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Tag Archive: Brands

4 Strategies To Consider When Marketing to the Millennials

Written on March 11, 2011 by Josip Petrusa

Trying to market in today’s environment has become quite an interesting task to say the least. With opportunities constantly opening up and new possibilities appearing everyday, figuring out what to do, what you need and what it would take to implement a successful marketing strategy has become increasingly complex and challenging.

Traditional marketing is still an aspect of the game. New-age methods and mediums are firmly gaining territory, while becoming obligatory and commonplace. Then you have the hybrid between the two. Traditional advertising combined with social media. Amplified social media activity during televised events. And the list goes on.

All this and more only makes the lucrative 18-34 year-old demographic trickier to reach. The digital natives, the Millennials, are everywhere but nowhere. Their environment, though unmistakably similar to those before them, functions in a vastly different manner thanks to the internet, social media, mobile technology and so on. As a result, we shouldn’t be applying the same standards, mindsets or thoughts to today’s youth. Here are 4 strategies to consider when marketing to the Millennials.

1. Content is not always king

“Content is king” is undoubtedly one of the most overused and clichéd phrases in the marketing and advertising industries. Don’t get me wrong, content is absolutely imperative when you’re dealing with visual, auditory and literary aspects. However, content is by no means the deal-marker when Millennials make a purchasing decision.

In fact, the phrase itself undermines many fundamentals Millennials undertake towards the products and brands they’re drawn to purchase. From the strategic values they hold towards brands, to the affordability and quality of the product, content is not always king by any means. The “Old Spice Guy” campaign is considered to be one of the best content campaigns in recent memory. Other than some minor growth, tens of millions of views have led to a few funny moments while leaving many, including the Millennials, unconvinced. Oh, and the purpose of the campaign was to rebrand Old Spice to something more youthful. How many Millennial men do you know that were convinced by this and switch to Old Spice?

2. “Join us on Facebook and Twitter.” Now what?

It’s evident that social media is everywhere. And if you’re a Millennial, this has been evident for the last 5 years. It’s a very natural place for us. So natural in fact that intrusion by marketing and advertising forces has only taken some significant shape recently, through events such as the brandification of your social presence.

Absolutely everyone wants your attention. And many have gone as far as bribing you with some incentive to get you there. But, then what? Nothing! The majority are just happy with the numbers game often resulting in the vast majority of actions starting and ending with the “like” and/or “follow”. When’s the last time you followed up on your own actions? Me – hardly ever. We gave you our attention. Do something creative, innovative and useful with it. Why bother asking us to join you then?

3. We’re savvy but we don’t like all technology, web or social media aspects

Millennials are easily the savviest individuals when it comes to technology, the web and social media. Leading a significant majority of the categories that make up these groupings, it’s incredibly rare to find a Millennial not in this dynamic. The stats speak for themselves. We LOVE our tech, web, socially savvy lifestyle and are not afraid to live it online.

But with all that being said, marketers and advertisers are constantly trying to find the next cool thing and miss the mark with Millennials. And the reason they miss the mark is due to the reason that we embrace our savviness on a level of simplicity, resulting in small minority of Millennials living this savvy lifestyle on an advanced level. QR codes are a very cool and interesting idea but even our love for our smart phones has hardly enticed many Millennials one bit.

4. Cultivating the relationship beyond the purchase

Without question, this is the age of the consumer. With growing competition and an increasing amount of options opening up courtesy of the easily accessible online world, one would think they would be vying for our dollars. Keeping us as their own. The current reality is that this is hardly the case to anything beyond some mediocre loyalty programs. But there never has been a time where you could keep such essential relationships with your customer base.

There is no denying that maintaining these relationships is easier said than actually being able to do it. But isn’t that the aspect of every relationship? To put some work into it to make it great? Well, Millennials, they want to have these relationships with you. Why not grow and cultivate something remarkable that would be beneficial for both sides? After all, we’re young and hardly set in our ways. Wouldn’t you rather have a lifetime relationship with us rather than a few random bump-ins?

These 4 strategies are hardly the only ones. Nor would they ring true in absolutely every circumstance. However, they do provide a mindset and outline to what it would take to give you an advantage when marketing to Millennials.

What are your thoughts? What would you add or change in these strategies?

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The Power and the Significance of Your Name

Written on February 27, 2011 by Josip Petrusa

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The one defining characteristic we all share, the one unique and profound element of each and everyone of us is the name we are given. From the reason to why we were given such a name to the historical lineage and significance of what a name has come to represent, our name, beyond it’s objective purpose, encompasses what and who each of us is. It’s essence is at the very heart of our existence.

