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Millennials are flooding the professional world more and more every day. With them, they bring their tech-savvy minds and innovative ideas.
But it can sometimes be unclear how associations can connect with Millennials and form a mutually beneficial relationship. This is where social media comes into play. Social media is the Millennial home field. But your association can easily utilize social media to gain new members in the rising Millennial generation.
In a national report done by Pew Research Company, 87% of Millennials, adults age 18 to 29, use Facebook, 53% use Instagram, and 37% use Twitter. So, how can your association leverage these sites to attract new members?
It's crucial to understand the Millennial audience and who you should be targeting. This is important because these platforms can attract very different audiences. Figuring out which platforms are right for your association doesn’t have to be difficult. Do some research and talk to your current members. Look at social pages of similar organizations. Check out how your association can take advantage of six of the most popular social media sites to attract new Millennial members.
1 in 3 US Millennials are on Twitter. On this social networking site, users compose small posts of 140 characters or less. Photos, GIFs, and videos can also be included. Your association can "like" or "retweet" which reposts or forwards the message. Retweeting can promote outside or internal affairs of an association. Twitter makes it simple to track the traffic on all your activity. The platform is flashy and quick which tends to appeal to a Millennial audience base.
Associations can use this platform to interact directly with members and potential members. It is fast and simple and also very personal as it encourages a two-way dialogue. Your association can also form groups and track hashtags which are most heavily used on this site. Hashtags can spread like wildfire and are easily trackable. Use Twitter to promote events or live-tweet hosted conferences. With Twitter, you can link to other social media pages such as a post on Facebook or Instagram and gain more traffic across your different pages. In addition, Twitter's 140 character cap keeps messaging short and sweet, but you can provide a quick blurb with a link to a larger post like a blog article.
Another feature of Twitter is polled tweets. You provide a question and then activate polling and provide the answer selections. Then other people interact with it and choose an answer. Set a time limit for answering the poll and then have the results provided by the tweet itself when the time is up. It's a fast way to send out a quick survey to both members and potential members.
One of the original modern social media platforms, Facebook has continued to grow while others of it’s kind have withered. 41% of Millennials use Facebook every day, so don't count it out. You can directly interact with your Millennial members and start interacting with potential members. Commenting, sharing and like features allow you to quickly communicate with them.
The direct messaging feature allows you to have closed conversations with one or multiple people. This can provide information about membership or direct reminders of upcoming events or campaigns. Your association can create a professional Facebook page. This will allow people to rate and comment on the association. Along with that, you can post longer advertisements for membership, events, merchandise, etc. You can also share articles and other posts that have to do with your association, the same way others can start sharing your posts.
Facebook events are another great reason to use the platform. Your association can create a Facebook event for its upcoming events with all the details and invite members (and non-members) to attend. A Facebook event makes registering for an event social. People who were invited can also invite others so more event traffic can be funneled to your event.
Facebook advertising is also very effective. Millennials like fast information with little fluff. Flashy and direct to the point advertisements thrown into their feed often get noticed. Posting an ad with a call to action about joining your association could go a long way. So would a list of member benefits that link to your association’s page or website.
Instagram is one of the fastest growing social media platforms. They recently announced that they have reached 600 million users, an increase of 100 million users in just seven months. It is another Millennial heavy site where users post photos and videos typically with a caption. Users can "double tap" to like photos and leave comments.
But, how can associations use Instagram to attract new Millennial members? Promoting events, explaining membership benefits, and posting updates for existing members are just a few ways.
Another feature is the live video stream, a media tool Millennials flock to. Live streaming could be used to give a tour of an event with someone narrating the different aspects of what is happening. Or, you can broadcast interviews with members attending the event. These types of social media engagements show that your association is ahead of the curve with media technology and understand how Millennials consume information. Your association can also start a membership spotlight campaign where you highlight a member every week or month. With the member's photo, you can add a description of why they were selected. This could be an incentive for members to follow you on social media or to volunteer or interact more with the page itself. It also shows potential members that the association is consistently engaging with the membership base.
With Millennials being the majority of Instagram's users, you will be directly catering to them with these types of campaigns.
With YouTube, your association can easily create a channel with a Google account and upload videos of any length. They can be promoting events, membership benefits, insight on what the association is doing, and interviews with members or executives.
This platform also allows you to interact with members in the comments section. More importantly, you can promote your videos on other social media channels to get more people watching.
It also comes with a live video feature similar to Instagram or Facebook. This one has fewer bugs and but the video itself is often streamed at much higher definition. This might be a good option to hold live webinars for your members. These videos can be linked on other platforms to get more views to the videos and promote your association's channel. YouTube’s live videos can be saved to your association’s channel, too. This way viewers can go back and watch previous events or talks. It will also recommend your videos to people who watch similar things.
This app is frequented by Millennials, but it also has a heavy Generation Z presence. To use Snapchat, users upload ten-second (or shorter) videos or photos that they can either send to friends or put as their story. Use these “snaps” to promote events and activities for members as well as things happening within the association on a daily basis.
The app is also taking steps toward having legitimate advertising options for companies and organizations. Your association can also create a geotag. A geotag is basically a filter, often of a logo or location, that can be used as a filter. Creating them costs money, but depending on what you want, they are fairly inexpensive for what they’re worth. Geotags give your association brand exposure at a minimal cost.
Your association can make one for an event space that would last for the length of the event. The geotag promotes the event by allowing attendees to send Snapchats with your logo and whatever else you include.
This site is starting to gain favor with professional millennials. 38% of the site’s user base is made of Millennials, equating to over 87 million users. Creating a personal page and using it for career development has risen in popularity for young professionals.
Your association can use LinkedIn to seek out new members. You can promote association events and list your association’s goals and values in a professional setting. This site is different from other social media platforms. It tends to take on a more professional tone. But, this can be beneficial for finding new, professional members online.
Another benefit would be the group feature. This allows you to create a group with specific members and non-members and share content directly with them. It can be helpful if you want to contact people who all live in one area or work for the same company.
Millennials can be a tricky generation to tackle, with their different values and more progressive ideas for the professional world. But, social media has proved a great tool in crossing this gap.
