While these figures aren’t huge, a greater number of respondents (29%) noted using Instagram to follow celebrities or influencers, giving retailers and brands yet another avenue to connect with this cohort.
And more substantially, a March 2019 report from market research company GlobalWebIndex found that worldwide, 42% of those in the 16-to-24 age range followed brands they like on social media platforms, and 25% of those said that seeing a brand or product that has a lot of "likes" would encourage them to buy something.
Knowing where this generation wants to engage with brands is important, because according to Piper Jaffray, teens’ overall retail spending will reach about $830 billion this year, up 6% over 2018. And without the help of their parents, this generation spends an estimated $143 billion a year, according to a 2018 report from integrated ad agency Barkley, which defined the cohort as those ages 7 to 21.