A thought piece news letter that discusses how brands can become better friends with Millennials through their social media efforts.

1. All things
Millennial
Newsletter 2 Q1, 2011
by Steven Conway, Consumer Strategist
As a professional career focus of mine, I have taken on the monumental task of learning, studying, and
understanding the generation known as the Millennials – born between 1978-1992. In an effort to pass on
this knowledge to you, I have created a newsletter called All Things Millennial. Each issue will be focused
on different topics that personally relate to or have been affected by my Generation. My goal for A.T.M. is for you
to become better educated about this consumer segment and to share with others who might be interested in learning
more about this diverse generation.
WHY DON’T YOU “LIKE” ME? HOW BRANDS CAN BECOME BETTER FRIENDS TO
MILLENNIALS IN SOCIAL MEDIA:
Over the past few years, social media and Millennials have become synonymous. This
should not be surprising, as the 18-32 year old age range represents our prime “social
animal” years, the time when our fundamental human need to connect emotionally with
other people is at its peak.
For us, social media has become THE way to communicate and stay connected to other people, to make and maintain
a network of friends, to share information, to entertain ourselves, and to bring us together around mutual interests.
Social media also has become THE way for brands to try to capture a piece of our attention and tap into our significant
buying power ($200 billion at last count). However,
as brands jump headlong on to the social media
bandwagon, many still lack the social skills necessary
to fit appropriately in our space. The fact that only 44%
of Millennials have friended or followed a brand they
love on their social network (Edelman 8095 Global
Study) is compelling evidence that many brands still
have much to learn about being friends with us and
maintaining these relationships over time.
This issue of All Things Millennial lays out some
basic ways brands can develop to become more like
a friend than a company voice through their social
media efforts.

2. TO BE A FRIEND IS TO UNDERSTAND THE MEANING OF FRIENDSHIP
The notion of “friend” in the context of social media has come to encompass a broad spectrum of people, from close
friends, to friends of friends to friends-of-friends-of-friends who may have popped on for a variety of odd reasons to
additional categories that could best be described as “other.” For many Millennial Facebook users, the accumulation
of friends has become a competition over “he/she who dies with the most friends wins”; as indicated by the 387
average friends Millennials have on Facebook, twice the number of non-Millennial’s 178 average friends.
Despite the blurring of the word “friend” in social media,
I believe my generation has not lost sight of the original
definition of friend learned at an early age – “a person attached
to another by feelings of affection or personal regard.” This
concept of friend was practiced and reinforced throughout
childhood through such experiences as play dates, school
pals, being team members and lessons of sharing, to name a
few. We also learned the real value of friendship through a
code of conduct consistently demonstrated during childhood,
which can be boiled down to five simple rules:
Rule #1: Mutual understanding and respect
Rule #2: Honesty
Rule #3: Sharing of like-minded interests
Rule #4: Relationship based on equal give and take
Rule #5: Trust
MILLENNIALS SOCIAL MEDIA BEHAVIORS PARALLEL THESE RULES OF FRIENDSHIP:
Millennials’ behaviors in social media suggest we are well attuned to these rules of friendship, and seem to be
applying these same rules to our own social media behaviors. However, what makes these rules even more relevant
is that we are applying them as a way to scale back on our social networking use.
Quality vs. Quantity of Social Media Friends:
Many social media behaviors parallel friendship rule #1 (mutual understanding and respect) and rule #4
(relationship based on equal give and take), as Millenials’ have been scaling back on the number of friends we
keep AND “defriending” people – the process of removing a contact from your friend list. One survey reports
that 81% of Millennials have defriended someone in their social network and on average have defriended 39
people, compared to just 14 people for the non-Millennial group (Digital Generation is Un-friendly, jimbernard.
net). As the survey author states: “Millennials are much more casual about both accepting and removing friends;
we have developed a more sophisticated and efficient method of managing our social networks,” a behavior that
gets us back to our roots of what “real” friendships mean.

3. A Demand for Privacy:
Millennials have also been applying Friendship Rule
#5 (Trust) as they have been displaying more privacy
concerns about their personal online information as well
as showing an increased desire for control. Millennials
are more likely to monitor their privacy settings than
older adults, as well as to delete comments or remove
their names from photos so they cannot be identified
(Pew Internet Project, May 2010). This behavior is a
reaction to Facebook’s ever changing privacy policies
and Millennials desire for more control of their online
identities. This is largely due to Millennials’ suspicion that Facebook is looking
to monetize their community by making much of people’s profile information
public by default.
Social Networking goes Niche:
My recent discussion with Iconoculture’s Millennial strategist indicates our Generation is looking at social
media (Facebook in particular) in more pragmatic terms. They are now leading the charge around the question
of utility of popular social networking sites and asking, “What’s the point?” and “What
am I getting from this?” These questions are now leading to more considered usage
around with whom and what Millennials want to connect with. The resulting trend
is a small but growing move away from mass audience sites onto smaller, more
niche networks; a behavior that parallels friendship rule #3 (having like-minded
interests). Path.com is a social media network that allows Millennials to become
more connected to their passions and limits users to only 50 friends. Calling
itself a personal network, it is the antithesis of sites like Facebook and Myspace.
Path.com emphasizes the ability to control who you share your personal moments
with only your closest friends. CollegeOnly.com was built as a response to the
unwieldy nature of sites like Facebook which many Millennials now perceive
to be a social media haven for every parent, employer, and company out there.
CollegeOnly.com launched in August 2010 as a social network that has gone
back to Facebook’s original roots as a social network only for college students.
Joindiaspora.com has also made a big splash in 2010 as the anti-Facebook
networking site designed as a way to give individuals control over their online
information including friends’ lists, messages, photos, and profile details, without
40% OF 18-TO-24-YEAR-OLDS NOW VISIT SOCIAL NETWORKS BASED ON
PARTICULAR INTERESTS, SUCH AS TV, MUSIC OR MOVIES, ACCORDING TO
AN AUGUST 2009 SURVEY BY MINDSHARE.

