by Monica Roselli
October 27, 2021
This is a follow-up to the “Be a Content Ally to Young Professionals During COVID-19” article in which Monica Roselli gave a Millennial’s perspective of how young professionals viewed associations and their content at the start of the pandemic.
After almost two years of living and working in the COVID-19 pandemic, young professionals have found ways to adapt, change, and grow as people, employees, and members of society. And while the past two years have brought on the good and the bad, what has remained the same, if not increased, is the consumption of content.
Back in May of 2020, I shared ways in which your association could be a content ally to young professionals (18- to 38-year olds) during COVID-19. Now, almost two years into the pandemic, there’s widely available coronavirus information, businesses have re-opened, and in-person events are taking place. So I’ll pose the question again: How can your association be a content ally to young professionals, especially now as we look to emerge from COVID-19?
Not sure how to answer that question with everything that has happened since the start of the pandemic? Check out these updated tips for being a top-notch content ally during this time:
1. Create content that establishes trust. As noted in my previous article, young professionals are continuously looking for answers, especially about how to continue navigating the pandemic. After almost two years, this is still the case. While webpages, blogs, webinars, and podcasts have shifted their focus to living and working in a pandemic, young professionals, especially younger Millennials and Gen Zers, are looking for resources they can trust and confidently reference. In what seems like an endless rabbit hole of false information and social media conspiracy theories, young professionals want and seek out the truth. This is where your association can play a big role. As an established, professional organization, there is credibility to your name which in turn allows young professionals like myself to feel more confident in trusting the information shared on your content platforms.
2. Make go-to resources easily available for consumption. The pandemic has allowed young professionals to evaluate their career goals and think about how they’d like to grow professionally. With more time to assess their career paths, young professionals are seeking out industry-specific content related to engagement opportunities, career resources, and networking. In looking for this information, young professionals are more likely to visit your association’s webpages to: 1) consume unbiased and trustworthy content, and 2) become more familiar with your association overall. This, in turn, can lead to higher association awareness and the potential for a young professional to join your association as a member to take advantage of all of the perks and insights you have to offer.
3. Continue to embrace social media as an outlet. Over the past year, everyone has been inundated with virtual communications. From Slack and Google Chat to Zoom messages and increased emails, the pandemic has taken our in-person means of communicating and shifted them to virtual platforms. This also means we are checking our phones and emails at increased rates and more likely to be checking social media websites and apps more frequently, too. While messaging has changed since the start of the pandemic, it’s important for your association to still have an active presence on social media. Whether you’re posting about COVID-19-specific resources or a recent case study your association published, don’t stop sharing your content. With more cross promotion between platforms becoming the norm, there is now an even greater chance that your association’s posts will appear on young professionals’ feeds.
With the pandemic continuing to bring uncertainty, it’s more important than ever for your association to be a content ally to young professionals. Just remember, to keep this demographic coming back to consume more, produce content with a purpose and be a source of trustworthy industry information.
This article is part of the “Musings from a Millennial” series from Monica Roselli.
Monica Roselli is in the Marketing & Communication Services unit at Smithbucklin.