Sure, the Millennials (born 1984-2002) don’t know how to make long distance calls on a land line by dialing “1″ first. Sure, the Millennials think that email is the new snail mail. Sure, the Millennials use Facebook and MySpace as their primary means of communication. But the terms “social media” is still new to them.
The Millennial’s ability to adapt to technology and the changes in their use of communication isn’t an indicator of their understanding of what social media is and how it is used. The average age on Facebook is 35 while the average age on LinkedIn is 41. More Gen X’ers are using LinkedIn than Millennials and by “using” I mean “effectively using”.
Millennials don’t look at social media as the future of the internet, but as a lifestyle. This is important because if your target audience are the Millennials, then your marketing efforts must reflect lifestyle rather than simply style. Looking cool, sounding hip, and using (seizure enducing) visual effects are not the major ingredients to communicating your message to Millennials.
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This is some good advice. I have to admit that I have never thought about the Millenials in this way, but I think you are so correct. It is always important to remember our targert audience as we are developing ways to reach out to customers.
MTV calls the Millennial gen the P-Gen, "P" standing for programming or producer. They have recognized that the Millennial gen wants to put their own programming or experience together themselves on their own terms with the options provided rather than being forced to fit into buckets or predetermined categories. I think that's the creative challenge at hand…
That is really going to be a challenge for us. We are used to giving people a limited number of options and forcing them to go through doors 1, 2, and 3 only to be given another set of options once they make the first decision. If this is how the M's want to operate we need to quick adapt.
If we do not adapt then we will end up being like the music industry: refusing to change and losing money at an enormous rate.
It sounds like you are pretty poised to help lead that change for the rest of us.