How Traditional and Digital Natives Consume Media

Let’s take a look at two groups of digital users. The folks 35 and over, the last print-native generation and the under 35 millennials.  Keep in mind that people who graduated a couple of years ago were born after Google was launched (Jackson (a.), n.d.).

The over 35s do embrace the internet. According to Jackson (b.) (n.d.), “Over-35s account for 57 percent of all minutes spent online. They are more likely to own tablets, and when it comes to smartphones, there is really no age distinction between users (Jackson, n.d.). Even with new technology, because the spending power of over 35s is much higher, publishers are more interested in the group that grew up with print – because those over 35 still like and are loyal to print.

Millennials are more likely to abandon print and according to a study from Pew, “a third of under-30s got their news from social media.” Another trend is the shift to video. According to Jackson, “18 to 34 year olds spend 50 percent more time watching online video than TV. Younger users have a shorter attention span and keeping their attention is something that media companies must prepare for. In an article called, “The Average Millennial’s Attention Span—Shorter Than Your Goldfish’s, Tsuruta (2015), says there are three points that explain this phenomenon:

·         They already have the information

·         They are social

·         They value authenticity

My son is an example of this short attention span. Tonight, while I was trying to write this blog, he was watching, “The Hobbit”, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”, “Chopped”, and “Bar Rescue”....

ALL

 

AT

 

THE

 

SAME

 

TIME

switching channels at the speed of light.

 

References

Jackson, J. (a) (n.d.). Know your audience: How the digital native generation consume media. Retrieved from http://www.themediabriefing.com/article/know-your-audience-how-digital-native-millennial-generation-consume-media

Jackson, J. (b) (n.d.). Know your audience: How the print generations consume media in the digital age. Retrieved from http://www.themediabriefing.com/article/know-your-audience-by-age-the-key-trends-among-different-consumer-age-groups

Tsuruta, A. (n.d.). The average millennial’s attention span—shorter than your goldfish’s. Retrieved from http://www.business2community.com/marketing/the-average-millennials-attention-spanshorter-than-your-goldfishs-01259994

 

Technology, How Hast Thou Changed Us – Let Me Count the Ways

 

 

Do you remember these things?

·         4-1-1

·         Your best friend’s phone number

·         Rotary phones

·         Encyclopedias

·         Cookbooks

·         Bankers hours

·         8-tracks

Technology changes how we do things. Today, we have cell phones and smart phones that remember people’s phone numbers, making 4-1-1 obsolete. To dial 4-1-1 was to call “information.” That information happened to be phone numbers. Today you probably don’t even know your best friend’s phone number for the same reason. You don’t have to.  Not too long ago, we had to use a rotary phone to call our friends and family. Today, many people do not even have a home phone, opting for a mobile.

Before the internet, students had to go to the library or reference encyclopedias if they were fortunate to have a set at home. While the student studied, mom was probably in the kitchen making dinner, referencing a cookbook for the recipe. The cookbook has also gone by the wayside with Google.

How we interact with our bank has also changed. It used to be that the bank was only accessible to customers between the hours of 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Today, we can bank from our smartphone at any time. You can pay bills, apply for a loan, transfer money, and deposit checks.

Last on today’s list is music. Music has gone from vinyl to 8-tracks to cassettes to CDs to digital – making it more portable and instant than ever before. How has technology changed your life?

 

 

How Technology Has Changed Me

 

With technology today, I can do all these things from my iPhone while lounging in my PJs:

 

·         Pay bills

·         Make a deposit to my checking account

·         Shop

·         Email

·         Text

·         Find a date

·         Check symptoms when I feel sick

·         Connect with old friends

·         Connect with co-workers & clients

·         Apply for a job

·         Connect with people across the globe

·         Go to school

How has this changed me?

·         I get frustrated with companies if I can’t easily pay my bill online. Very frustrated.

·         I have three checking accounts. Two of them offer mobile banking. The other is my Higher One account through SNHU. They don’t make it easy to do anything except receive a refund of student loan money, which is awesome - don't get me wrong, but I can't do anything else. Even though they advertise mobile banking, the SNHU Higher One account I have does not allow it. How can this be?

·         I haven’t been to a mall in years.

·         I avoid talking on the phone as much as possible and prefer texting.

·         I’m already married, so finding a date is not an issue. But if I wanted to find a date, I could also do that from my iPhone while lounging in my PJs (and not talking Ashley Madison here!)

·         Self-diagnosis is the first step to hypochondria or healing.

·         I have connected with friends from elementary school through college – and have friends on Facebook from most companies I have ever worked.

·         I am not currently looking for a job, but when I have, I get frustrated if I can’t apply online. The company I work for now does not offer online applications as an option and potential candidates must come to the castle. It really is Medieval Times. No, seriously.

·         I keep up with a friend named Dallas who lives in Australia via Facebook.

·         Going to school is a big one. With my work schedule, I would never have been able to finish my Master’s degree. I just hope the SNHU bus comes to see me.

