A few months back I wrote about the perceived generation gap and inbound marketing, and how companies can bridge that gap through embracing social media marketing. Recently, I’ve either heard or stumbled across a few things causing me to revisit this topic, but from a slightly different perspective...actually engaging in online conversations.
As we came to the time of year where television series are coming to an end and summer series have yet to kick off (not to mention…when does football start again?!) I spent some time exploring Hulu. I stumbled across the show “Younger” which follows a 40-something newly divorced woman looking to reenter the job market. Since she spent the majority of her 20s and 30s out of the workforce raising her daughter, she finds very little success as she tries to find an entry-level job in publishing since she is “too old” with “too little relevant experience”. Out of this frustration, a scheme is crafted: she goes undercover as a 26-year old, fresh out of school, and quickly finds a job as an assistant. Of course she is tasked with all social media for the publishing houses’ authors and hasn’t a clue about the world of hashtags, Tweets, and beyond. She relies on her 20-something co-workers to teach her the ropes, and then finds her own social success when she combines that advice with her experience and mature voice. She allows her brand to come through in social, while following the “rules” set forth, thus reaching the younger audience, but also an older audience through her authentic voice.
After watching the entire season, I was still thinking about this topic, and was extra tuned in when I heard a piece on the radio about a small town in Spain that recently transitioned to 100% social media communication. They no longer take phone calls or accept emails. Every piece of information is shared via their social networks and have found they reach a much broader audience in less time and the public is able to reach them much quicker than traditional contact channels. Now, if you are like me you are thinking “hmmm…how interesting can tweets from a government entity be?!”, but that is not the point. The point is to inform and interact with their citizens, which is working quite nicely, so they again found their voice, their brand, and brought it online.
At the end of the day, you have to stay authentic, but still understand the channels in which you operate and communicate. Not sure how to really do this? Don’t worry, we have a monthly forum open to all to drop in, ask questions, share advice and best demonstrated practices, and go back and apply everything you learned. If you are antsy to get started, take some time to listen to our Social 101 Webinar.