4. being subjected to changing privacy policies and sell–outs to third parties; a hot topic in social media and a big
concern for my generation.
So what does this all mean for brands and marketers looking to connect with Millennials through social media?
Although brands have made strides in their social media efforts, why is it that only 40% of Millennials have “friended”
a brand they love? Is it possible for brands to generate a higher acceptance of “friends”, “followers”, or “likes”?
WHY BRANDS INITIALLY MAKE POOR FRIENDS: SURVEY RESPONSES FROM
MILLENNIAL AGED ADULTS
The biggest mistake
brands make when it “Brands that show up on facebook
comes to social media often look like your parents when
is that they see the space they (unsuccessfully) try to act
as another marketing cool. It feels like most brands are
scamming you in some way when
tactic or channel they they want to be your friend”
have at their disposal
to sell their product
or see it as a way to
shout their product/ “It depends on how (brands)
brand message. These approach the connection. If they
social media efforts are not the best way for brands to win “friends’ among are providing entertaining content
Millennials, as this group uses social media primarily to connect with (e.g. revitalizing Detroit documentary
other people, not brands. Regardless of what social media platform we from an urban boot company)
instead of just trying to sell you
use (Facebook, youtube, blogs, or texting), we are there to interact and something or offer a discount I am
engage with other people. This tends to be one of the biggest reasons why more likely to view it”
brands fail when trying to attract fans, followers, or “likes”. It’s not that
brands are unwelcome, it just seems like they don’t belong. To get a better
understanding of what my generation thought of brands trying to interact
with them in social media, I conducted a recent survey to understand their “There is a fine line between
perceptions of brand friendships. The box to the right represents some wanting to hear from them and
of the insightful comments I received from 18-34 year olds based off the enjoying their communication and
question, “What do you think of brands that try to connect with you in spamming. If I receive too much
social media?” communication, I delete”
Brands that try to sell us something or spam us with irrelevant content are an
automatic turnoff. Although marketers might have the right intentions, many of their efforts are falling on deaf ears. To
win with Millennials, brands that start behaving more like a “friend” and less like an intruder tend to find themselves in
a better position to win with their social media efforts.

5. BRANDS THAT FOLLOW THE RULES OF FRIENDSHIP
WITH MILLENNIALS:
There is a lot of good advice from social media “experts” and companies that have given their two cents on how
brands can succeed with Millennials and social media. As a member of the Millennial generation and a prime target
of brands’ social media efforts, I believe brands must start acting more like a human being and levering these five
simple rules of friendship in their own social media efforts.
Friendship Rule #1: To Have Mutual Understanding and Respect
Listening is key to any friendship and is the primary way brands can show they understand and respect their
consumers. In general, our generation just wants to be heard. We use a number of different channels just to
have a voice; we tweet, text, blog, IM, comment, and “like” things on Facebook because we want someone to
listen. When a company does respond, it says “we hear you loud and clear”; similar to how we interact with
our friends.
E.G. One brand that understands the power of listening
has been Wheat Thins. The company recently began
mining Twitter and Facebook to find customers who
love its Wheat Thins crackers and gave a lucky few of
them a surprise of their lives. One Wheat Thin Devotee
was Tabitha Hancock (@fox_girl313) who tweeted,
“AAAHHH Im outta Wheat Thins…My life is officially
over.” Wheat Thins tracked Tabitha down , and in a style
that mirrors publishers clearing house, made sure she
had enough crackers to last her a very long time. Wheat
Thins understood to be a good friend, they must listen
first to have something to talk about. By doing so, they
were able to solve a “friend’s” problem and were able
to turn their social media stunt into a marketing campaign; the videos were used for TV ads and social/online
media efforts that both entertained and effectively conveyed the brand’s “Crunch is Calling” message.
Friendship Rule #2: Honesty
Our closest friends typically are the people with whom we can be most open and honest. This same rule applies
to brands that are looking to connect with my generation. Two ways brands can build an honest relationship with
Millennials in social media is to be transparent and authentic. Transparency translates to being as honest and open
as you can. It means owning up to your mistakes, responding to unflattering comments and providing access to your

