Obama series 3/3: User Generated content and Community

In the final part of the three-part series on Obama we’re looking at User Generated Content and Online communities. 

Community

Obama used, very effectively, 16 social networking sites – ranging from ‘Facebook’, ‘MySpace’ and ‘Twitter’ to ‘AsianAve’, ‘Faithbase’ and ‘Eons’ – to build a community of supporters aggregated in one place to whom he could blog (well, someone on his behalf we imagine), and importantly with whom he created a two-way dialogue (as opposed to a web-based corporate bill-board of promises summed up in values, behaviours and future projects).  Our generation probably learned more about Obama from social media than we did from his website, or any written document. Log on to any of these and we can rate him, tweet and retweet him, vlog in response to his vlog or offer an opinion.  In so-doing we felt listened to. Furthermore Obama espoused the generation y motto ‘ask, don’t tell’.  It’s genius.  Generation Y wants a ‘conversation’, not just a static page of content and a load of promises.  In these communities we can find out more about him whenever we want. He appears ‘transparent’.

Obama won this race with our generation because: his story had ‘viral’ quality (and we passed it round); He gave Generation Y a vision (and asked for their support to achieve it).  He gave us ownership for achieving it (and used social media incredibly well to create a dialogue) with this voter demographic. Oh, and did we mention that behind every successful president is a 27 year old speech writer?         

Naked Generations interviewed on BlogTalkRadio

Heledd Straker, our Chief Intelligence Officer, was tonight interviewed on the BlogTalkRadio show hosted by Sarah Newton.  The topic was 'How the Education System is failing Generation Y' amongst other things.  Discussed were topics such as Thatcher and Blair's impact on the Education System and the possibility of Google Sponsored university blazers!  Click here for the link to listen.

Obama series 2/3: Vision and Ownership

We’re on a journey through the Obama campaign and in this second of three posts we’ll unpack two other big factors in Obama’s winning strategy: the way he used vision and gave ownership.

Vision

Obama created a new vision and was able to communicate it such that he achieved agreement from his supporters.  This inspired a generation to take ownership for communicating this to their peers.  It signalled their backing for the ‘audacity of hope’.  ‘We are Americans’ he said, ‘We can do anything if we put our minds to it’.  Why is this clever?  It’s a story that appeals to our subconscious without believing that he is trying to sell us a vision.  But he is already.  He’s telling a third party story, (which includes the audience), that draws them in, because every time Obama says something the audience finds themselves nodding in agreement.  One of our clients recently started a ‘cultural transformation programme’ and in this document they stated that the reason why they wanted to implement this new culture was that it would enable them to ‘transform their industry’.  That is a bold claim.  When we saw the faces of the Emerging Talent group that would be a part of the team to help do this, their eyes lit up.  They realised they were on the edge of something huge, and they wanted to be on the winning side.

Ownership

On the campaign website Obama writes this:  “I’m asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington... I’m asking you to believe in yours.”  He was asking for their support.  He didn’t just say, “I’m going to do this”, he said “If we really want this, If you believe it, I need your support to make it happen”  Suddenly Obama and the American supporters were on a journey together.  This led to enormous public participation in many different forms.  User generated content played one of the biggest roles it will have ever in any election worldwide (remember Obama Girl?). Looking at this you might think, well that’s just stupid, a bit of fun.  But how many views did this one piece of home-made video have? In excess of 13 million!  Does it have to do with the girl in the video? Most probably! And...Does it raise the subconscious, is it viral (does it have a ‘pass it on’ quality), and did it appeal to Generation Y? Three ‘Yes-es’, better still, its UGC!  They felt a part of a team and they knew that their role was to create as much publicity for their cause as possible.  Another great example is the Microsoft ‘I’m a PC campaign’ – which created mass UGC.  The paradigm shift is in the distribution ability.

Next stop: Online Communities

Obama series 1/3: Stories

In the first of a three part series of blog posts analyzing the Obama campaign in more depth we're looking at how Obama used stories to bring Generation Y closer to his cause. 