It signified what tribe you came from. It represented the language and dialect you spoke. It made others aware of the region you came from. And grew into characterizing the nationality you came from. It effectively describes us in a manner more than we truly understand or choose to realize. It was the mark you put down when coming to the New World, the signature that made your home and the last thing that is ever read in a letter by the one you love. Your name is utterly more powerful and significant than simply the characters that represent it.

It represents every transaction you make. From bank notes to ownership, business relations to pay checks, marriage, authorship and beyond. And in a growing world based in text, online search and social profiles, the purpose of your name has expanded and become more imperative than it ever has before. It simply doesn’t represent who you are. It is who you are.

With the unprecedented growth of social networks, social media and mobile technology, the context of the name has evolved into something that is truly beyond the physical individual. It is the title in your friend’s BlackBerry contacts. It is the quintessential component which makes the social world possible. Our name is the underlying signifier of everything that is the composition of our social profiles and everything that lives in an interconnected world.

The implications here are fascinating. Our names are the titles of our virtual self and they are becoming the key-indicators to our real self. Our social media behaviour attributes our name to the ambassadoring of the smart phones we use, the Facebook “likes”, the brands, causes and marketing we support, the tweet links we share and the statements we make. It glorifies, humanizes and broadens human tendencies into the unnatural ultimately culminating the unnatural to become natural everyday components and necessities of life.

Rather than focusing on the negatives and many supposed downturns the impact of our name has had in instances of the online world, we should embrace and represent who we are. We’re all utterly enthralled and mystified by the negative simplicities that our name attributes to us in a growing world of online search and social profiles. The negatives clearly exist as we participate in the emerging dynamics of our new world but the positives are undeniable beneficial and life-altering.

Our name, both in the physical and virtual worlds, is immortal and will outlast each and every one of us. It’s up to us to decide how you will make the greatest impact through one of the most significant and powerful characteristics we all have. Will you rise above yourself for the happiness of others? Will you influence the world with positive actions? Will you empower yourself to somehow change the world? Even on the smallest of scales. Your name is and will always be the everlasting testament of who you are.

Do Millennial Brand Wants Equal Facebook “Likes”?

Written on February 21, 2011 by Josip Petrusa

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Millennials are incredibly brand-centric. For them, brands have become a lifestyle. They represent more than simple names and products. They represent the essence and expressions and attitudes of this generation. It is a growing paradigm that is further catalyzing and characterizing the very human nature that brands are taking on as they humanize themselves.

Social media, and especially Facebook, is propelling the brand into a dynamic that is truly unprecedented. From their own Facebook pages, along with the vastly emerging page abilities, and on-going attempt at the brandification of your social presence, Facebook has brought the brand to the epicentre of our lives. Something of which has been realized and taken on by many brands from the earliest days of Facebook.

Facebook itself from its earliest days has been a Millennial thing. Even now it’s something that is still dominated by the youth segment of society with 61% of U.S. and 67% of Canadian users falling under the age of 34. Now, once you step back and take a look at the overall picture, you have Millennial demographic, in the midst of taking over the lucrative 18-34 year-olds market segment, combined with the concoction of brands on Facebook and you have yourself something that appears to be awe-inspiring. Or so it seems.

A recent report conducted by L2, know as the “Gen-Y Affluents: Media Survey”, further emphasized the increasing importance the digital and social media worlds will have on your brand and further brand success. And though I won’t dive into the complete vastness of the report itself, I want to look at something quite specific. Particularly, the brand wants Millennials have and how they equate and reciprocate to Facebook “likes”, which have become an element of rising significance.

The graph above and below clearly represent a series of “last prestige brand purchased” and “prestige brands aspired to own” by Millennials. They will represent the brands. Further, we’ll make a series of assumptive points for this context. Based on the numbers above, we’ll say that those 1-34 year-olds represent 60% of the Facebook user-base, something which is particularly low in any context. And lastly, the L2 report represents the U.S. Millennial, something we’ll simply come to represent Millennials themselves.

After you begin to look at the brands provided and start to search for the number of brands “likes” you begin to realize a few things. Firstly, Apple is clearly a favorite in all aspects of each graph and their iTunes page is the only one to break into over 10 million mark of all the brands presented. However, fascinatingly, there is no actual Apple Facebook page. Secondly, other than the iTunes page that makes it into the Top 100 Facebook pages, the rest of the brands don’t appear until a few hundred pages later in the rankings and only appear at page “likes” under 5 million with some of these prestige brands only have a few hundred thousand likes.

