Want to Engage Millennials? Let Them Make It Their Own
It's no secret that Millennials enjoy participating in the creation of programs, fundraisers, campaigns and products and want the opportunity to personalize their experience whenever possible. Innovations made possible by emerging technology have fueled the demand for creative ways to get involved - we're designing our own shoes, water bottles and advocacy campaigns, rather than waiting for an institution to tell us what our options for participation are. Empowering Millennials to support a cause or product their way has been a proven way to engage our generation, and nonprofits and businesses alike continue to experiment with new ways to give us individual options. Here are just a few of the most recent examples:
"Make It Your Own" Burgers
This week marks the grand opening of 4food, a fast food restaurant that says "meals are necessarily social events," and means it. Customers can order online, on an iPad in the restaurant, and will soon be able to do so via their mobile phones. The menu board changes based on what's most popular at the time and what ingredients are most available at that location. But 4food is not just a tech-savvy restaurant with a social media presence. Not only do they have community groups, a blog and active profiles on Facebook, Twitter and foursquare, 4food encourages and enables its burger-loving customers to become salesmen as well.
You can create your own burger, name it, and it will be saved in the system for future visits. Not only is that convenient for people who are likely to forget which of the dozens of tasty combinations they had last time, but it also gives them the opportunity to market their personalized sandwiches to their friends. Each time someone orders the creation by name, you earn a royalty of 25 cents, which is credited to your online account.
"Make It Your Own" Music
Watching music videos might be so early 90s, but music video director Chris Milk, along with the folks at Google and the band Arcade Fire, are trying to make it interesting again with music that takes you home again. No really, it takes you to your home. The new video for "We Used to Wait," from the band's new album allows individuals to personalize the video by entering their address. Google satellite images take you on a jog through your neighborhood and to your house and even let you send a note to your childhood self. It's the perfect thing to indulge a homesick student...and to introduce them to both Google Chrome and Arcade Fire's new album.
"Make It Your Own" Fundraising
Endorse for a Cause, which launched last week, is an example of one socially conscious application of our love for personalization. While there have been many experiments around giving back at the cash register, whether it's online or offline, In addition to similar donate-while-you-shop models, Endorse for a Cause takes these experiments a step further by tapping individuals to market items for stores like Target and Starbucks and rewarding them by kicking money from affiliate fees to their cause when a friend purchases the product. For now, there are a limited number of nonprofits that can receive funds from Endorse for a Cause, but the individual-friendly platform allows users to nominate additional nonprofits for participation.
If someone is too shy to ask their social media friends for money directly, they can play the slacktivist card and post something already popular like a Starbucks card or a pair of Old Navy espadrilles to their Facebook and Twitter profiles through Endorse for a Cause. Hopefully their friends will be tempted to click through, buy the product and thereby earn a donation for their cause. While some might criticize this concept as another enabling platform that leads people to satisfy their desire (or duty) to help out by clicking a few buttons, which excuses them from doing things that are actually helpful to their cause - or doing as much as they might have if this platform didn't exist.
At the end of the day, success for burger joints, bands, fundraising tools and other products will be based on their quality - not just their inclusion of user-generated and user-personalized content. But these innovative ways to involve individuals in the creation and marketing of products can draw in new users and loyal supporters for products and organizations with staying power. Read more »
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Breaking up is hard to do: career changes and social media – a sticky situation
If you're reading this blog, you're probably drinking the social media kool-aid. You recognize the value of social media not only from a personal perspective but as a critical tool for your organization to reach new audiences, communicate more seamlessly with its constituents, raise money, and market products or services. You may have spent months growing comfortable with the tools, building your online presence and that of your organization. You've explained what 2.0 means to the organization's leadership. You've helped move them to it...and then past it. You're one of the primary social networkers on the staff. It's great for your organization. It's great for your career. There's only one problem. A recent study showed that the average 26-year-old has changed jobs seven times in the last eight years. Especially if you're a Millennial, odds are that you're eyeing a jump to a different job, issue area or sector, or you will be soon. Have you thought about how you will approach the challenge of transitioning your social media identities?