As a leader of today you are unlikely to have missed the election of America’s 44th President in one form or another.  In fact, you’re probably wondering, how did he do that? Or, how could we do some of that? We know the Director of Internal Communications at Virgin is already asking this question on her blog: Can we replicate that in Virgin Media? 

In this series we will unpack these two core questions – what was so appealing about Barack Hussein Obama that ensured he won the highest ever Generation Y vote for the presidency?  And, then, what can we learn as we seek to engage the next generation of leaders, consumers and collaborators? 

Digest these statistics:  the BBC reported that Obama won the votes of those under 30 by 68% to 31 %!  From the US-based CNBC news channel we can further add that this was the highest ever score of the youth vote achieved by any presidential candidate ever (since exit polls began in 1976).  Here’s the crunch... out of the total number of voters 10% were voting for the first time, and in this group 72% voted for Obama, and in the sub-30 (largely Generation Y) category 69% voted for Obama (compared to just 28% in favour of McCain).  So, Why?

First up, stories: 

‘Behind every statistic there is a story’ said the newly elected President in his weekly video log (‘vlog’) from the White House, addressing the nation.  Indeed he’s quite good at telling stories:  with everyone from YouTube and to the tabloid newspapers telling his story across the world.  ‘I stand here knowing that my story, is part of a larger American story... and that in no other country on earth is my story even possible’ (Obama).  He only met his father once for a month when he was 10; his grandparents grew up in Kansas; they were brought up during the great depression; his grandfather fought in the army; his grandmother worked on an assembly line; we know the young Barack would be woken at 04:30 in the morning to do his lessons; that he would grumble at having to wake up so early and his mother would respond saying “well this is no picnic for me either Buster”.  From this perspective he’s kind of normal.  Loveable, almost. 

We know his list of values: from ‘treating everyone equal’, ‘hard work’, ‘honesty’, ‘self-reliance’, ‘empathy’, ‘kindness’, ‘faithfulness’ and ‘Christianity’.  We know he is able to connect with the ordinary voter in the middle class (almost half of his $670 million raised came from small donors giving $300 or less); with white collar workers (in fact the top two states by ‘donation count’ were California and New York – together donating close to $150 million – two of the most influential cities in the United States, business-wise); and business executives (for example SONY BMG Chairman Andrew Lack, who gave just over $30k).

We know Barack Obama!  And that’s half the point.  We know so much about Obama that it almost feels as if we know him personally.  The ‘Stories’ insured he was first, amiable (the little boy called ‘buster’); second, admired (surviving against the odds and winning over the system); and third, ‘normal’ (his parents raised him on school and honest values).  Oh... and he was extremely talented at telling his story.  Generation Y lapped this up.  They love stories, they love people that are inspirational that paint big visions and they have a tendency to side with the underdog – to make them believe that maybe, one day, that will be them.

Boomers aren’t generally that great at sharing personal stuff at work, they feel ‘Work’ and ‘Play’ are separate spaces, not so for Generation Y for whom there is significant cross-over and blurring.

Next stop: Vision and Ownership.

Generation Y and the Political Sphere

In school, in business, in their online communities, Generation Y is known as optimistic, idealistic, passionate, and eager to make a valuable contribution. But not in politics it seems. In the political sphere, they are perceived to be cynical, apathetic and disengaged. This is reflected in the voting statistics: in the 2001 and 2005 General Elections, of the 18-24 age group there was only a 39% and 37% turnout, respectively (as compared with a 60% turnout in 1997 which were the younger Generation X). Additionally, in 2005 16% of those aged 18-24 were not even registered to vote, as compared with 2% of voters over 65.

What is the reason for this apparent incongruence? Some reports state that the apparent lack of political interest is down to age – as one’s age increases, so does awareness of how political policies impact life’s decisions. However, this does not explain the sudden drop in voter turn-out between the 1997 and 2001 elections. The Electoral Commission (2005) and the IpsosMORI report (2008) argue that Generation Y cares about political issues, but feels powerless to make a difference.