Basically, anything that I can do online – I do. I am a baby boomer, wrapped in technology inside an enigma. I am spoiled to instant access. I believe that today’s customers are impacted by technology, not having patience to wait for something – and wanting that “something” NOW.

For companies in the age of digital technology and instant everything, customer service expectations are higher than ever before. Companies such as Amazon use technology to personalize the customer experience at every stage. Companies that don’t will soon be left behind. Customers expect companies to understand and anticipate their needs – and fulfill those needs as a matter of course. Paul Willmott of McKinsey & Company poses the question “what will it take to exceed our customers’ expectations in a digital world.” With competitors like Amazon and Apple whose customer experience sets the bar, he asks:

• “How does our customer experience compare with that of leaders in other sectors?
• What will our customers expect in the future, and what will it take to delight them?
• Do we have clear plans for how to meet or exceed their expectations?” (Willmott, 1996-2015, para. 8).

Because of people like me, companies have to respond – and quickly. According to Baer, (2008-2015), “24% of American internet users 12+ who have contacted a brand in social media, expect a reply within 30 minutes, regardless of when the contact was made.”

Sometimes I get frustrated with my customers because they will email or call after 5:00 p.m. on
Friday night. Because of technology, customers expect a response quickly – not understanding that I won’t be back in the office until Monday at 9:00 a.m. I get emails and voice mails from people who have called or emailed several times over the weekend – upset because they haven’t received a response yet, even though my voice mail and email clearly state my office hours.

Technology is a double-edged sword (not so medievally speaking). As a consumer, in the words of Tim McGraw, I like it, I love it, I want some more of it. Technology has given us so many tools to communicate quicker and more efficiently, but that same technology has created an ever higher customer expectation bar for us to reach.

  

References

Baer, J. (2008-2015). 42 percent of consumers complaining in social media expect 60 minute response time. Retrieved from http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-research/42-percent-of-consumers-complaining-in-social-media-expect-60-minute-response-time/

Willmott, P. (1996-2015). The do-or-die questions boards should ask about technology. Retrieved from http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/the_do-or-die_questions_boards_should_ask_about_technology

Communications Makeover

Technology has changed the way communicators do their job and the training they need. Since the internet has been available, the way we communicate has changed and the role of the communicator has changed. It’s time for a communications makeover.

A few decades ago, there was less access to information and ways to receive that information. Where users might have been content to sit and read a long newspaper article in the past, today’s users have instant access to information and don’t necessarily want to read lengthy articles, preferring to power scan. With new technology, communicators have to incorporate pictures, videos, audio, graphics, and interactive features (Pietrucha, 2015).
 

They must change their approach from producing static communication to creating more dynamic communications, allowing users to interact and experience the information, rather than just read it. Communication in the digital age is one of less words and more visuals. Communicators today must engage with the audience and must adapt that interactive mindset, not preaching to the audience.

 
In the past communicators could produce a message but had no obligation to have a discussion with the audience and respond to their comments. Today, it is critical. The focus is no longer about the message you want to give – but what the audience wants.

The audience has many types of technology they can use to communicate. They have smart phones, laptops, tablets, PCs, along with the traditional methods of communication such as print, and television. Information is accessible at anytime, anywhere. A communicator’s job has changed from 9 to 5 to 24/7.

With new technologies come new platforms for communication such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and others like them. If communicators are not already social media savvy they have a learning curve to quickly conquer. According to Pew Research Institute’s 2014 Social Networking Fact Sheet (2015), 74% of online adults use social media.

Kristina Cisnero, Hootsuite contributor, tells us that social media is a way to:

• Easily gain information about your audience
• Target audiences effectively
• Locate new customers and expand your audience
• Give you instant feedback from your customers’ perspective
• Improve market intelligence
• Increase website traffic and search ranking
• Easily share content
• Generate leads for one third of the cost
• Create meaningful relationships with audience
• Increase brand awareness at little to no cost

Today’s communicators have to embrace digital technology and platforms to remain competitive and relevant. Not only do they have to understand the different technologies available but also to understand how to use them effectively to communicate. Social media is still relatively new and communicators are learning more effective ways to use it, engaging with their audience instead of communicating in one direction. Overcoming reluctance to use social media may also be an issue – but there are many reasons to use it. There may be some growing pains for communicators today, but it will ultimately be an exciting journey with endless opportunities

 

References

Cisnero, K. (2015). 10 benefits of social media for business every skeptic should know. Retrieved from
              http://blog.hootsuite.com/social-media-for-business/

Pietrucha, F. (2015). 7 ways to communicate more effectively in a digital age. Retrieved from

            http://www.thoughtleadersllc.com/2014/10/7-ways-to-communicate-more-effectively-in-a-digital-age/

Social networking fact sheet. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/social-networking-fact-sheet/

 

 

How Technology Has Changed Skills Necessary for Communicators

How Technology Has Changed Skills Necessary for Communicators

Not only do communicators need to develop fresh skills in light of new technology, but companies and their employees need to understand the effect of technology on communications. While once a bonus tool in the marketer’s tool box, for many of today’s companies, “social media is not only part of the company’s core training curriculum, but also a key element in their recruiting message, stressing the employee benefit of receiving social media literacy training” (Meister, 2015).