I was recently chatting with a friend - let's call her Sarah - who had no idea what to do with her Twitter account. As a communications professional at a nonprofit organization fighting human trafficking, she's spent more than a year connecting with hundreds of people who also work on human trafficking. She's used social media to build the brand of her organization, foster discussion and distribute resources. Now she's transitioning to a new job that explores another of her interests - cooking. While she still cares about human trafficking, she won't have the time and energy to immerse herself in reading, writing and, yes, tweeting about the issue. Instead she will probably want to leverage her social media skills, and her account, for her new job.
But this could be a significant loss for her organization, which, at least in part, helped her to build her presence online. After all, they paid for the hours she invested in social media as a part of their overall strategy, and the organization's brand recognition offline probably lent her immediate credibility with new contacts online. On the other hand, without Sarah's initiative, skills and personality, her social media accounts, and those of the organization, might never have gotten off the ground. Now that their donors and partners are accustomed to engaging not only with the organization's official Twitter stream, but also Sarah's individual account, it might be difficult to transfer that relationship and interest to a new staff member.
This also creates a personal and relational dilemma for Sarah. She wouldn't go on attending human trafficking conferences or accepting speaking engagements on human trafficking issues, but her Twitter feed isn't so simple. Should she unfollow most of her human trafficking friends to make room for her new cooking friends? Should she start an entirely new account focusing on her new endeavor and build from scratch? Or should she make some Twitter announcements about her plans to switch to a new primary topic and let the chips fall where they may? Should the human trafficking organization have any say in how she talks about their break up?
With people of all generations increasingly and necessarily blending their personal and professional lives on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, we may be faced with many more tricky questions about how to move on. Have you made a major transition with your social media account? How can we make it smoother for ourselves, our followers and our organizations? Read more »
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Who's That Talking 'Bout My Generation
They have trouble making decisions. They would rather hike in the Himalayas than climb a corporate ladder. They have few heroes, no anthems, no style to call their own. They crave entertainment, but their attention span is as short as one zap of a TV dial. They hate yuppies, hippies and druggies. They postpone marriage because they dread divorce. They sneer at Range Rovers, Rolexes and red suspenders. What they hold dear are family life, local activism, national parks, penny loafers and mountain bikes. They possess only a hazy sense of their own identity but a monumental preoccupation with all the problems the preceding generation will leave for them to fix.
The above is taken from a 1990 article that ran in TIME magazine about the then rising generation – GenX. Now, if you replace “zap of a TV dial” with “click of a mouse” and “hippies” with “hipsters” and “penny loafers” with “flip flops” it seems the more things change the more they seem the same. While such significant attention is being placed right now on the rising Generation of Millennials or Gen Y and how they are disrupting the workplace, disrupting technology and disrupting everything in between – it seems this is not an uncommon theme when we rewind history and take a look at how preceding generations characterize those who follow.
From last week’s NY Times Magazine cover story, What is it About 20 Somehings to a piece that a local Fox affiliate ran, Can Generation Y Keep America Great, or the release of the Beloit College Mindset List for the Class of 2014 – there really isn’t a description of “the Millennial” that serves as a distinct profile, despite all of the attempts at labels. The diversity of values, interests and personalities is as widespread among Millennilas as any other group -- and in fact most Millennials (dare I say, myself included) would fairly disagree with the generational descriptors as “not me!”
While generational profiles help us understand how to most effectively communicate across generations, to truly understand one another requires listening, not presuming. The environment, values and life experiences that surround us as we grow up help shape our life in more ways than we may realize. World events like wars and depression, or economic prosperity and technological advancements have a great baring on generations. Translated into the workplace this often means different values, ideas, work ethics, attitudes toward authority, and general outlooks on life.
That’s why today, we want to open up an experiment here on Social Citizens. For as much as things can change from decade to decade, there is one constant – we’ve all been mischaracterized by the preceding generation. Perhaps we’re more similar than different. So, we’re asking individuals from all generations to weigh in on one simple question:
Which stereotypes do you think have been inaccurately associated with your generation?