Now, any of these numbers would be more than flattering for anyone. Who wouldn’t want a few hundred thousands likes in the brand world? But with the Facebook savvy and brand-centric Millennials, who dominate one segment and will dominate the next, one has to wonder if Facebook “likes” at all represent the wants of customers, consumers and Millennials alike.

Don’t get me wrong here, I’m clearly taking a very assumptive approach, as I stated above. Equally, we’re only dealing with “prestige” brands here, 0f which many Millennials believe they will actually have. But, it’s something that discounts the “every day” brands such as Coca-Cola and Starbucks who continue to exhibit great social success. Though, even then, the correlation between the brand and Facebook is lukewarm at best. And to answer the purpose of this article, it seems that in fact Millennial brand wants do not equate to Facebook likes. At least for the time being.

Much of this can be attributed to a variety of reasons. Most immediately, the fact that a vast majority of brand-relationships begin and end with the action of the “like”. Furthermore, there is no overall benefit to liking anything even if does let your friends know something about you as each “like” gets lost in a growing sea of likes. Equally, Facebook’s minimal platform has often resulted in the same haphazard minimal brand approach. And though pages are being liked they do not represent anything near in scale to the power of Facebook and the Millennials that base their life around it.

By no means is any of this easy to comprehend. Nor simple to implement. But it should provide some clarification into the world of the Millennials and their branded experience. However, if Millennial brands don’t equal Facebook “likes”, maybe the “likes” themselves are a view into Millennial wants. In any case, it’s a brand and social paradigm that will need and get more attention as time goes on. Most of which will ultimately refine itself through the evolution of our social graphs.

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Story Building vs. Story Telling

Written on January 31, 2011 by Josip Petrusa

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Stories have given us some of the most powerfully multifaceted characteristics that have defined our beliefs, ideologies and the way we see the world. From the religious scriptures that our societies have been founded on, to the musings of poetic literature from the Far East, Europe and South America, to advertising campaigns we are exposed to and the gossip we share everyday. The “story” is undoubtedly one of the greatest compelling aspects we all share and are a part of.

For most of our existence, the story was in the hands of the few. Few knew how to write. Few knew how to read. More importantly, it was left in the hands of the few, the wise and elderly, to tell the story and pass it on from generation to generation. But as time moved on, and as writers and artists and poets began to grow in numbers as literacy began to shift to the masses, we became explorers, authors, directors and ultimately, journalists, columnists, bloggers and tweeters. The “story” has withstood the testament of time.

Until recently, stories have only been told. And rewritten or adapted or rephrased to be told again. We were told the story and we took it for what it was, a piece of news, a wives tale, some juicy gossip. We were passive aspects to what had happened and not what was happening. However, this is all slowly changing.

The introduction of the web, blogging, social media and tweeting forever changed the dynamics of the story. Stories are still very much told and created. But we are all becoming part of the story. The story itself is a live element of the now and not simply a representation of the past. We are no longer just story tellers. We are a growing number of story builders. A shift that has massively transitioned from the few hundred paged stories Charles Dickens wrote and transformed to the 140 character tweets many of us participate in today.

The shift has also made the story real-time and interactive. Newspapers, magazines, books and anything else that represented ink on paper was kept at the vantage point of the author, the story teller. Now, comments reign supreme. The story itself is as much a part of the actual contextual piece as it is in the comments that precede it. As we continually move away from the pillars that encompass the essence of our traditional understandings of stories, we move toward an interesting but strange world full of story builders.

Each and everyone of us who participate in any interactive and social media medium are actively building and shaping the story that is currently occurring. And Facebook offers a series of examples that are paramount to this. Our conversations, “likes”, shares and witty updates are all aspects to the story we are building. Not only have they culminated in the “wall-to-wall” element, the “see friendship” characteristic is an ongoing story from the very first interaction to the very last between two “friends”. And most recently, “sponsored stories” are the culmination of everyday stories occurring before our eyes through growing socially interactive lives.

Stories and story telling will always play a crucial role in our development. And that should never be forgotten. There is nothing more essential than reading your young child a great story book. But at the same time, we have to understand the changing direction of the winds. The story has evolved into a live and living organism and one that is only confined to the extent we choose to create and build it. The prevailing and profound nature of story remains the same. Now, you simply have to decide where you stand. Do you tell it or do you build it? Do you challenge it or do you conform to it? Do you sell it or do you enjoy it? The story is as much about the story as it is about everything else you decide to do with it.

