My Shifting Social Media Presence: From Student to Professional

For a year and a half, I’ve been active in social media as a public relations student, a recent graduate interning at a big firm in a new city, and a young professional getting settled in her new career.  As I grew and changed with each of these roles, so has my presence in social media.  I believe this shift is one many students go through as they get their first jobs, though the results are extremely varied.  Since the majority of my readers are PR students, I wanted to share how my social media activity has changed since I’ve embarked on my career and why it’s okay to experience change.

When I started blogging on PR Interactive, almost 2 years ago, I wanted to enhance my classroom education by analyzing and reporting industry trends.  Back in 2007, the PR trend to discuss was social media.  Most of my posts focused on digital PR campaigns, Twitter, Facebook, and viral videos and how these were influencing public relations students and professionals.  Rarely did I write about traditional PR campaigns.  To create a balance in my extracurricular education, I started following agency blogs and college professors.  This opened my eyes to another benefit of social media: the world of networking.

I began using my blog as a networking tool in addition to supplementing my college education, especially as graduation grew closer and the impending job search became necessary.  Twitter started to grow in popularity back in early 2008, so I created an account and started interacting with professors, students, and professionals from around the country regularly and easily.  My digital network of PR influencers steadily grew via my blog, Brazen Careerist, and Twitter, and it’s no secret that this group of amazing people helped lead me to my outstanding internship and, subsequently, my current positon at NMS.

The last year, as I’ve embraced the title of “young professional” and [reluctantly] let go of  “college student,” has probably seen my most dynamic shift in terms of social media presence.  I don’t blog frequently or consistently, but I still comment on numerous blogs each day to engage in conversations about the PR industry.

Additionally, my Twitter network has grown exponentially to include the bloggers and journalists I frequently work with on behalf of my clients.  Instead of focusing on just PR and social media, it’s imperative that I have an invested interest in the entertainment industry since the majority of my clients fall into this category.  Following entertainment professionals – whether it’s a movie studio or a film critic – on Twitter has allowed me to build better relationships with them and my clients, which as I often say, is the foundation for good PR.  And, of course, my Google reader is now filled with entertainment/film/TV blogs that I frequently comment on, too.

Currently, though I might not be as active on my own blog as I used to be, I’ve found ways to incorporate social media into my daily life outside of what I already do every day at NMS.  All of it provides me with a better understanding of what I do as a PR professional at a digital agency.

I’ve also started using Twitter and blogs to learn more about my personal interests, such as traveling and the hospitality industry.  I recently launched a separate blog,  Take Flight, that allows me to investigate the tourism industry more in-depth, much as I did with PR back in 2007.

Though each of these stages allowed me to use social media differently to benefit my education and career, one aspect remained the same: social media allowed me to dive deeper into my passions while constantly learning about a variety of topics in ways I never thought possible. Communicating with much wiser people, who I might have never had the chance to meet and learn from, impacted my life, career, and knowledge of the online world in a way that will always be the most significant part of my social media presence.

As 2009 grads start their new lives post-college, I hope they  realize it’s okay to change the way they use social media, and that their audiences and network will most likely shift, too, as they become more involved with the type of work they’ll be doing.  As long as social media is providing value and education, there’s still benefit to participating, no matter how often (or not) you use Twitter or write on your blog.

(h/t to Sydney Owen for asking some great questions recently that sparked this post.)

How Would I Market to Myself: Marketing to Gen Y Consumers

Recently, I’ve found myself wondering if social media marketers (myself included) are missing a massive opportunity when it comes to marketing to Millennial consumers. With the availability of numerous digital tools and our social media culture, it’s become much easier to interact with the 18-24 year-old demographic. Easier, however, does not mean more effective.

This morning Marc Meyer put out this Tweet:

Since I had just read two articles from the Wall Street Journal and MediaPost stating that only 22% of Millenials use Twitter, and of those, only 29% follow companies, I agreed with him.

Then, Marc asked me a thought-provoking question: How would you market to you?

Good question – one that forced me to separate myself from my day job as a marketing professional so I could think like the 23-year-old kid I am.

Below, I’ve listed several ways I’d like to see companies marketing to me.

1. Rely on Word-of-Mouth. With social networking sites, what you say and do can spread rapidly among my peers. If 10 of my friends become a fan of your page on Facebook, it shows up on my homepage and I’m intrigued, and more likely to click through to your page. Facebook makes this easy with its advertising, but if you can find ways to do this on Twitter and other sites, you’ll certainly be helping out your brand.

2. Add value by being relevant. However, don’t expect everything you say to cause a cascade effect on social media platforms. Focus on adding value rather than overloading on content. People my age are really, really good at tuning out what we don’t want to hear. (Just ask our parents.) The best way to ensure we’re listening to your messages is to make them relevant to us. Learn why we’re in a given community, whether it’s Facebook or Twitter or an iPhone app, and speak to us without severely interrupting what we’re doing.

3. Be conversational. When you’re trying to build awareness about your brand to gain customers, don’t use social media as a billboard but as a telephone. Social media should be an interactive tool, and when your consumers speak, listen and respond. In my experience, the most successful Twitter accounts and Facebook fan pages are those that go beyond simple @replies and wall posts. Ask questions, get our feedback, and implement changes. Everyone likes to have their ego stroked, right? Brand consumers, especially Gen Y ones, are no different. What feels better than having a company listen to reasonable, quality recommendations we’ve made?

4. Offer free stuff. We’re just out of college.  Loan payments are becoming a harsh reality.  If you want us to try out your brand, give us some free samples or coupon codes.  Reward us for being loyal customers by launching programs like all those restaurants do. Imagine if your favorite sunscreen or deodorant had Buy 10, The Eleventh Is On Us cards? I know I’d be much more inclined to consistently buy my favorite brand rather than whatever is on sale, which is what I do now.  Plus, if a company could build an entire online community based on the loyalty rewards system, I’d probably check it out to see what other users are saying about new products/sales/coupons/etc.

5. Give back. Millennials are do-gooders, and we pride ourselves on supporting companies that are good, too. If you can leverage a social responsibility campaign into your marketing plan, make sure the right Gen Y demographics are aware of it. Kind actions certainly make advertising words stick better in my mind.

What else can be added to this list? What companies do you think are already doing a great job marketing to Gen Y through social media? What other ideas are there beyond social networking sites?