I’ve got 10 minutes. Gimme the skinny. And make it good.
Think of us like you would a C-suite. Not because we’re rich (yet). Not because we run the world (or do we?). Not because we’re entitled (we’re just smarter).
Because we’re busy as hell.
So, how do we keep ourselves so informed and so immersed in brands and culture and current events? Between classes or our entry-level 9-to-5, extra- and intra-curriculars and all that other stuff we’re knee-deep in, we don’t have time to sit down with a nice cup of coffee and the day’s Times – well, not all of us. Just refer to our recent question – would we ever pay for a paper? Mmm nope.
Now let’s touch upon how you can leverage digital social media to get your content to us. Shitting your pants? Don’t. This can be another conversation for another time.
In the mean-time, here are some simpler, easier, older digital mediums where you can reach us:
Email:
A relatively old medium, but we all have it. Check out the AAAA Smartbrief and MediaPost (yeah, I’m in advertising). The Google Alerts model is great too. Quick headlines, brief descriptions, and tons of great content.
RSS:
We all know what it is, and, as we quickly adopt dashboards and plug into more and more feeds, it’s a good way to throw out some interesting toplines and get it front-and-center on our homepages. Check out PwC’s 10Minutes. I’ve got 10 minutes.
Mobile:
Texting might be overkill, but consider moving toward mobile pages and apps. Smartphone penetration is still low amongst the college crowd (18-24) at 5%, according to eMarketer, but smartphones are expected to become mainstream mobile by 2013 – shouldn’t you be forward thinking? Forbes? WSJ? CNN? There’s an app for that.
Your site:
The 18-24 year demo is near the top (just 10 minutes shy of our parents) when it comes to minutes spent per day on the web. Push out your content, and do it hard. But make sure that it’s user-friendly, bite-size and buzz-worthy. “Exclusive” is no longer the word. We want to get it everywhere. A good site is the Daily Beast – check out their Cheat Sheet and Buzz Board.
It’s all about finding Gen Y, because, let’s face it; we don’t have time to come to you. Like the C-suite, we’re not going to actively engage ourselves. We’re too busy. But we want to be engaged on our time and in our medium.
Photo Credit: 34592360@N02
18 Responses
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
-
[...] This post was Twitted by CraigPladson [...]
I completely agree. I always needs my information as fast as possible. That’s why I have a BlackBerry and a laptop that I bring almost everywhere. In between work that needs to be done I’m checking my Facebook, Twitter and Google Reader for new information. Sometimes I think it’s kind of sad that I need to feel so connected, but at the same time, I don’t know how to operate any other way, and it makes me who I am.
Interesting how this manifests itself in not only the communication channels that we are most receptive to, but also the way we speak. I find myself in conversation with my dad and he’ll have no idea what I said because I was speaking so fast, but my friend who is with me will have understood every word.
This is so true. I always have tabs open with my Gmail and my Google Reader, even if I’m already doing five other things. I think the tricky part for companies is recognizing the delicate line between spam and great content. E.g. I hate email spam, but I love Daily Candy. I think you hit it on the nose with what makes great content: “user-friendly, bite-size and buzz-worthy.”
I think it’s funny how much light this article sheds on the ways I’ve gotten my news in the past; if I had a few minutes on CNN, I’d open the links to the articles on their main page and simply read the “article highlights” that they’ve adopted over the last couple of years. Also coming to mind is a daily morning-show plug on the radio known as “The 5 Things You Need To Know To Be The Smartest Person In At Work”; it’s literally two lines of news, and it sets me up for what I’m going to read at work!
Totally agree with your thoughts on mobile pages/apps. And while I mostly agree with your take on millenials wanting information fast, I also really love sitting down with Time or Vanity Fair or News Week and reading their long, in-depth features and news stories whenever I can–this is where I get the news I really love: the kind I can relate to and remember a month from now. I’d never trade those magazine stories for all bitty ones.
I was interested to read your take on fast-based, information-grabbing, bite-sized 18-24 year olds…but I’m not sure it speaks for the majority of our generation. I come from a very different background and take, having not gone to school for a communications degree. Most of my college friends didn’t care a bit about RSS feeds, bite-sized news, advertising, PR, Twitter, etc….so I think that while this article speaks to one side of our generation, it might just miss a very different side that sees things a lot differently.
The point you make about your friends not being as plugged in is spot on. I’ve often experienced that my friends are not nearly as techie I am, and they quickly tire of any conversation once twitter is mentioned. But, while our peers may not do it all, I think they’re involved with at least some of it. And, if they’re not reading blogs or taking advantage of things like RSS feeds, the barrier to entry for them is much lower than for our parents. As time goes on I can only imagine our generation will become more and more plugged in. However, I do agree that if your marketing efforts are all online you might be missing a good chunk of our generation.