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The Brandification of Your Social Presence

Written on January 27, 2011 by Josip Petrusa

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Douglas Rushkoff was absolutely right when he stated brands have no natural place in peer-to-peer networks. The meagre successes they’ve been able to exhibit within social media are only but a testament to the abnormality of what is the “brand”. They aren’t fellow peers. Nor are they actual products. And they’re always trying to sell you and your friends and you on your friends. Rushkoff’s “ten commands for a digital age” could not ring more true.

The problem here is that brands were never inherent components of social media. In fact, most of anything if not everything online was naturally created to benefit the user, the “friends”, the “followers”, the individual. And as Rushkoff argues, the continual progression, evolution and revolution of the technological, online and social media worlds has in fact weakened who we are. But in the same reciprocating moment, they have provided us with some of the most significant advancements we’ve ever seen.

With our fixations on how these aspects of life have altered, changed and transformed who we are and our daily environments, we’ve undoubtedly cast a shadow on many other aspects we choose to resist. The essence of our existence has been redefined. To think that as we evolve, and business evolves, and work evolves, and life evolves and just about everything within in some kind of correlation to these events evolves while the “brand” and brands don’t evolve also, in one context or another, would be foolish.

As brands try to intercede social media by attempting to create brand-to-peer and even peer-to-brand-to-peer relationships, they will fail and continue to fail if they act like the brands we’ve always known. These relationships are unnatural within the context of social media. Even with Rushkoff’s brilliance, this is where I have to challenge his contentions here. Yes, brands have no place in social media. But what if the fundamental nature of the brand has changed.

Once social media became associated with the well known fact of hundreds of millions of users, brands have been ceaselessly and endlessly trying to stake their claim within the social graph. Luckily for them, multi-billion dollar valuations and investments have pushed social media to monetize and return some of that value back to eager investors. And though this is hardly a new issue, it’s taken somewhat of a very intriguing path recently.

Earlier this week, Facebook announced the introduction of “sponsored stories”. Now, “check-ins” and “likes” will give brands the opportunity to sponsor them with a related visible ad. And though, sponsoring anything online and through social media is hardly a new advertising medium, the context of sponsored stories changes the overall context of the brand but more profoundly, your social presence.

What is essentially occurring here is the brandification, yes brandification, of your social presence. Credence has already been given to the creation of these loyal brand ambassadors, as sponsored stories cannot be turned off by the user so their online branded activity in effect creates brand ambassadors willingly sharing brand information. Though that’s significant in itself, sponsored stories are incredibly innovative when you begin to understand and contextualize the importance of the Millennials within this cosmic mix.

Not only are the Millennials hefty social media users, leading the usage and user categories, they are critical and highly noteworthy brand evangelists. Both Edelman’s “8095” and L2’s “Gen-Y Affluents” reports have verified that Millennials are considerably brand-centric. They love the brand. They love brands. They share brands. They talk brands. They live brands. They speak brands. And they have invested considerable ideological value into them. They have come to represent who they are.

When you make this correlation you begin to see the very beginnings of branded social profiles. Brands will no longer come to represent the products that encompass them but the user who empowers them. The user who humanizes them. For better or worse, we will experience a compelling paradigm shift to the branding of who we are and what our very presence online will come to represent. The advancements of our world have not only come to change who we are, they have changed the very essence of everything that surrounds us. And how we willingly interact with them. They have made the brand more synonymous to our existence than ever before.

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Social Influence, Social Authority and the Growing Social Paradigm

Written on December 3, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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Our fascination with the social world is far from over. In many ways, it’s only really the beginning. Every turn we take leads down a new and unknown road. Aside from knowing that the masses use social media and that we contribute a massive amount of time to it, we can wholeheartedly say the jury is still out. We all have great ideas, thoughts and insights into what all this really is but who can really say what all of it means.

Over the last year or so, there has been a significant and growing convergence towards attributing some kind of tangible value toward our notions of “social influence”. Something of which is impacted and graded in just about every conceivable way through every action you take on Twitter and increasingly on Facebook.

Interestingly, this phenomena of social influence, which I wrote about in a post last week aptly title A Future Based In Social Influence, will have profound effects on our social media behaviour, actions, perception, treatment and in many other factors of life that at the moment are unforeseen. Just as interesting is the reaction much of this is receiving.

