Posts

Generation Z Protestors

AS GEN Z COMES OF AGE, ITS TIME TO GET TO KNOW OUR NEW COHORTS 

Millennials are now fully integrated into society as adults and the culture has come to a better understanding of what makes the tech-savvy, diverse generation tick. We’re only just beginning to learn about Generation Z – the oldest of which is joining the workforce this year. Early research reports are helping to paint a picture of what this generation values, what motivates them, what they expect of employers and how they are decidedly different from Millennials.

What Defines Generation Z

Born between 1996-2012, members of this generation are true digital natives. They’ve never been without access to the internet or smart phones. They’ve never known a world where social media wasn’t fully integrated into their lives or unrestricted access to information wasn’t readily available.

Beyond technology – environmental issues, terrorism, global refugee crises, and corporate greed have all been part of Gen Z’s formative landscape. 

They are brand-savvy and socially conscious and are set to be the most racially and ethnically diverse population in U.S. history. 

They understand the impact of their decisions; they will make choices that serve their needs, while still contributing to the greater good. This will be a generation that will make a difference.

Generation Z’s Top 3 Priorities:

  1. Enjoying Life
  2. Finding a great job
  3. Becoming a better person 

Millennials vs. Gen Z

generation z vs millennials

 

  • Millennials emerged alongside technology advancements, but Gen Z was born with internet access.

As a Millennial myself, I remember fighting with my parents because someone was on the phone and I couldn’t use the dialup internet. Motorola Razors were the common cell phone used “only in emergencies” and the internet was charged by the minute. While Millennials adapted to the rapidly evolving technology of smart phones, constant connectivity and on-demand entertainment, for Gen Z these innovations are largely assumed. 

  • Millennials own their social media addictions, but Gen Z is detoxing.

While Millennials know they’re addicted to social media and sharing everything online, mostly, they can’t be bothered to unplug. Gen Z, on the other hand, has witnessed the negative affects of social media on the older generation and trying to combat it at an early age. Nearly 34% of Gen Z have deleted their accounts and another 58% are actively trying to take a time-out from the feelings of stress and anxiety that social media is perpetuating. 

What does this mean for marketers? Invest in relevance over reach. The landscape has changed. Organic reach has fallen so low for social platforms that it has become less viable as a tool to reaching Gen Z. However, it has become one of the best ways to deliver one-to-many or one-to-one branded content. Today’s approach on social should be focused on engagement and conversation.

  • Millennials want original content, while Gen Z responds to authentic and ethically sound content.

In a world where negative content and fake news seem to be flooding our timelines, Gen Z wants posts from brands to be factual and ethical. Millennials respond to original and catchy branding, but Gen Z’ers have higher expectations and a carefully tuned radar for being sold to. Corporations and brands need to take a stand on social issues to earn their trust. Social values are very important to this young generation and they want to support companies who believe in a bigger picture beyond a bottom dollar profit.

Shifting the message and how its delivered in response to Gen Z values will be key to marketing success.  While influencers have been effective with Millennials, Gen Z has started to see through them. Friends and family have the most impact on Gen Z’s purchase decisions. Successful brands will engage the new generation and earn loyalty through authenticity and the right messengers. 

  • Millennials brought tech-savvy and fluid lifestyles to the workforce and Gen Z is expected to combine those traits with the work ethic of Baby Boomers and independence of Gen Xers.

Generation Z as a whole is full of enthusiasm and optimism. They are wise beyond their years, because they have learned from previous generations’ mistakes. They know what they need to do to get ahead, and they aren’t afraid to do the work. They are well-rounded, with their feet on the ground, while still being able to dream about a great future. They have many traditional goals such as secure employment, long term loyalty, a house, a car, and money for retirement, but they also say they plan to strike out on their own and build a future that aligns with their values. 

As Gen Z enters the workforce, they want:

  • A great boss; 
  • Stability;
  • Flexibility to work where and when they want; 
  • An invitation to be part of a team; and 
  • A diverse and inclusive workplace. 

Looking Ahead

Overall, we as a society, have never had a generation born into a technology boom like today’s. We don’t yet know the impact this will have, nor the impact of Donald Trump as the first president most Gen Zers know as they turn 18.  