Indeed, Generation Y has experienced a government that appears not to listen to its needs. For example, tuition fees have been publically and widely discredited, yet they continue to create a generation debt-ridden from the outset. Another example was the 2003 Iraq War, which incurred the biggest protest march in British history - the largest participating age-group being 18-24 year-olds, at 16%.

This is a tragedy, since the passion of Generation Y, plus its considerable size (7 million in the UK), suggests that political parties would benefit from engaging with this population. In the US, President Obama used social media to empower young people during his Presidential campaign, with outstanding results: Obama won the votes of those under 30 by 68% to 31%. Of the 10% new voters, 72% voted for Obama, and 69% of those under 30 also voted for Obama. This kind of engagement sounds like the optimistic and idealistic Generation Y we know and love. And it can work in the UK too: if empowered by a political party and encouraged to vote, Generation Y could prove a formidable force in the 2009 General Elections.

Invest in a downturn

Do you know what your workforce is thinking?  The words (below) of ‘The Clash’ are actually about a rocky personal relationship between Jones and former Meat Loaf backup singer Ellen Foley that would soon implode. The lyrics seem to reflect the ups and downs concerning the relationship and the dilemma of sticking with or ending 'it' – whether or not you think there can be any correlation between a personal relationship and that between an individual and a company is up to you, but read these words and see if they ring any truth in what might be going round a Generation Y head in the current economic environment:

Should I stay or should I go now? Should I stay or should I go now? If I go there will be trouble, An if I stay it will be double, So come on and let me know, This indecisions bugging me, If you don’t want me, set me free (The Clash, 1981)

Popular opinion seems to suggest that all that ‘infantile job-hopping stuff’ is over and Gen Y are on the back-foot.  We think:  re-think!  If you aren’t investing in the short-term, are they likely to stick with you in the medium to long-term?  But it’s not all about shelling out loads of cash.

Here’s two top tips for Managing Gen Y in a downturn:  First, are you showing them that they are on a Journey.  Really?  Can you identify together where they are on that journey?  What are the next steps?  Can you find them a mentor to help them achieve these ambitions?  Is their role defined?  Do they know what they will be measured by?

Second, ensure you are Transparent about the future.  Finding out through the papers that you are being fired isn’t great.  If you know you have to let them go, let them know ASAP.  We recently heard about a Y Gen who was told he was in the ‘at risk’ zone in a Baby Boomer dominated firm.  What this really meant was that he was about to be made redundant.  This isn’t just a relationship between the individual and the firm, it’s between you and your employee too.  Who knows, this great person that you are having to lay-off today may be wanted again in 2-3 years (once they have more experience).  The end can sometimes be the beginning.

Invest in Relationships, especially in a downturn.

When Cash is King, head for Social Media

Have you ever considered the wealth of brand opportunity that Social Networking Sites (SNS) offer multinational corporations?

Twitter is receiving a lot of press at the moment – in part due to the £160,000 civil servant job that the government just invested in hiring a ‘twittercrat’.  But what about the more community based SNS?  Linkedin, Facebook, MySpace – what’s their potential?

Do some quick sums... how many people in your company are SNS-literate?  This isn’t whether they know how to ‘tweet’, ‘RT’, create ‘#feeds’, or plant a ‘tweet bomb’ this is simply: do they have a profile with more than 100 friends?  (An astoundingly low figure for most Y Gen profiles).

Now, if you have recruited around 500 graduates in the last 5 years -  and the statistics say that most of these will have at least two SNS profiles (PEW 2009), what is the combined brand value of a 1,000 profiles updating their status to say they now work for your firm – and a little feed going to each of their networks of friends to alert the update of their job status?

If you are a product or service provider it gets much better... why not set up a competition (internally or externally) with a bottle of champagne as a prize (£60 at worst, but a healthy incentive for most Y Gen) for an individual or team to create a Facebook or Linkedin App that introduces SNS users to your company product or service.

Facebook recently had its 5^th birthday, and recently a bit of exclusive Nielson research, revealed in an NMA podcast (27.02.09), that nearly 50% of the UK population (17.6 million unique users) are now on Facebook!  Isn’t it time you monetise the Social Networks of your Y gen?