Naturally, some social media users and individuals will thrive within an environment based in social influence. It will create legitimacy, gains and various types of success for these pro-social influencers. Just as naturally, there will be a backlash and opposition to the notion of being graded, measured and valued differently.

Regardless of which dichotomy you fall into, the very true, harsh and evident reality is this is taking place and will continue to take place. And it’s impacts will resonate and move into areas of life that might be understood as separate from the world of social media. But as all lines of differentiation continue to blur on an extreme scale, the future appears to be one that is socially-inclusive on a scale we can hardly conceive or understand now.

Intriguingly, another emerging social media reality caught all of my attention when I came across an extraordinary article earlier today written by Rand Fishkin. He wrote about Google’s and Bing’s confirmations that their search results and all aspects of SEO are in fact influenced by Twitter and Facebook characteristics. What’s substantive and crucial here is that this official confirmation by both verifies that various social measurements do indeed have a serious and growing impact on search. Equally, it exemplifies the prowess “social authority”, as characterized by Bing or “author authority” as characterized by Google, is taking on within the world of online search. And it’s something you can further understand through Bing’s Visual Search function seen in the picture above.

The significance here is the tremendous effect the social graph is having on one of the most prominent uses of the web. And though we fully don’t understand the effects social authority has on search, it’s safe to say its relevance will only grow. Rand himself takes on a series of educated guesses of characteristics that influence someone’s social authority within search, of which are very reminiscent of social influence measuring.

Seemingly, anything from quantity, importance and analysis ratios of friends and followers, to relevance, longevity of content, content surrounding the message, diversity of sources and engagement are but a few possible metrics Rand discusses amongst what is a considerable number of different measuring metric variations that could be used in establishing an effective level of social authority.

Social influence has already begun to change social media behaviours amongst users and increasingly amongst marketers and brands. And due to the well-known significance of search, social authority will most definitely have the same reciprocating effects especially for how search is received, perceived and used by marketers, brands and users alike.

Social media and it’s unwavering existence is redefining the dynamics of just about every aspect of life. And that understanding is nothing new. But elements such as social authority further legitimize our notions of social influence amongst other evolutionary aspects of the social world. As we refine, enhance and innovate our thoughts, theories, ideas and insights, we are undoubtedly establishing a growing social paradigm. One that has changed and is continually changing life as we know it.

Is the Social Media Privacy Issue Really A Privacy Issue?

Written on November 15, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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For some time now, the privacy issue has been at the forefront of all social media discussion. And a serious one at that. Whether it is one of the many individual angles we each face or one of corporate interest based on our employers or business, our understandings and use of social media will keep the privacy issue a hotly contested one.

After all, it should be. Shouldn’t it? We’re entitled to the preservation of our privacy. Aren’t we?

Well there are many realities to this situation. Yes, we are all entitled to a level of privacy. However, we all must understand that we freely give up certain liberties for the free and unpaid use of social media services. And we should be allowed to interact with any individuals we choose in any manner we choose. But we must understand that people do observe and monitor our actions for their own reasons, with possible implications arising from that. And round and round we go.

The debate here is imperative, necessary and extremely crucial. So much so that many individuals and users have taken the privacy issue into their own hands. Many of which have been accomplished simply by implementing a social lifestyle of preventative measures that are undoubtedly indicative and pointing towards a want for greater privacy.

And what better example to dissect than the king of the social media itself, Facebook.

From our early care-free and willy-nilly days on Facebook, many of us, with a few years experience, have taken on preventative behaviours. The most immediate example would be that of limiting all aspects of our profiles and search to only our “friends”. Equally, many us began removing tagged photos from our profiles. Not to mention the deletion and short-listing of “friends” for any variety of reasons.

Then the clever approaches started to come forward and take form. The use of pseudonyms has become common and widespread. Further, individuals began to remove en masse wall-posting capabilities on days prior to their birthdays. I guess we all have our own feelings towards a day of mass messaging. Interestingly, many of these users have begun to keep and implement this setting throughout their online tenure. And even removing the wall from their profile.

But the most fascinating aspect to come out of all of this is something that came out of an article I read over the weekend.

As a blogger and someone immersed in social media, I’m intrigued on a geekish level by elements such as the numbers behind it all. Recently, I’ve been noticing a fair share of profiles disappearing and reappearing both on my personal profile and blog fan page. At first, I thought nothing of the fluctuations. But on closer observation I began to realize a small group of my “friends” were deactivating and reactivating their profiles on a regular basis.