Jason & Kate,
You guys make excellent points. I agree, and I do admit that my views aren’t completely impartial, simply because I live it in my job everyday.
Jason, I don’t think all marketing efforts should be online – but, I think more and more, our peers are beginning to live more digitally.
Online dashboards were actually introduced to me by friends of mine who are in finance/consulting, and the magic about these dashboards is that they make RSS pretty intuitive. I think we’re moving that way as our generation starts to explore more and more in the digital space. Our generation is looking at the internet as a necessity and a piece of our everyday fabric rather than a luxury like older generations see it.
For now, yeah, I’m missing a chunk of our generation. Print’s not going anywhere for a while, but we’re forward thinking, right?
Kate, I can’t live without my magazines and NYTimes… I’m with you on that.
I agree that the barrier to entry is lower than for our parents but I don’t think that’s the main problem. If some of us aren’t as techie, it might simply be because we don’t want to be. I have an Iphone, I probably spend 7 hours a day in front of my computer. Even if the internet and social media make us feel plugged in, for others in can simply mean that we are disconnected from our peers in our real social life. If some of us don’t look farther than facebook, it probably means we are happy with it for now. I am more curious with the generation that will come after us, since they never got to know the world without the internet and what came with it. As for newspapers, I agree that reading it in print is not our first reflex, but if we live on the daily news, like for our studies for example, we end up reading them in print, even if we are iphone users.
This Sun parody is a nice illustration of why: http://bit.ly/6pBAA8
While I may not sit down with a paper and my coffee, I do spend my day with Google Reader . . . and Gmail, and work e-mail, and work, and Twitter. Find a way to get to me via one of those, and I’ll probably pay attention. But remember – while, like Christine, I enjoy Daily Candy’s first e-mail of the day, chances are pretty slim that I’ll read their second or third.
Before I got my BlackBerry 6 months ago I had a regular cell phone that didn’t have internet or email access. I thought using my computer was enough internet exposure. Now I’m connected 24/7 because anytime an e-mail comes though I have instant access right on my phone. About a month ago I was practically phoneless for a week and felt like a fish out of water. That’s the big difference between this generation and others who didn’t grow up with such advanced technology. Sometimes I feel ashamed that I rely so much on the internet and my phone, but without them I don’t know how I’d get work done or communicate with the important people in my life.
I don’t think any of my friends from high school or college know what RSS is.
For me, it’s all about ME. I have an iPhone and a BB, plus a mac and a PC (both laptops). Give me content I can consume on a train ride, a subway ride, or while laying around in the park during the summer. Sometimes that means print, sometimes that means digital.
It always means timely and portable.
Everyone’s preferences are different, but the Millennial generation is slightly more infamous for “multi-tasking” than other generations, so make sure you give us the good bits succinctly – we don’t have time for the “fluff”!!
I hear “user-friendly, bite size and buzz-worthy” and this is the only thing that I can think of.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6J3OD4Z0UQ
The gospel according to George.
I spent an hour and a half in a bookstore the other day. It made me miss when I was younger, and I didn’t feel the need to be connected to my computer and phone all the time. Do I enjoy having Facebook, IM, Twitter, etc. etc. to keep connected? Yes. I especially enjoy having my (new) Blackberry with all those things on it, because now I don’t have to budget time into my day to stay connected. But there are definitely moments I wish I just had some time to relax, slow down, and enjoy a good book.
Workin’ on delivering content in 140cc instead of long form blogs…but it’s not as robust and tougher to glean the gems. Still, I hear ya. And appreciate your candor. Thx. On it.
p.s. Fun Challenge? Disconnect: compare and contrast; report back on unplugged experience. Did so in the Sierras this TG, barely made it, but the deer and wild turkeys made it worthwhile.
Thanks for the fantastic comments, everyone!
Adeline, I see your point. But I would think majority of our generation would think of the internet and digital media as the new way to stay connected. Prob safe to assume the next NEXT great generation will be even more “connected.” Great link, btw. Just brilliant!
Kristen, we’ve all been there. I can’t live without the internet at my fingertips anymore!
Tyler, I’ll admit that a lot of my friends don’t know what RSS is either… But I think it’s a brilliant way to feed content to a time-starved generation. It’s just a matter of higher adoption and discovery.
Amy, thanks for your comments! I agree with your sentiment about short v. long-form (There will be a post about that soon). I’m afraid to try your challenge. I’ve gone a weekend without my phone, and it was scary… look forward to seeing you more on future posts!
informative article, euge!!! it’s so true how we really don’t have/make time to find new things to entertain us, however, when something does catch our attention and truly engage us, it spreads like wildfire.