Penn State’s online news site, The Digital Collegian, reported that a professor is leading the trend in putting course information on Facebook. He believes that he’ll reach more students by taking the course to their turf.Who are “today’s readers”? Well, in a sense, they’re tomorrow’s readers. If you’re reading this book, chances are you’re aware of the growing Internet influence on our world. Boomers, their kids, and many of their parents have adapted pretty well to it. But the generation now entering college and the workforce is the first to grow up with the Internet as a fact of life—a medium to be taken for granted the way the morning newspaper once was.
Whether you are working with them; selling to them; trying to inspire, educate, or entertain them; or just need their cooperation—no matter what field you’re in, you will need to interact and communicate with these so-called millennials. They are the new audience.
The first thing to understand about them is this: They are not heir to the indifference and cynicism of Generation X-ers—so don’t call them Generation Y, if you want to be thought au courant.
To help writers, editors, and publishers create content that will appeal to the millennials, particularly those born between 1980 and 2002, we begin with the basics: a psychographic profile of this age group, tips for interacting with them, and pointers to generational trends that will affect every industry.
The problem of information overload has become a cliché to this new generation of speedy and willing multitaskers. Parents are astonished to find their children sitting on the couch watching television, texting e-mail to friends, surfing the Web, and glancing at a textbook. All at the same time, with no signs of feeling stressed.
Far from being disorganized, millennials are accomplished at focusing selectively and making rapid decisions. They have adapted to a culture that is so fast-paced it requires them to pull the most important information out of a given medium and move on. And keep moving.
Millennials can’t remember a time when their home did not have one computer or several. They use the Internet as an extension of themselves—and not just for e-mail. In fact, there’s evidence that e-mail isn’t immediate enough for this generation. They like to send and get information via text messaging, RSS feeds, wikis, and blogs. To meet their expectations, we have to become familiar with the vocabulary that reflects the new-media landscape.
As reported in a Chronicle of Higher Education article (January 5, 2007) about a technology forum the newspaper sponsored, millennials “have grown up with more choices and more selectivity in the products and services they use, which is why they do not have, for example, a generational music.” Imagine—an entire generation not defined by music!
With the advent of Web sites like Pandora.com, millennials are exposed to a much wider range of styles and artists than the music played on the weekly Top 40. And that’s not limited to new music. Elvis Presley Enterprises reports that more than a third of visitors to Graceland are under the age of 35. The advent of satellite radio allows this generation to pick and choose what music they want to listen to.
Until 9/11, the millennial generation experienced the most economic prosperity of any generation. Generally speaking, they’re still used to a relatively fabulous lifestyle. Most millennials have never had to share a car, let alone a bedroom. They have cell phones, iPods, extensive travel experience, and extravagant birthday parties. They are privileged, although they don’t see themselves that way at all.
They love money. They love earning it, saving it, and spending it. Millennials save over a quarter of what they earn. The oldest members of this generation are only in their mid-20s, but 16 percent of them own stocks and bonds, and 7 percent own mutual funds. Millennials are spenders, too, but they know they need to save now so they can spend later. They expect to be paid well for their efforts in business—and they’ll save hard and play hard with that money.
The Chronicle article summed up personal characteristics that accompany those values: “They rarely read newspapers—or, for that matter, books. They are impatient and goal-oriented. They hate busywork, learn by doing, and are used to instant feedback. They want it now. They think it’s cool to be smart. They have friends from different ethnic backgrounds. They want flexibility—in the classroom and in their lives.”
Well. So much for the patient, passive, polite Dear Readers of yesteryear! See the chart on page 21 for a cross-generational comparison.
COMPARATIVE MINDSETS OF LIVING GENERATIONS
Veterans & the “Silent Generation”: 1901–1942
Baby Boomers: 1943–1960
Generation X: 1961–1980
Millennials: 1981–2002
Millennials are special. They know this because their parents, teachers, tutors, guidance counselors, private soccer coaches, therapists, nutritionists, and nannies have told them so their entire lives.
They are confident; they expect good news and believe in themselves. In an age of highly publicized child kidnappings and other risks to young people, millennials have been kept from harm’s way and lead highly structured (or, as some child psychologists have suggested, overscheduled) lives.
Millennials have attended schools where collaboration is the norm and competition is toned down. The Chronicle technology forum moderator, Richard T. Sweeney, noted that “to get this generation involved, you have to figure out a way to engage them and make their learning faster at the end of the day.” A student participant explained, “When a teacher is lecturing to you in the front of the room, it’s really boring. You don’t get involved, and you tend to kind of zone out the whole time. I need more bells and whistles to keep my attention.”
