Recent college graduates have a dizzying array of choices, so how do marketers steer newly minted grads to their brand?

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With a diploma in hand, and a bright future in front of them, today's college graduates will face a multitude of questions for the first time: Where will I live? How will I find a job? What furniture will I choose for my apartment? Now that I no longer have access to a dining hall, what choices will I make for food? What car will I buy?

With the answer to each of these questions comes an opportunity for a brand to make a match with a consumer in the throws of a major life change. But while the questions posed to recent college graduates remain the same, the answers, given the rapidly evolving digital media landscape, are changing fast.  

"It is often awe-inspiring how much media this generation consumes," says Jack MacKenzie of Frank N. Magid Associates. "They have become highly skilled at accessing and sharing content on many levels. Our research continues to indicate that millennials pack more media exposure into their day through multitasking than their generational counterparts."

According to MacKenzie, college kids are voracious consumers, spending more than $200 billion per year. But college grads, who are likely to see a drop in discretionary income, represent a slightly different kind of consumer than their counterparts still enjoying academia. Although recent college grads continue to consume at an amazing rate, they look for a better return on investment, MacKenzie explains.

While it's easy to think that the explosion of digital media has changed the rules, Joseph Carrabis, CRO and founder, NextStage Evolution and NextStage Global, says today's youth aren't all that different from their predecessors.

"Young people are always looking for boundaries, because they're in the process of defining themselves," Carrabis says. "What's changed is that the internet gives us a world with limitless space and zero time. In other words, we can think of a thing and be there in an instant."

According to Carrabis, the speed and scope of the internet means youth -- who have always been on the hunt for something new -- literally "burn through" information in the search for the next boundary, which means brands need to engage young consumers as they push the limits of digital space. 

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