Using Social Media to Connect Parents with Millennials on College Campuses

Millennials on Campus. Presented by: John Della Volpe Harvard University & SocialSphere Strategies June 22, 2009

My premise: To educate, market or communicate with Millennials they need to like you and trust you ﬁrst. Not as easy as it seems. In the next 60 minutes, I hope to accomplish two things: - Tell you a little about what I’ve learned after 10 years of being embedded with Millennials; - Offer up a few ideas as to how you can use technology to connect with Millennials and those they care about. 2

One. Millennials Are A Force In Every Way; and They Have A Different World View Than Xers, Boomers and the Greatest Generation. 3

I. They are the biggest generation in the history of the world. They account for about 1/3 of the world’s population and 1/4 of U.S. population. 4

II. They average $100 a week in disposable income, spending $150 billion a year. And they inﬂuence another $50 billion in family purchases, bumping the total to $200 billion. 5

III. They are spiritual, religious and see themselves as a small part of a much larger global community. 6

IV. They care deeply about their community. More than 60% of college students in the U.S. volunteer on a regular basis (and have been doing so for many years thanks to you). 7

V. They crave opportunities to make an impact. In school, at home, in their communities, at work. They will help if asked. 8

VI. They elected a President (and know it). If not for Millennials, Obama loses the Iowa caucus and America would very likely have its ﬁrst female President. 9

VII-X. Old news, but still important: They are digital natives, ﬁerce multi-taskers who crave collaboration, travel in packs, value positive reinforcement -- and at least at Harvard -- don’t mind a good title, recognition or status. 10

Two. Millennials Love Their Parents. They Talk To Their Parents (A Lot). They Have Different Relationships Than We Had. 11

“What is the student walking across the quad on her way to class with cell phone to her ear talking about with her mother? Although administrators may make judgments about students who call home "just to talk," the content of the conversation may not actually be signiﬁcant. This non-need-based contact and checking in help to provide...a secure base from which to explore.” (Sorokou and Weissbrod, 2005) [Source: Parental Involvement in Higher Education. ASHE Higher Education Report 2008] 12

“I was expected to call my parents once a week...I probably should have been in the hospital or bleeding if I called more than that. It was a long distance phone call, Percentage of and they didn’t expect us to just adults who see or call and chit-chat.” talk with a parent - Debbie, mother of college senior every day has “[Our son] knows we expect to talk increased by one- to him once a week, but he third in the last initiates that contact. We’ve ﬁfteen years and initiated the expectation, but he continues to grow. controls the actual timing of it.” - Marjorie, mother of a ’08 college [Source: “Calling Mom on Mother’s Day.” Pew Research 2006] graduate and rising senior [Source: SocialSphere, June 2009] 13

Parents don’t just want to talk to their kids; they also expect to talk to schools as well. [Wartman, K. L., et. al., Parental Involvement in Higher Education: Understanding the Relationship Among Students, Parents, and the Institution. ASHE Higher Education Report v. 33 no. 6 (2008).] 14

Three. The Way In Which Millennials Communicate is Different (and It’s Important To Know Why). 16

Old School New School There’s very little control. U.S. News and “you” Students help students. control the message. Parents help parents. 17

Legend: Onsite engagement: Indicated by the thickness of the line around the circle. Reach: Indicated by the diameter of the circle. Bias (toward representing a student point of view): Indicated by + for positive, +/- for neutral and - for negative. Inﬂuence: Indicated is indicated by the closeness of each circle to the center of the chart. [Source: SocialSphere Strategies. ORBIT Report TM on Topical frequency is represented by color. Orange is frequent, vanilla is neutral, and gray is low topical frequency. College Admissions. November 2008.]  = Frequent,  = Neutral,  = Low Topical Frequency 18

Students communicate (and deal with stress) differently: With admission decisions from top institutions due in coming weeks, Seymore's chat room postings have become increasingly panicked: "I am antsy and have to know!! HELP?" and "I have the right grades . . . right?" In a twist on the college admissions frenzy, thousands of students like Seymore are putting their test scores, grade-point averages and other stats on college discussion websites, hoping their peers will reassure them they're on their way to their dream schools. Many students already get most of their admissions tips online and say these "chance me" postings are a good way to blow off steam and to connect with other people in the same state of anticipatory freak-out. - Los Angeles Times, March 9, 2009 19

The Road to Facebook. 20

1990 - 1992 PCs and Macs were making their way into the classroom and curriculum was beginning to develop around computers. Computers soon became mixed use -- not just for education but they came to be viewed as fun as well. Oregon Trail references will still make any 25-30 year old go into ﬁts of nostalgia. 21

1993 - 1995 The PC did not stop in the classroom -- three major developments happened as Millennials entered adolescence that allowed for powerful, revolutionary home computing to occur: These developments let Millennials connect with the outside world, but still not with each other. 22

1997 AIM changed everything. - Allowed Millennials to connect with friends from home for the ﬁrst time; - Away messages and proﬁles became an expression of personality -- it really was a Beta version of Facebook and Twitter; - More importantly, it planted the idea that computers were made for social connection, and created a need and desire to be in constant contact with friends even when at home. 23

1998 - 2001 The omnipresence of Google and the ability to search profoundly impacted the way that Millennials view information -- ﬁle directories vs. search features and the idea that the world should be at your ﬁngertips. In 1999 Napster and later the iPod emerged and with it the notion that content should always be available, not behind walls. 24

9 91 9 93 9 95 9 97 9 99 0 01 1 1 1 1 1 2 ... and then came 0 03 0 04 0 05 06 2 2 2 20 25

Educators teach (or should teach) differently: These kids learn differently. They make associations in an unstructured way -- seeing connections without (usually) an overarching framework. They're much better at trivia, but a bit worse at understanding what IS trivia and what IS important. So as a professor, I know that "teaching" is actually all about "learning." And I have to adjust what I do to how their learning styles change. And on that... seriously, John... it's NIGHT and DAY from when I came here in 1992. I used to be able to go two weeks with four lectures. They learned well that way. Now I go two lectures, one "exercise" in class and one "exercise" outside of class. The structure’s in those lectures, these kids learn by exploring the Internet and working on the "political" aspects of their own social networks. My students have a blog. They twitter during class. I encourage both, but I'm not always sure that what that clicking away is advancing *learning.* - Professor David C. King, Harvard University 26

A Few Ideas To Consider. 27

Find them (your prospects, students, parents, inﬂuencers). Use technology to empower them. Ask for more. ... and make a special effort to connect with parents. 28

“I would encourage colleges to send “The first year it “I would also like information to parents... seemed like [the the option of Just an email about this college] signing up for is the stuff that’s bombarded us additional emails happening on campus with stuff and that would focus on because they’re talking meetings and a particular area of points. If you have a kid what’s coming up. interest that I might who isn’t willing to share And now he’s have about the a lot, it gives you an been there for a school. I would like year and it seems opportunity to ask control over opt-in like we hardly get questions...In order to find out information and opt-out of all notified of these emails.” anything.” about what was going on on campus if [our son] - David - Al wasn’t willing to share it, we would have had to search it out.” - Marjorie [Source: SocialSphere, June 2009] 29

What parents tell us: Give us information all four years, not just orientation weekend. Create a forum where parents can ask questions (to administration, professors, other parents). Provide ﬂexibility and control of information and delivery mechanisms. 30

The Best of What’s Happening. 31

Millennials on Campus. Presented by: John Della Volpe Harvard University & SocialSphere Strategies June 22, 2009

Using Social Media to Connect Parents with Millennials on College Campuses

by John Della Volpe on Jun 22, 2009

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