Universities are recognizing this trend more quickly than corporations. When most universities were still mainly lecturing to students, Furman University in Greenville, SC, was exploring “engaged learning” as a way to not only teach millennials but also “develop their self-confidence and sharpen their leadership skills.” In addition to collaborative student-teacher research projects, the school “emphasizes education outside the traditional classroom,” aiming “to give students greater responsibility” for their learning experiences and encourage leadership. A significant number of Furman students participate in internships. Others serve as teaching apprentices on campus or in elementary and secondary schools. Almost a quarter enroll in study abroad programs sponsored by the university, and a majority work as volunteers for social service agencies or other helping programs in the Greenville community. For many Furman students, these out-of-class opportunities are life-changing experiences.
In a 2005 CNET article, “The Millennials Usher in a New Era,” Stefanie Olsen wrote that millennials “are simply using today’s technologies to express a sense of belonging that young people have always desired”:
By only their seventh birthday, most children in the United States will have talked on a cell phone, played a computer game and mastered a TV-ondemand device like TiVo, much to the amazement of technically challenged parents. By 13, researchers say, the same children will have gone through several software editions of instant messaging, frequented online chat rooms and downloaded their first illegal song from BitTorrent. College-age millennials will likely own a laptop and take for granted ubiquitous broadband Internet access. They may also be intimately familiar with the feeling of “highway hypnosis”—the ability to drive or multitask with little memory of the process of getting there.
Millennials are also experts at online social networking. Reflecting their acceptance of diversity, they use the new online communities to get out of their environment and into another city, country, or culture with the click of a mouse. The exponential growth of online social networking tools such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, and others has transformed the way college students and young adults meet new people and keep in touch with each other. (For more about the phenomenon of social networking, see chapters 4 and 5.)
Because such sites have become gathering places for young people, they draw traffic from those who want to communicate with them:
Penn State’s online news site, The Digital Collegian, reported that a professor is leading the trend in putting course information on Facebook. He believes that he’ll reach more students by taking the course to their turf.
The University of Kansas has used YouTube to post promotional videos, also believing that it’s smart to go where the kids already are.
Some politicians are purchasing advertising space and creating their own profiles on social networking sites, reaching hundreds of thousands of 18-to 24-year-olds, a group whose voting turnout has always been low.
Many students feel a false sense of security with social networking, which carries some real risks. Student profiles are searchable only by people within the same school and peers who have been “accepted” as friends, so millennials feel they “know” the people with whom they are networking—though academia is not a crime-free zone.
But technology also allows them to stay in touch with parents more easily than ever before. It’s not uncommon for millennials to talk to each parent daily, sometimes multiple times. Have you heard the term helicopter parents? They’re hovering protectively and they’re here to stay. Parents of millennials tend to have planned for a smaller family and to base their sense of self-worth on the success of their children. Older and highly educated, they are often thrilled to see their little millennials move back home after college.
This is a true story: Two girls were asleep one night in their sorority house when they woke to the sound of glass breaking. Terrified, they listened at the door and became convinced that an intruder had broken in downstairs. One of the girls grabbed her cell phone and called...her mother, 500 miles away. The mother called the police on another line while staying on the cell phone with her daughter.
Universities are creating “parent relations departments.” Professors still get pleas to raise a student’s grades after they’re issued, but now it’s often the parents doing the pleading—or demanding. Extreme examples of helicopter parents are those who attend job interviews with or for their children and conduct salary negotiations.
But there’s a positive side to the helicopter parent phenomenon. Remember the healthy millennial ego and sense of optimism? Fewer millennials are from broken homes—divorce rates are down for their parents—and drug and alcohol abuse, unplanned pregnancies, and abortion rates are declining among them. In fact, they frown on promiscuity and swearing, even as these are encountered to extremes in pop culture. (Didn’t see that coming, did you?)
Just as technology and the information it conveys change daily, so do the rules for working and communicating with other people. This is especially true with millennials. Above all, remember that they are highly educated and motivated, and they pressure themselves to succeed. They expect the very best from colleagues, commercial transactions, and the causes they champion in their free time.
Claire Raines, in her book Beyond Generation X: A Practical Guide for Managers, published a list of the ways managers drive their millennial employees crazy. Ignoring input and feedback from employees, giving virtually meaningless raises, and failing to give regular performance reviews ranked high. To build relationships with millennials, she offers the following advice:
Give feedback, both instant and regular. Millennials have spent years getting immediate attention from parents and immediate responses from the Internet. They want to know how they are doing, where the benchmark is, and how they can improve.