Though we don’t yet know how this generation will shift our society, their ability to be heard and fearlessness in standing up for what they believe in hint they are a generation to look up to.
[/av_textblock]

Digital Detox Time

My Self Prescribed Digital Detox

Facebook. Twitter. Snapchat. Instagram. Pinterest. Facebook. Snapchat… This is the endless cycle I find myself repeating for hours every day. At 24 I am CONSUMED by media. If I’m not on my phone looking something up then I’m on my laptop scrolling through endless content. I can’t escape cyberspace. More often than not social media is flooded with either horribly painful news that makes me question the state of humanity or doctored up photos that makes me question what I’m doing with my life and how I look. It’s exhausting and draining to be consumed by such a beast, and it’s not slowing down anytime soon. I need a digital detox.

“To remove social media from my life would be like cutting off a appendage that is poisoning me, I know I should do it, but I can’t bring myself to.”

I grew up in the early 90’s, which means as I emerged into adolescence and adulthood so did the monster of the internet and the boom of social media. At this point for me and my generation, social media is an extension of us and our personal brands. To remove social media from my life would be like cutting off an appendage that is poisoning me, I know I should do it, but I can’t bring myself to.

So how do you not let the internet consume your life? Digital detox.

It would be foolish to tell you to completely cut yourself off from your phone. But detoxing can be another solution. Like we detox toxins from our bodies we also need to digitally detox and clear our minds from the constant stream of information. Why? The average person spends four hours a day on their phones. Along with that shocking statistic another is that the average American checks their phone over 150 TIMES A DAY unconsciously! As someone who works in media and loves to be in the know detoxing seems like a near impossible task for me. It led me to wonder, how do you start to consciously unwind yourself from the constant need to know what is going on while still maintaining your online presence?

Some ways I try to detox social media from my life:

  • Delete negative people. Like spring cleaning your house, cleaning out your social media gives you a chance to take into stock what you really want to see and eliminate accounts that cause negative feelings.
  • Put your phone on airplane mode. By doing this your phone is still on but the need to check your notification disappears by not allowing any notifications to pop-up until you turn this mode off. This takes away the sometimes constant nagging need people have to check their phones.
  • Turn your phone off for an hour a day. By turning off your phone it becomes more of a hassle to turn it back on and check social media than to just scroll through your notifications with it on. Try doing this a few times a week and see if it makes a difference for you.

By the end of your digital detox you should be feeling refreshed and a little more at ease!

AM:PM PR becomes first PR firm to commute by hoverboard

marty and hoverboard

Today I woke up to the news that Amazon.com has a brilliant new way to deliver their goods … by drone. Their new legion of drones (technology first pioneered by Darth Vader, and recently picked up by the U.S. military) can deliver packages of up to 5 pounds within a ten mile radius of a major city center. Using GPS technology Amazon will ensure that your package will leave their distribution center and arrive at your doorstep within 30 minutes. As Jeff Bezos discussed on CBS this morning, they are years away from implementation.

By the time I got to work, I had heard or read about this story on CBS, NBC, NPR, The Oregonian and through various social media channels – where creative types are hard at work on new drone memes, and where conspiracy theorists are organizing into neighborhood watch parties to discuss how to destroy the drones (I made that last part up, but I wouldn’t be surprised.)

alexis on a hoverboard

The thing that struck me about the story is that there isn’t really much of a story here. The program is in development and won’t be ready for years, pending laws and technology upgrades.

From a PR perspective, the story is brilliant, as today is Cyber Monday and Amazon needed to get their brand name out into the media to positively impact sales. Really, is there any other reason you’re hearing about this story today as opposed to last week, next week, or say, five years from now when they’re ready to implement? You have to hand it to their PR team for this has been a successful media blitz.

That said, today AM:PM PR is announcing we are the first PR firm to commute entirely by hoverboard. We won’t have the technology for 50 years, but I do have this crude artistic rendering of Alexis on a hoverboard to give you an idea of what to expect once we have the budget, technology and proper legislation in order.

Until then, we sit and wait for the media to inundate us with interview requests…

Live Blog from TechFest NW

[5:20] Wrapping up day one of Techfest NW, John Saddington (Just released Pressgram app), the self appointed “cleanup crew”, says entrepreneurship is finding opportunity in the ordinary.

1. Leverage what makes you unique.
2. Capitalize on your long term interests.
3. Bring value to your context
4. Look at waste as opportunity for wealth.
5. Scratch your own itch. You share that itch with more people then you can imagine.