If you remember a few years back when a couple of Dominoes employees decided to post a video on YouTube. In this case, the employees were fired and arrested for food tampering, and you can imagine the impact it had on Dominoes’ business (Meister, 2015). Employees need to understand social media and how to use (and not use) it. So, not only the marketing director or company spokesperson needs training – all employees need training.

Without training, a company could be the victim of an epic social media fail. Feloni (2015) points out that one common element to many social media fails was that “the social media team was not listening.” He goes on to say, “listening does not just mean talking to customers -  It means being aware of the company's place in the Internet's culture and knowing that customers do not appreciate mass-produced responses” (Feloni, 2015).  One main reason company social media attempts fail is that “brands and businesses don't actually communicate with their customers on social media on a day-to-day basis or understand sentiment on social media” (Heggestuen, 2015).

Another thing that communicators must be aware of is scheduling posts in advance. Costill, (2015), talks about Apple’s social media embarrassment. “Apple had a pre-negotiated deal with Joan Rivers to promote the iPhone 6 on her Facebook and Instagram accounts” – the problem? “The posts went live two weeks after Rivers died” (Costill, 2015).

According to Amy Jo Martin, “Social media is changing the way we communicate and the way we are perceived, both positively and negatively. Every time you post a photo, or update your status, you are contributing to your own digital footprint and personal brand” (n.d.). Social media is also changing perceptions of companies– both positively and negatively.

References

Martin, A. J. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved August 16, 2015, from BrainyQuote.com Web site: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/amy_jo_martin.html

Costill, A. (2015). What we learned from these 15 epic social media fails. Retrieved from http://www.searchenginejournal.com/learned-15-epic-social-media-fails/121432/

Feloni, R. (2015). The 10 biggest social media marketing fails of 2013. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/10-worst-social-media-marketing-fails-of-2013-2013-11

Heggestuen, J. (2015). The reason so many brands fail on social media is that they don't actually talk to their customers. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/leveraging-customers-on-social-media-2013-11

 

Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That! How Technology Has Changed the Work of Communicators

While “ain't nobody got time for that,” the communicator’s job has gone from sending one message to many with mass media, i.e., newspaper, magazines, television, and radio – to building relationships with customers via many platforms, i.e., mobile, social media, website, email, along with traditional media, one customer at a time. Why? Because people today expect instant responses, people want to feel like you care, and people want to be heard. They expect personalized communication, think “big fish, small pond” – rather than being just one of many in an ocean of other consumers.

There has always been the need to communicate. Communications may have started with a simple pictogram to share information, using pictures and symbols to communicate concepts or ideas (Pictogram, n.d.). God used Moses and stone tablets to communicate with the Israelites (Exodus 31:18), Native American's (as well as the Chinese, Germans, and even to this day, boy scouts) have used smoke signals. Communications went from these methods to mass communications after the invention of the printing press, five hundred years ago (The Impact of the Printing Press, n.d.). 

Today’s new technology has also exponentially expanded communication. The internet has opened a global method of communication, and in the click of a mouse, information can be sent to someone on the other side of the globe.

 

 

 

 

For communicators, reaching not only a wide audience, but a precisely targeted audience through social media, is a marketer’s dream. However, the traditional methods for marketing and advertising is different than that for social media platforms. This infogram shows the differences in traditional and social media marketing. You can see from the infogram that traditional marketing is one-directional where social media is multi-directional (Karr, 2015).

 

What this means is that with new technology, the communication has become a two-way street. Companies can now communicate directly with their consumers – get feedback, answer questions, and provide the consumer a personalized experience. 

 

Social media is very spontaneous so a marketer must be prepared to make quick decisions, rather than relying on the long-term planning they used with traditional media (Karr, 2015). Social media also requires that someone monitors the posts they receive from customers 24-7 and gone is the 9-5 Monday through Friday mentality.

 

With new media, communicators must change the way they reach out to their customers by:

• Making quick decisions
• Understanding how to use social media platforms – for example, with Facebook, learning to engage the audience and keep the conversation moving, or with Twitter, by being able to condense the message to 140 characters at a time.
• Committing to 24/7 communication with social media audience.
• Gaining familiarity of many forms of technology and social media platforms

You can see why it is important for communicators to understand the differences in traditional and social media communication in order to be successful in the world of new media. While communicators may be overwhelmed with this new, time-intensive relationship with customers, they must make time – and respond to customers in a new, more personal way.

 

 

References

Karr, D. (2015). 10 differences between classic and social media marketing. Retrieved from https://www.marketingtechblog.com/class-vs-social-media-marketing/

Pictogram. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Pictogram

The impact of the printing press. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://courses.educ.ubc.ca/etec540/Sept04/arthurp/researchtopic/index.htm