What’s truly amazing here is the article I came across expressed how a growing number of the youngest Facebook users, the Millennials, are continually taking an extreme offline approach by deactivating their profile when logging off Facebook and reactivating it when logging back on, in order to preserve the greatest amount of privacy and control on to their social profiles. Just as surprising is the idea that these same users still want to have a social presence and be part of Facebook in all it’s glory but only in a manner when they’re physically online. Imagine what effect this will have to online relationships, gaming and brand pages if this trend continues.

Understandably, privacy is a serious element within the world of social media. But, if we truly wanted to be private and ensure that privacy, why participate? And on the other hand, why participate if we want extreme levels of privacy in an inherently social setting? Why not log off forever and not place ourselves in this predicament? Even with all the preventative measures we take, we only lessen any consequences but still understand our privacy can be compromised.

So is this all really a matter of privacy, or is the privacy issue itself really one of control? Our concern clearly doesn’t reflect our actions. And there has yet to be the slightest significance of user-revolt. We all know that the internet and what we put on it will last forever, as everyone from Facebook, to corporations, to the government will be listening and recording. This is not about the privacy of our information. This is about us controlling who we are. This is about the having the ability to control our increasingly online presence and lives.

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The Millennials and Their Differing Social Media Paradigms

Written on November 11, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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The Millennials and social media have always been understood to be just that, Millennials and social media. Though it seems that one can hardly move away from the other, the reality would suggest otherwise. Millennials and social media are not as synonymous as people think. Ok, let me take a step back and say that the “Millennials” are the most significant users of “social media”. But neither really represents simply one element, characteristic or entity.

Social media is often understood and mistakenly perceived to be one single entity. And thus, since a significant majority of the Millennials are social media users, from numbers ranging from at least 80-90% and even suggestions of complete saturation, it is also understood and mistakenly perceived that Millennials are social media users across all platforms.

There are two significant distinctions that must be addressed here. The first being that social media is not simply one network or paradigm. It is a large and eclectic series of platforms, networks and webs of connections. Now the second point is, and just as important to understand, though Millennials are significant social media users they don’t not represent all social medias.

Their usage can easily span Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Foursquare without every Millennial ever using all four and yet still represent an understanding that all Millennials use all social media.

This all brings me to the point of my article at hand. What relationship do the Millennials have with social medias such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Foursquare? And how could be benefit from understanding this? The most immediate reality here is that not all Millennials use every kind of social media. Equally, each social media is not perceived to be the same and nor should it be.

So without further hesitation, a Millennial breakdown of the Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Foursquare paradigms.

Facebook

If there is one social media network all Millennials use, it would be Facebook. Often understood by many Millennials as the beginning of the social media movement, Facebook has become the online home to many of us over the years. It’s where we’ve shared our most intimate experiences and prized moments. It’s where we act as if we’re talking to each other person. And it’s probably the only network where we’ve actually met all our “friends” in person at one point or another.

The influence here is high, simply due to the nature of our immediate-friendships. It’s very personal and very personable. Not only is it an aspect of everyday life, it is a mutual meeting grounds, and place of both opinion and conversation. So be weary of intruding this space. It can’t be expected for us to simply “like” everything. Unless the offer is right of course. It could be as simple as representing the expression of who we are. Or a way to stay up-to-date to our friends that are brands. Or a straight-up tangible offer. No one just “likes” for the sake of liking.

Twitter

The undisputed referral king of the web, Twitter probably see’s the most conversation. Though something that was not originally picked up by the Millennials, Twitter has come to represent a notable number of Millennial users. Most interestingly is the fact that Millennial networks established via Twitter are quite the opposite of the ones established in Facebook. The majority of Twitter users have hardly ever met in person. Strangers are readily more accepted here than anywhere else. Not that there is something wrong with that, as online friends are coming to represent real friendships.

What’s fascinating here is the substantial influence we receive from other Twitter users, who more often than not are complete strangers. What’s equally as fascinating is the purposes behind Millennial Twitter use. Some jump on the Twitter bandwagon. Some are really interested behind all the tweeting. Some are looking to promote themselves. Etcetera. The reasons are, well, endless. You have the feed watchers, the retweeters, spammers, thought-givers, conversationalist, and complainers. All tweeting to a series of individuals that they’ve probably never met. Yet at one point or another we’re all interested by their tweets. We’re all greatly influencing everyone and being influenced by them.

