Social Media Business Hour | Episode 107 featuring Lee Caraher

Medieval And Millennial, Lee’s Life Of Contrast

Lee McEnany Caraher, is a recognized communications strategist, who has more than 20 years’ experience in marketing and communications in consumer, technology and interactive business.

Before founding her company Double Forte, Lee founded and served as president of Red Whistle Communications, an Interpublic-owned integrated marketing communications firm. During her time at Interpublic companies, she also served as executive vice president of The Weber Group and Weber Shandwick, and managed multiple offices in the US and the UK.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in history (with a concentration in Medieval History, which she finds useful every day) from Carleton College. And from Medieval History, now focused on talking about the Millennial generation, how to market and work with them and how social media is so important in both marketing and working with this huge generation.

Lee’s Double Forte

Her minor in college was music which means very loud and Lee as an owner of a public relations firm, her job is to get her clients very loud to the public and towards the people that truly matters to them, like a double entendre.

Double Forte live to its promise. Lee’s company has demonstrated success in a wide range of categories including: Consumer Lifestyle, Interactive Entertainment and Consumer Technology, B2B ad Business Productivity which resulted to increased sales, driven dramatic Web site traffic, attractive acquisitions, etc.

These Strange Creatures Called Millennials

Lee started Double forte in 2002 in Silicon Valley where the competition is already high during that time where a lot of startups are flocking in San Francisco. She started with around 20 people who belong mostly to the generation X. However, when the .com boomed, people who are now flocking in San Francisco are young people who really are not qualified to do much in getting huge jobs and huge salaries. It is also some sort of a pain to keep them as part of the staff.

The Four Different Types Of Generations At Work

Do you wonder what generation you belong? Lee shared a very interesting fact about this moment in time in our history that there are already four different types of generation working side by side together.

1. The Generation Y (The Millennials) – They belong to the age bracket of between 15 to 35 years old and they have a gap of around 20 years from the gen-Xers.
2. The Generation X (gen-Xers) – This generation X belongs to the age bracket of between 36 years old to 50 years old.
3. The Boomers Generation – They are in between 51-68 years old.
4. The Silent Generation – The last standing generation, anyone over 68 years old. They are considered as the greatest generation of all. Nowadays, there are still a lot of people over 68 years working in the office.

History tells a lot about the individual condition of every generation written. Lee further explained that for instance gen Xers, they are the “screwed” generation. They’ve been through a lot. These people have been through 9/11, they’ve been through the .com boom, and they’ve been busted. They’ve been also through 2008, where boomers couldn’t get out of work because they too had lost so many, like their retirement, and they can’t leave the workforce, even they already wanted to retire. And now, because the boomers can’t leave the workforce, they then suppressed the opportunity. Now here comes the millennials, who are also driving the gen-Xers out of the workforce primarily because they belong to the much smaller generation.

Gen-Xer are about 46 million, boomers, around 78 million and millennials around 80 million. So imagined the Gen-Xer’s being squeezed between the millennials and the boomers and still expected to withstand the economy. So this generational war is really tough for them..

Myths About The Millennial Generation

Lee talked about the six myths that most people have thought about the millennial generation, which can also be applied to communications, marketing, and social media. Most people say that millennials are;

– Entitled
– Disrespectful
– Out of order
– Prone To Being Showing-Off
– They Expect Flexibility
– They Are Job Hoppers

She started hiring “millennials” way back in 2010, on which during that time, she was still not aware that there is a generation called the “millennials”, and most of them she hired, failed miserably. This situation hits her so hard that she started to figure out why. Why most of them or all of them are failing and she never had this issue towards recruitment. Lee, as she tries to figure things out, found herself the answer. She is facing a new generation called the “Millennials” and amazed that all she can find about this generation are basically negative.

The Millennial Generation Of Negativity

Is it just a myth or can it be true? As Lee tried to understand her newly encountered generation, who are again, are entitled, who always demand what they what they want…and pout when they don’t get it. She thought this can’t possibly be true. A whole generation cannot be THAT negative. As Lee tried to dig deeper, she then realized that even though the millennials are defined mostly on the negative side, a business without millennials, is a business without future. Realizing this fact lead her to face the future. Remaining negative about this generation is not good for her company or her options. Lee discovered that she needed to change her company and be positive despite the negativity, because they are the future of her company.

Are The Myths About Millennials True?

Lee confirms that they are not just myths…but are actually facts. Why? This generation grew up differently. They’ve experienced all the benefits of technology and automation, making them who they are.

She also realized that her job is to get them to understand the rat race and to make her workplace the best environment not just for millennials but for all generations, which in return makes her employees the ambassadors of the company.

The Millennial Marketing Death

The millennial generation is again, one very interesting generation. They always want to be engaged, yet they are very transparent. This generation can either make or break your company. On this note, Lee provided a good example as to how this transparent generation is. In fact, during this great interview, Lee mentioned an example (edited for this article), “If you say you’re a good company and for instance, you’re an apparel company…You might say to your market: I’m a good company, I’ve got great style and it’s good value…and then you peel the onion and people find out that there are incarcerated slaves in other countries under the age of 18 are actually making those clothes; well, expect a lot of people — a lot of this Millennial generation to flee from your business because you’re faking it. You’re faking it. It’s not that great. The only reason your clothes are cheap is because you have enslaved people in another country….”

Being transparent with your company and your products is essential with Millennials. If you’re not totally transparent, then it is most likely, marketing death for your business.

The Advantage Of Being Imperfect

Lee’s Double Forte engagement strategy works well even with millennials. You might ask, what is her strategy? Basically, it’s being “Imperfect”.

She said, the advantage of being imperfect and being confident about who you are is something no one can’t underestimate. Who doesn’t want a company who is transparent and can deliver what they’ve promised. For Lee, millennials are the generation who are really pushing transparency and delivery, which in turn is not just a benefit for their generation, but all generations.

Weblinks:

www.leecaraher.com
www.double-forte.com

Related Books:

 

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Social Media Business Hour