FIRST THOUGHT: Forget the Phone
Lately, I’ve been feeling helpless when it comes to zombie scrolling: you know, that thing you do in bed, your thumb moving up and down your phone, your eyes racing and your mind barely paying attention. One of my favorite Instagrammers recently took a hiatus. When she returned, she discussed the need to clear her head and identify what exact purpose social media served in her life. She decided she needed to treat Instagram like her morning paper, so she very carefully curated the accounts she follows. Stew on that a bit. Are there any accounts you love to hate, or that make you feel crummy? You have the ability to avoid them. You have the ability to create a portal that makes you feel confident, joyful and inspired.
WOMEN IN NUMBERS: 40 Percent
One of the coolest things about Instagram is you can discover new things to do, people to obsess about and products to purchase. There’s no doubt that big-name brands market a fair share on this platform, but Instagram is also a major source of revenue for small brands. When millennial women were asked how brands could reach them, 40 percent said Instagram was the best way. It’s taking a while for this kind of marketing to catch on. It’s kind of like back in 1966, when Time magazine predicted online shopping would flop because “women like to get out of the house.”
WOMAN TO WATCH: Chelsea Krost, Millennial Influencer
Part of why brands don’t want to listen to marketing stats like the ones I just mentioned is that they don’t understand them. If you’re not an active Instagram user, why would you think the platform is worthwhile? Additionally, if you aren’t speaking the language of other influencers, the likelihood of success drops.
Brands also don’t understand a whole group of customers they’re trying to target: millennials. Today’s Woman to Watch, Chelsea Krost, is a leading millennial influencer, and she got her start way back when Snapchat and YouTube weren’t even ideas yet. She boosted her career with the polar opposite of social media: AM radio. At 16, Chelsea hosted a radio show called Teen Talk Live in her hometown in Florida, and it later expanded nationwide. A couple years later, she partnered with networks to produce a docu-series about feminine hygiene. The big brand Kotex took notice and ended up hiring Chelsea as its millennial spokeswoman.
After going to college for communications and media studies, this millennial marketer then headed to SpokeHub as a consultant and ambassador. SpokeHub proved to be just the beginning of what would be a well-established career in the consulting field. Now Chelsea helps business owners break into the millennial market through specific brand strategies.
As relatable as Chelsea is to the millennial generation, she’s also able to connect across generations. She first realized she could make a career out of speaking to millennials back during her radio-show days, when she’d receive calls from grandparents who wanted to understand their millennial grandkids. Bridging that generational divide has proven not only to be fruitful for companies like Microsoft, but in personal relationships too.
Chelsea offers one-on-one coaching, but to get a bit of her marketing magic, all you’ve got to do is head to Twitter on Tuesday nights for a chat she hosts called #MillennialTalk. This weekly discussion dives into career topics specific to millennials and elicits about 30 million impressions.
One of Chelsea’s more memorable sessions was back in June, during which she shared her thoughts on growing and expanding your influence on Instagram. Chelsea suggests identifying your target audience, creating a content strategy and posting consistently. Be sure to add thoughtful and valuable content, otherwise, millennials will dismiss you pretty quickly. Oh, and there are plenty of ideas to get more comments on social media too. Host a giveaway, ask a question, speak directly to the viewer via a video and pick the right days and times to publish a post.
Follow Chelsea on Twitter at @chelseakrost.
Millennials may spend a lot of their time scaring at screens, but digital burnout is real. Sometimes, you need to take breaks offline to succeed online. Check out our three tips on how to avoid burnout on the internet by clicking here or, if you’re listening via podcast, head over to OnTheDotWoman.com!
QUITE THE QUOTE
There’s plenty to be said for influencing a whole generation, especially when influencing them to make the world a better, brighter place. Malala Yousafzai is definitely one of those influential women. As she said:
“We realize the importance of our voices only when we are silenced.”