Considered to the networking site for professionals, LinkedIn is quite easily the least active yet most intimidating social media platforms amongst Millennials. Many find absolutely no use from it as many Millennials themselves have infant or no professional network. So contacts and the prized recommendations are hard to come by. Once you add this with LinkedIn’s very stringent spamming protocols, you find many Millennials with blank profiles, for those that haven’t deleted it yet, or weak presences.

And you can’t really blame them. Compared to very simple to use and network building sites like Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn seems like a lot of effort for nothing in return. It’s a great place to look for work however most of those jobs here are out of the reach of many Millennials, even when they have the recommendations, experience and connections to suggest otherwise. So, if none of my friends or colleagues don’t use it and if connections for new-inexperienced LinkedIn users are hard to come by, why would Millennials want to use it? They might have a pretty concrete point. Where’s the benefits? And no, Millennials will not willingly pay monthly for premium services,

Foursquare

Oh, Foursquare. Still very young, and not used by very many at all. However, we are hearing more and more about place media and location based services. And though like Twitter, it’s users have heightened activity and influence in just about every category, why would any Millennial want to use Foursquare when most of their friends and colleagues only use Facebook on a regular basis. Foursquare does have it’s place, don’t get me wrong. But in it’s current state I can whole-heartedly say the Millennials at this point in time really don’t care about Foursquare.

Even on the basis of possibly getting something for free, many have already perceived it to be a ludicrous idea because who really wants to tell other people where they are and why would we want to care where are friends our. Considering, chances are we already know where are friends are. And you thought the barriers were up for adding strangers to Facebook, I can hardly imagine any Millennial just adding a complete stranger to Foursquare. Why would they? It seems beyond taboo to be stalked in a sense. Does it have its place? Of course it does. Just don’t expect any vast Facebook or Twitter effect amongst the Millennials.

Although this post is longer than I expected it to be, it is a clear layout of how many Millennials perceive and understand different social medias to be. The paradigms are clearly different across all categories. And the principles within those categories are just as different. Of course, you’ll find Millennials who use all four. I use the first three myself. But I’m more savvier and aligned with social media than many choose to be.

The fact of the matter is that social media doesn’t simply encompass everything social. Equally, the Millennials are social media users across a vast spectrum and use each for varying reasons. Like everything else, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and even Foursquare do all have their purpose. The question you should be asking yourself is whether the Millennials are finding purpose for them.

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Millennials Won’t Be Checking-In With Foursquare Any Time Soon

Written on October 28, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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In a post-Facebook world, just about anything is capable of happening. The unprecedented growth of various social media’s has yielded a great amount of interesting ideas. But more importantly, many of these are being favourably approached by users. And with usage constantly growing, representing hundreds of millions of individuals, it almost seems like a sure bet. The current level of opportunity could quite well make anything possible.

It’s this same notion of opportunity that got me thinking during Evan Cohen’s presentation last week at the Pivot Conference. For those of you who don’t Evan is, he’s the general manager of foursquare. And for those of you who don’t know what foursquare is, in a nutshell, it’s a mobile based application platform that it is integrated with a sense of social media allowing it’s users to “check-in” at different locations, explore cities, stay up-to-date with where there friends are, special offers and much more that can be found here.

foursquare is undeniably an interesting idea. As their about page states, as of August 2010 they have close to 3 million users worldwide. That’s no small feat in itself. The opportunities that potentially exist here are countless and extraordinary. However, at the same time when it seems like an opportunity that shouldn’t be overlooked, we shouldn’t be blinded by it either.

There’s no doubt “place media” has some positive and lucrative potential. And as Evan pointed out during his presentation, foursquare is leading the place media charge. Not only can place media such as foursquare increase business through valuable foot-traffic, amongst other avenues, it allows businesses to leverage consumership to a great extent.

To paraphrase Evan here, foursquare is a great opportunity for companies, brands, products and business alike. I really have no problem with that whatsoever. What I did find highly fascinating though was there was hardly any mention of the end-user. Like I said, I’m in favour of opportunity for business. But what about opportunity for the user?

Yes, the user gets special offers for their participation. And the fortunate few that can become “mayors” of various locations, do incur some special treatment. Though, I don’t think the same opportunity exists for the user as it does for business. In fact, I don’t think the majority of Millennials, myself included, resonate with this and with anything foursquare offers.