Give them only what they need to know. As high-tech as this generation is, millennials don’t respond very well to online learning. While Gen X-ers communicated through very pragmatic data, easily relayed online, millennials are more likely to respond to information that is presented in other ways than charts and graphs, such as real-life stories, collaborative projects, and the Socratic method. Better to hold a meeting than send an e-mail with many attachments.
Forget about expecting them to “pay their dues.” This is a generation that did not have to start at the bottom. They’re special, remember? They won’t understand why you expect an entry-level associate to get the coffee, and they certainly won’t like it. Changing jobs doesn’t have the same stigma it used to. Millennials will just find another job where they can contribute more than an afternoon latte run.
Allow them to collaborate. Millennials grew up in a learning culture of working together on group projects and other assignments. Figure out a way to fit working groups into your corporate culture. Create “pods” of people who work creatively together.
Do not give them busywork. You’ll get more out of your millennials by sending them home an hour early than by keeping them busy till 5 p.m. collating and stapling. Busywork builds resentment in this generation, for whom a major motivation is making a true contribution.
Pay them well. Millennials see their paycheck as a benchmark of their success. If you don’t pay them well, expect high turnover. These highly motivated and overachieving young adults will leave your company faster than you can imagine. As Claire Raines noted, puny raises do nothing but annoy millennials.
Show that they are making a contribution. Give your millennials tangible ways to make a difference at your company. They value loyalty and service. Teach them that they can be heroes at your organization, and they will work very hard for you.
Understand that they will most likely leave—and after a relatively short time. Millennials are pursued as employees, and they are always looking for the next best thing. They aren’t used to paying their dues, so the baby boomer style of climbing the ladder is foreign to them. While they’re with you they’re loyal, but don’t take it personally when they move on to more responsibility, a bigger paycheck, or simply a different experience at another company. If you want to keep them, promote them before someone else can.
When You’re Selling to Them...
Millennials have highly sensitive bull-detection radar. They’re suspicious of marketing, and with reason. Advertisements and marketing campaigns have always come at them from every direction. So how do you market to a generation that’s oversaturated with marketing?
Accept it: They’re not like you. Tips for communicating with millennials published by MindPowerInc.com included this one: “They’re more technologically advanced, so your message might be squarely on target, but if it’s in the wrong media, the millennials will never hear it. They want a choice of all types of communication.” That means Web sites, instant messaging (IM), gaming, iPods, and, yes, traditional print materials.
Integrate your advertising. You won’t reach the millennials through TV alone. Think Facebook, podcasts, and on-campus word-of-mouth when you’re crafting a communications strategy.
Don’t patronize them. Millennials know how to see through the fluff and pick out what’s real and relevant. Slick printed brochures with no substance won’t get a second look from them.
But they can be marketed to. Reaching them will mean thinking outside the boxes—as in televisions and radios. Members of this generation will skip any ad they can, and their TiVo and iPods eliminate the commercials. But they do research—usually online—before buying a product, so pay attention to how your product is being talked about online.
Don’t underestimate the power of friendship. Millennials think of friends as family. They listen to their peers regarding, well, pretty much everything. As a marketer, your goal should be to make your product the one everyone is talking about. Whether that means creating a Facebook group, recruiting campus representatives, or using viral marketing, make sure that friends are telling friends about your product.
Perhaps you work for a political campaign and need to get out the vote. Or maybe you want to mobilize young adults for a service project. Possibly you’re starting a company and can only afford to hire entry-level millennials for the job.
Use their talents. These tech-savvy young adults have energy and knowledge that older people may not possess. Don’t just give them busywork like sealing envelopes; let them use their skills to help you. Most likely you’ll get a great return on your investment.
Tell them how they can add to their resume. Millennials want to know where they are going and how to get there. Entice them by showing how they could highlight their experience on a resume.
Allow them to work in teams. Never forget the culture of collaboration. Place them in a group together, and you may be thrilled to find them finishing projects early and asking for new ones.
Listen to them. Those helicopter parents have been listening to millennials’ opinions and preferences about absolutely everything, so this generation expects to be taken seriously. While they may have a lot to learn, you might also get some good ideas from them.
Provide a fun environment. Millennials are social. They like meeting new people and are confident in new surroundings. Make sure they have some fun time. They also mesh well with older generations, so give them a chance to get to know everyone in your organization.
Psychographics is not an exact science, and no generational profile can pinpoint the traits of every person. But by paying attention to generational shifts, we can align our message strategies for the people we most need to reach in publishing today: tomorrow’s content creators, readers, and thought leaders. The millennials feel quite at home in our diverse, global, interactive, wired (or, more accurately for some, wireless) culture. Want to encourage millennials to listen to and engage with you? Return the favor.