Tech Fest

[4:21] One point Alex just brought up that I found interesting is that he feels startups today have become homogeneous to the point that venture capital is now far less willing to invest in a company if it doesn’t “fit the mold”. Hurting the whole idea of a startup. It’s becoming a “new, old boys club”.

[4:15] Alex just got really deep.

tech fest

[4:00] Alex Payne (Ex. Twitter) talks on reconsidering status. How they were, are and will be.

tech fest

[3:08] US Rep. Suzanne Bonamici making the argument for S.T.E.A.M. from S.T.E.M. That art is an important step to creative thinking and is an essential part of the future of technology development.

suzanne bonamici

[2:48] Jackson Gariety a high school dropout actually taught Java at Grant high school after “pestering” his principal about there not being a coding class. 500 students wanted to sign up but the school only had 11 iMacs. Brilliant kid. You should keep an eye on this one.

high school kid tech fest

[02:07] Scott Kveton CEO of Urban Airship taking about the Portland startup scene.

Scott Kveton CEO of Urban Airship

[1:46] The water bottles they are drinking out of look like milk cartons. It’s kind of funny to see these guys appear to be chugging milk on stage.

boxed water tech fest

[1:30] Alex Baldwin (thoughtbot) and Alex Bilmes (Cloudability) taking about “Scaling design”.

As a company grows the company gains mass and its ability to change direction quickly becomes harder. Having a scaling plan helps and designing in a way that allows you to iterate quickly.

tech fest discussion

[11:39] Stephen Marsh CEO of Smarsh chatting about starting the company with email archiving and how that grew to IM, txt, social media and website archiving as well. Now that that companies have the “bog data” set they can mine it for monitoring trends.

Stephen Marsh CEO of Smarsh

[10:51] Eric Winquist, CEO of Jama chatting with Rick Turoczy on how Jama got its start, recognizing people in unique ways and VC funding.

[10:31] Follow along on twitter with #TFNW

[10:30] Ryan Carson changed his presentation a little to a no management model that he is using in his company, Treehouse.

Eric Winquist, CEO of Jama chatting with Rick Turoczy

[09:59] Filing into the first session. Ryan Carson with Treehouse on “The irrelevance of location”.being in the OMNIMAX theater the setup feels a little sparse but they have one heck of a projector for their slides.

Ryan Carson, Treehouse

[09:39] OMSI is so very fitting.

OMSI

[09:25] How could you start a NW conference on this very northwestern day without a coffee.

dutch brothers

[08:26] TFNW is the little sister to MusicfestNW, the towering music festival, that has taken over the city of Portland for five days each year since 1995. In 2012, three days of tech programming was added to explore the technology, startups, and design culture that make Portland a digital hub.

This year will be my first time attending the event and I’m looking forward to seeing what a tech conference in Portland can offer. I for one, would welcome Portland becoming a new tech mecca.

Twitter puts it all out on the Vine

You may have heard of micro processors, micro blogging and micro machines – but have you heard of micro video? Well if Twitter has its way, their acquisition of a new company called Vine will help them branch out to the next big thing … an app that allows you to share 6-second video clips.

I can hear your eyes rolling from my office. In fact, you may be asking, “Cam, why should I pay attention to yet another app?”

Here’s why:

Debuting on January 24th, this product has already caused quite a stir in the social media world. In two weeks, online Vine users shared 113,897 videos on Twitter on over a single weekend. That’s over 2,000 videos every hour.

Major brands like Urban Outfitters, Lucky Magazine, GAP, Red Vines, Moose Tracks, Coke-a-Cola and Pepsi have already put up videos.

Brands are currently using this format to demonstrate how their products work, to hold contests and to share creative content that they hope will resonate and connect them with their target audience. Still skeptical? Check out three of my favorite videos, and perhaps I can change your mind.

1.


2.


3.

 

4. BONUS – If you want to be endlessly entertained follow James Urbaniak

 

For more information:

Wired Magazine – “Why Vine’s Going to Grow Into Something Huge”

Entrepreneur Magazine – “The Pros and Cons of Using Video App ‘Vine’ for Marketing”

 

New MySpace steps onto the field

by Cam Clark

Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, MySpace has been reborn, and I have taken a plunge into the new world. Under the ownership of a seemingly endlessly talented Justin Timbmerlake, this is a whole new beast.