There’s a few realities to why this is. Most immediately, our understanding of what foursquare is and what it offers. With mobile phone penetration at the tipping point, chances are we already know where all our friends are, as we text and BBM on an incredible basis. Once you combine that with Facebook and even Twitter, simply on this basis, many Millennials have no need for it. The common sentiment is no one really cares about where you go. Nor do we care to tell everyone where we go. Well, sometimes for bragging purposes. But even then we don’t really care.

The other component foursquare is notably known for is the special offers you receive for checking-in to a location. Whether that be some sort of immediate savings or eventual offering after a series of check-ins at a particular location, amongst the speciality treatment mayors receive, none of this can be translated into something enticing enough for Millennials. Especially, since only as a user would you even know about the offers that exist. While at the same moment everyone is being bombarded by the ever mushrooming variants of loyalty and discounting programs.

At a time when social media has become a facet of everyday life and smart phone growth is ballooning, Millennials have yet to find any need or reason for really wanting to join foursquare. I’m as savvy as they come and I’ve hardly considered it. Even as a niche idea, you can hardly expect your niche users to always and continually support your business. Yes, for business, the opportunity is there. But until that opportunity reflects the customer, until that opportunity represents an user-centric approach, don’t expect the Millennials to be checking-in any time soon.

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Humanize Your Brand

Written on October 26, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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It’s an interesting statement. How could anyone possibly humanize their brand? After all, brands are labels. And those labels represent a type of product. And that product represents a specific function or use. They’re simply materialistic possessions. Nothing more than that, right?

Well, don’t tell that to us. For the Millennials, brand-culture is taking on a significant paradigm shift. For some time now, brands have slowly begun to move away from a product based culture. And for anyone that has been paying attention, you would have noticed that the Millennials have become the catalysts of this progression into a lifestyle brand culture. There is not denying that Millennials love their brands. And it’s something that goes beyond the brand itself.

We want to talk about you. We want to share about you. We want to get to know you. We want to have real relationships with you. The essence of the brand has moved beyond our notions of use, functionality and materialistic being. Though use, functionality and materialistic quality still remain imperative and should in no way be taken to a lesser extent, for us, brands have begun to encompass who we are. And we have become very willing to tell everyone about how awesome “my” brand is and how great “our” relationship is.

I remember a time not too long ago when brands were seen as fashion faux pas’. There was a strong anti-brand sentiment in a sense. Maybe it could be that the consumerism of the 90s was based on cool. Nike was cool. But now it’s about comfort. Our brand values have changed considerably. In a world where everything is seemingly cool, we’ve gone above and beyond to distinguish ourselves in any way possible.

And this shift has only been fuelled by social media and other online innovations. Simple instances of searching and sharing have become more alive and real. Aside from the algorithms of these online processes that are in fact trying to become more human, googling, youtubing, facebooking and tweeting are not only changing language and speech, rather they’re beginning to represent fundamental actions in our everyday life.

Once you move beyond the online based power brands of Google, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, you begin to notice that we are googling, youtubing, facebooking and tweeting to engage our brands just as we would engage colleagues, friends and real individuals. The essence of brands themselves has come to represent these same feelings of engagement. We are engaging you as if you were colleagues, friends and real individuals.

For Millennials, brand engagement itself represents something completely different than it did for any other generation. This is about trust, loyalty and influence. There is no denying the greatest influencers to Millennials are Millennials themselves. Equally, you better mean every word you say. What you say must be as great as you promised it to be. You have to represent who you are. And if you can establish that trust, we will be loyal customers and brand-activists. But, and this is a big but, you have to provide us with loyalty in return. A relationship does not simply involve us. It involves you and me.

Brand humanization is more evident than we currently understand. It’s not just a smart phone. It’s a BlackBerry or iPhone. It’s not just a coffee. It’s a latte from Starbucks. It’s not just about liking your Facebook page. I want to hear from you Coca-Cola. You have over 15 million likes and you’ve only posted 7 things on your wall since October 13. Your fans are talking and they want to hear from you! Why else would would anyone really want to say anything unless to evoke a response? I’m still amazed that only the lovable Old Spice Guy figured out his friends wanted to hear from him. And he did what any good friend would, he got back to you.

It’s quite clear that with technological and online advancements, our understanding of brands has forever changed. It can also be understood that brands are becoming more human and in fact, they must become more human simply because the virtues of social media dictate that. And we want these relationships. Is it a little unrealistic to suggest brands have to act like this? Maybe. But if you want the attention of the Millennials, if you want us to respond, you might have to come to us on our level. It’s not simply about you the brand. It’s about being real. It’s about our relationship.

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