We’re interested in fostering greater understanding across generations and will continue this discussion in posts to come. After all, there may be more that unites us than divides us. Please weigh in below and stay tuned as we continue to address some of these stereotypes. We’ll be taking a deeper look at whether or not generational stereotypes are counterproductive – or if they might ever serve a constructive and positive role in our understanding of how different generations think, work and live. Read more »
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Millennials and Mentoring: Making It Work
One of the most common pieces of advice given to young people is "get a mentor," but for some that's easier said than done. There are a few people in my life that I would consider mentors, and almost all of them have been people I just kind of lucked into relationships with but whose input and support has been invaluable. Keenly aware that I'm not an expert on the subject, I chatted with nonprofit management consultant Adin Miller, who showed his passion for the importance of mentoring when I was compiling tips for young change-makers and idealists. This post is a summary of our conclusions.
Shop for a mentor
Mentor relationships can help us supplement some of the life experiences or knowledge that we lack. So when trying to recognize a mentor in your life, it can be helpful to ask yourself what experiences are you missing or what experiences can someone else help guide you through. When you're new in the working world, there are times when that seems like the answer is "everything," but if you think about it, your most pressing work challenges will probably come to you. Having a good mentoring relationship is not like having a magic eight ball or as Adin put it "they aren't answer givers." Instead good mentors should help you frame an issue, look at your options and then step back and let you make the decision.
Some of the most natural mentors can be people you work with because they understand your sector and your organization and probably have some sense of your goals, strengths and weaknesses already. Since this has the potential of creating a little awkwardness, Adin suggests that seeking out someone you no longer work for or people within your organization that you don't report to directly can give you the best of both worlds. People that you connect with over shared interests online can develop into valuable mentors as well. For example, I've never met Adin in person, but he's already taught me a lot about mentoring through our conversation about this post, which started when he replied to my tweet asking for advice for young idealists. Especially among the nonprofit social media community, I've found people are shockingly willing to engage in discussion, debate and, well, mentoring, with people they have only met online.
The surprise mentor
Sometimes mentors come from unexpected relationships. Because so many mentors develop organically, it's worth your while to make an effort to get to know the people in your professional network. As you get to know them, you might be surprised by the life experiences they've had that are applicable to your life. Even if you weren't looking for a mentor's advice in a particular situation, you could find advice you didn't know you needed from people you interact with every week.
Recognize the moment
Since many successful mentoring relationships emerge organically from existing professional and personal relationships - whether they be in the office, online or from a distance - you have to be ready to see and latch onto would-be mentors when they present themselves. By the same turn, when you see that a colleague or acquaintance has questions on a subject that's familiar to you, encourage them to consider you a mentor on the subject, come back to you with more questions or have coffee just to discuss their interest in it.
It goes both ways
As many things as Boomers and Gen Xers have to share with younger members of the workforce, Millennials have something to give in return. And no, I'm not just talking about being good with Facebook and Twitter. Especially with all of the interest in our generation lately, we can be of value in helping other generations understand how to engage our peers. We can offer unique perspectives on contemporary communication - not just the technical "how to’s" but the thinking behind it. We may have the best grasp on the privacy controversy, or understand what it means to be a student today, and we've seen what works and what doesn't work with our peers.
Think about the skills and experiences each of us has with a certain sport, hobby, culture, or language --ones that are completely independent of our generation, but that nonetheless might be helpful to someone older and more experienced but who lacks those specific experiences. Allison Jones and Allison Fine have both written blog posts recently that discuss reverse mentoring and what is necessary to move it beyond a cute idea to a strategy that works for organizations.
Keep your mentor relationship from dying
We're all busy. And it seems that we are just going to keep getting busier, so mentoring can easily fall apart if we don't actively encourage it along. Whether you're a mentor or a mentee, the answer is simple. Follow up, follow up, follow up. Thank you notes are nice, but substantive follow up is better. If your last meeting focused on a dilemma or a decision you had to make, make sure you let your mentor know what the outcome was. If you have additional questions after the meeting, reach back out with those. Schedule another chat in advance, just to check in.
Adin stressed that exchanges with mentors should not feel purely transactional. You aren't just getting information from them and moving on. It's a relationship, and even if the person is a professional connection, you should form an emotional bond. And he added, in the absence of follow up, it will make it difficult for your mentor to know how to respond when you want to talk through your next challenge with them because they've been out of the loop for a while.
What do you think makes a good mentor relationship? Have you found any mentors through social media? Read more »
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