purchase decisions, and the majority of them are likely to share their own opinions with friends through online social spaces.

Just 13 percent of millennials directly state that social networks are their top source of information for making purchase decisions, but 77 percent say they turn to family and another 64 percent say friends have the most impact over their shopping.

At the same time, the study shows that nearly half of millennials share their opinions of brands with social networks.This audience may offer ready brand advocates; according to the study, 90 percent of American millennials share their brand preferences online.

"This research suggests a link between the immersive, symbiotic relationship 8095ers have with social networking channels and the likelihood to define their personal brand by aligning with the brands they favor," the study says.

Brands that want to find clients and advocates on social channels this holiday should consider that nearly half of these consumers indicate they expect to be rewarded for brand loyalty on social networks in the form of coupons, inside info and other useful content.

Brands seeking to create content that will likely get shared on social channels should consider using news marketing content to reach young shoppers. According to Chitika, news drives the most traffic to Facebook, and a recent study from CNN reported by Brafton indicates that most online news sharing happens within social networks

Katherine Griwert is Brafton's Marketing Director. She's practiced content marketing, SEO and social marketing for over five years, and her enthusiasm for new media has even deeper roots. Katherine holds a degree in American Studies from Boston College, and her writing is featured in a number of web publications.