6. company’s culture. If your brand is hiding behind a wall of secrecy and non-disclosures, then how are we able to trust
you? Authenticity, while similar to transparency, focuses more specifically on being real and genuine. Social media
is a prime place brands can show the people behind the company, rather than a way to push marketing, PR or a brand
agendas. Millennials want to converse and relate to human beings – an actual person that is helpful, interesting, funny,
and genuinely interested in building a relationship with them, not a corporate entity.
E.G. One Millennial-friendly company
that has been the poster child for
transparency and authenticity is Zappos.
Tony Heish, Zappos CEO, uses Twitter
to humanize the company and uses his
personality to represent and bring the
company to life; a personality that is
friendly, helpful, funny, and trustworthy.
Tony also tweets simply because he wants
to. It never seems like you are listenting
to the sales pitch of a CEO. In addition,
the company urges all of its employees to
blog and tweet on behalf of the company,
allowing their employees to share the
customer service interactions they undertake to provide Zappos’ legendary service. Very few, if any, other companies
have the courage to put all the tweets that mention the company right on its own site. Authenticity and transparency
are core values that guide how Zappos interacts as a company and are not seen as marketing tactics. A key reason
why Zappos has gotten the Millennial seal of approval.
Friendship Rule #3: A relationship based on equal give and take
A mutually beneficial friendship is all about giving and receiving something of value. The same rules apply for
brands looking to win over “friends” in social media. However, Millennials typically won’t just “friend” or follow
a brand without reason. We are more likely to see our online information as currency and if we “like” your brand we
want something of equal or greater value in return. Research shows that the top reasons Millennials fan or follow a
brand is related to content. This includes “liking” or “fanning” a brand to get news or product updates (67%), having
access to promotions (64%), or viewing/downloading music or video (41%), (The Participatory Marketing Network).
Millennials are willing to give up their information to join brands that make it worth their while. Rewarding them
with incentives and offers just gives them another reason to find you and keep coming back for more.
E.G. One brand that is getting it right in social media is Urban Outfitters. UO uses its social platforms for
sharing various incentives with its loyal followers, which includes giving away 5 tracks from undiscovered/
unsigned bands via its Twitter page for #musicmondays, using their Facebook page to offer fans discounts
on items, highlight merchandise and share tips on clothing care as well as using their UO blog to run their
sweepstakes initiatives.

7. Friendship Rule #4: Share Like-Minded Interests
Our generation wants to be friends with brands to which we have something in common. While offers and deals give us
a reason to “like” or follow a brand, we also want to engage with brands that publish interesting and relevant content that
relates to our lifestyle, interests, and needs. For brands that want to get their message noticed they must understand they
are also competing with all of our other friends’ comments and status updates. Thus, a brand’s content must be unique,
interesting or have a viral quality to it – because when we find content that is relevant to us, we are more likely to engage
with it and share it with our friends.
E.G Redbull has always been a brand that has understood youth culture and their presence on social media is nothing
different. Their Facebook fan page contains extreme sporting
events, parties, creative contests and fun games. They created the
“procrastination station” on their Facebook games page, which
features engaging and interactive options for procrastinators,
including a soapbox car racing game, a rock, paper, scissors
game, and ‘Drunkish Dials’ recordings – recordings of Red Bull
drinkers who called the company’s toll free number, leaving
‘drunkish’ messages. Red Bull also created a web TV program
that is highlighted on their Facebook page. There are multiple
segments, many spotlighting the lives of their sponsored
athletes. Overall, Red Bull has successfully been able to create
a community of fans with like-minded interests who can engage
with the brand on a deeper level.
Friendship Rule #5: Trust
Good friendships typically are built on a strong level of trust.
Brands need to act in the same way if they want to retain their
friends. One way brands can show trust is by collaborating and interacting with their Millennial fans or followers.
Whether it’s helping craft a marketing message or helping the design of a new product, brands can achieve a higher level
of trust when they allow their fans to participate in a company’s marketing initiative and advocate for the brand.
One Millennial friendly company that knows all about building trust and
engagement with its customers is Levi’s. Currently in its third campaign,
Levi’s is turning to its Facebook community to find the brand’s next
online face and voice of their Levi’s Women’s wear a.k.a “Levi’s Girl.”
The winner receives a six month paid position which involves reaching
out and engaging with Levi’s fan base through the brand’s social media
channels on a day-to-day basis, as well as working on Levi’s other social
media initiatives. To further engage Levi’s fans, the brand is tapping into
its Facebook community to help select the final candidates and winner.
Overall, a smart campaign in which Levi’s built mutual trust among its community of fans and is certain to get a few
more “likes” along the way.
As social media has changed the way people communicate, interact, and engage with one another, brands must also
do the same. They can no longer behave like they have in the past when it comes to connecting with Millennials in
these spaces. Once brands start acting more like a friend, start facilitating a relationship, and start treating us like
we are important– they undoubtedly will find a lot more “likes” as well as Millennial praise.
To continue this conversation on the Millennial Generation or if you have any other questions on this cohort, please feel
to contact me at steven.conway@tmsw.com or 630-693-1812.