The first thing you notice about the new MySpace, especially if you had an account on the old MySpace, is that it’s beautiful. It’s very visual, with lots of context-based menuing. Although it was disorienting at first, the side scrolling has quickly grown on me.

new myspaceIt is also very apparent that the site is now focused solely on music. Every piece of the site appears to be wrapped around the idea of listening, sharing, and exploring music. With access to what seems to be a massive collection, you can quickly immerse yourself.

MySpace is not without its issues though. The icon showing who you’re connected to, although simple, looks like a master card logo, and it is not instantly clear how to use it. Also, what do the different states of the icon mean? It’s not always obvious how certain layers of the site are opened and closed. There is also a stark lack of intuitive linking; I find myself trying to click on things that don’t have links, especially in the “Discovery” area.

From a competition standpoint, I wonder what Facebook thinks of MySpace’s re-entry into the social scene. After spending some time with the site, I realized that it isn’t so much Facebook that should be paying attention to this brand resurrection as Spotify, Pandora, and potentially iTunes.

I can easily see teens and 20-somethings taking to a platform like this, especially those who really enjoy exploring and sharing music. The big question, since currently there are no ads or subscription fees, is, “Where will the money come from?” Once MySpace starts generating income, how will that translate into compensation for the artists? And without any obvious features to best the dominant music players in the industry, how will MySpace compete?

Getting to play with the new MySpace has really created more questions for me than have been answered. At the same time, it’s fun to see a great player come out of retirement, and it will be fun to watch MySpace step out onto the field again. Whether or not the company hits it out of the park this time around is another question entirely.

Be cautious with outbursts on your Facebook Business Page

Promoted personal posts just might kill Facebook

 

I have long defended Facebook to friends and colleagues as a free service that allows us to connect with far-away family and long lost friends. I’ve also thought that nothing yet created had the potential to truly compete.

Now it seems Facebook can only think of ways to make itself more attractive to analysts rather than its loyal users.

I can accept promoted posts and ads from businesses because the service needs to pay for itself and the ads are really not that intrusive. What I cannot accept is the idea that my Facebook friends can now advertise their posts to me. How strange and useless. I see their posts anyway.

I have no interest in using Facebook anymore (except when I have to for my profession) if personal connections pay to have their posts highlighted. Maybe that’s a bit drastic, but that’s not the service I signed up for. I’m guessing I’m not alone.

For $7 any user can now promote her most recent post. How obnoxious. What will it even look like? Will friends know if a post is paid for? I don’t know, but I’m going to test it by promoting this article. Yes, I’m aware of the irony, but I’ll consider it research. I really hope this option goes the way of many tested features Facebook has gotten rid of.

I did actually read an article by Tech Crunch that shared one compelling use case for this feature. Judge for yourself.

Be cautious with outbursts on your Facebook Business Page

What not to do on your Facebook business page

 

Damaging your own reputation through social media – a cautionary tale

A restaurant owner in small town in Washington surely regrets sharing publicly that he pay his utility bill and blaming the local PUD on his woes. The reactions below demonstrate risks of outbursts for managers of a Facebook business page.

What can we we learn from this Facebook business page fail?

  • Don’t post when you’re angry. You’ll regret it later and it just might turn viral.
  • Don’t share your financial issues with customers. You’ll lose respect.
  • Don’t act maliciously. You’ll lose fans quickly.

Your Facebook business page publicly represents your company in a platform that allows all of your customers to engage or witness your engagements. Every comment you make can be shared with thousands in seconds. The impression you make can have a lasting effect. Be cautious and interact in a way that supports the reputation you want to have. If you think what you’re about to post has the potential to be misconstrued or hurt your reputation, run it by a second pair of eyes first.

For more cautionary tales (and some laughs at others’ expense) check out Failbook.

 

ampmpr working day and night

Visualize your Facebook friendship

Have you ever thought about your friendship with someone and said to yourself “I wonder what our friendship would look like visually?” Neither did I until I stumbled upon a somewhat buried feature on Facebook called “See Friendship.”

screenshot

To access this feature:
1. Go to any friend’s timeline page in Facebook.
2. Select the gear box in the upper right corner of the page, next to the message button.
3. Select “See Friendship.”

Once you select this feature, Facebook creates a page titled “You and _____” (the blank being your friend). On this page you will find: all of the photos that you and your friend are tagged in, wall posts on each other’s pages, events you have both attended, a mutual friends list, and what likes you both share.

Whether or not this is useful feature is up for argument, but if nothing else it can be entertaining. Have fun.

example page screenshot

An example page with my cousin and I.