Posts Tagged ‘attracting college-educated’

3 Reasons to include Social Media in your People Attraction strategies

May 20th, 2010

Last summer, I met an individual who had moved from California to rural South Dakota.  She was charged with setting up an office in the region for her employer, but the field of potential communities to locate was pretty open. 

So, how did she choose?  Part of the answer rested with a blog she discovered; she felt the blog helped her connect with people of similar interests and values in one community without having to move there first.  But it also provided a more authentic view of the community than possible through a traditional community-based website.  This isn’t a knock on traditional community-based websites.  It simply acknowledges that even at their best, websites only tell part of the story.  And they don’t usually help you meet people.

Is this an isolated incident or does  it happens more often than we think? I don’t have research to validate an answer, but I believe the latter is more accurate.  So until I find that research, I’d offer the following abbreviated list of reasons why I believe communities should include social media in their people attraction strategies. 

1) Markets are conversations.  I like to think of people attraction strategies as a new form of community marketing. But it’s marketing none-the-less. To be successful, we need to pay attention to marketing principles.  For several years now, I’ve been a huge fan of the Cluetrain Manifesto, which advocates that “markets are conversations.” In a nutshell this concept rests on history: markets developed as places where people came together to exchange products and ideas. Conversations (not advertising) preceded every market transaction.

For a brief time in human history, markets moved away from conversations towards one-way communications highlighted by advertising. The authors of the Cluetrain Manifesto, however, argue that the Internet facilitates virtual markets where open conversations about products emerge.

If this is true, as I believe it is, then we need to base our people attraction efforts on building open conversations about our communities. The use of Social Media is a perfect way to make this happen.

2) People look to the Internet when considering community, but they generally don’t trust traditional community based websites as much as their information from their peers.

First, we know from research conducted by the Center for Applied Rural Innovation at the University of Nebraska that people are using the Internet as a key source of information before moving to a community. (source: Rebecca Vogt, “Engaging your Community to Attract and Retain New Residents, #18 ) This research echoes research conducted by the Segmentation Company on how college-educated young adults find information about cities. (source: Segmentation Company, “Attracting College-Educated, Young Adults to Cities,” slide # 9)

Second, we know that people increasingly distrust advertisers and are turning to peer reviews. (One source suggests only 14% of people trust advertisements, while 78% trust peer recommendations - source: Socialnomics, “Social Media Revolution“).

Maybe it’s a leap to say that people don’t trust information on traditional community based websites. But I think it’s fair to say that community websites would be more effective if people perceived them less as an advertisement and more as a conversation. Social media is a step in that direction.

3) Online Social Networks help build face-to-face community.  Until a couple years ago, I thought of Facebook and MySpace users as geeks who wasted time on the computer. In my mind, spending time on a social network came at the expense of face-to-face interaction.

As I migrated into the world of social media, I began to rethink this assumption. But it wasn’t until I read Connected: The Surprising Power of Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives that my attitude completely flipped.

In the book, the authors cite research conducted in a Toronto suburb in which some residents were given access to high speed internet and early social networking tools while other residents were not. Among its findings, the study concluded that people with access and tools were more likely to: (1) know fellow residents by name and talk to them more; (2) visit their neighbor’s homes more often; and (3) stay connected to individuals who had moved away from the community.

There’s a lot to think about in the study’s findings, but one of my take-aways is that people attraction isn’t just about getting people to move to your community. It’s also about helping them stay connected while they are a part of the community. And should someone move away, the opportunity for them to stay connected and to be an advocate for the community is strengthened through social networking tools.

 

 Photo Credit:  lumierefl – Flickr

 

 

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One last thought: Branding is key

April 27th, 2009

(This is the 5th in a series of posts about a study title “Attracting College-Educated, Young Adults to Cities” and focuses on “people attraction strategies“. Links to earlier posts may be found at the bottom of this post. )

 

After analyzing and discussing the “Attracting College-Educated, Young Adults to Cities” with my colleagues at the Rural Learning Center, I’ve concluded the most important take away is that branding is the key to attracting Millennials. 

As one of their conclusions from the study (slide #28), the Segmentation Company stated:

Despite this desire to exercise greater control over where they live, college-educated young people do not have well-formed opinions about cities and areas they would be most or least likely to consider.  Impressions of cities are most likely to be limited to climate/weather, diversity (or lack thereof), proximity to beaches/oceans and perceptions of safety, crowds and congestion.”

This lack of definition creates an opportunity for cities and communities to brand themselves with positive imagery and messages. 

Essentially, what Millennials know about communities is superficial, so developing clear messaging (ie – branding) about communities is very important.  After all, if the weather in the Upper Great Plains is the only impression people have, rural communities (and the Upper Great Plains in general) are going to be losers in the people attraction competition.

(By the way, I think older generations understanding of communities is equally limited.) 

But how should rural communities shape their brand to meet this opportunity? The Segmentation Company offers the following advice (again, slide #28):

Provide positive reassurance on basic quality of life issues

I’ve always felt branding is important for rural communities because people have a lot of misconceptions about them.  That’s why projects like “Get Kansas” are so important. 

But at the end of the day, each rural community is responsible for its own brand.  Hopefully this study helps rural residents recognize the importance of branding and encourages them to begin developing the imagery that helps connect what they have to offer with the people who are looking for it. 

 

Previous posts in this series include:

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Ohio’s “Grant’s for Grads”

April 24th, 2009

The Ohio legislature has been thinking about how to retain college graduates.  Their answer — a new “Grants for Grads” program.

As it’s currently conceived, the program would provide Ohio residents who graduate with a 4-year college degree with a chance to win $5000 towards the purchase of a new home.  It is important to recognize that it’s a chance because only 300 graduates will ultimately receive the money, and those 300 will be determined by a lottery.

To become law, the bill still must pass the Ohio legislature.  I’ll try to follow its progress and report back.

Not everyone thinks it will work, but I give Ohio credit for trying to address the issue. 

 

Note:  Louisiana has a similar program by the same name.  I wonder how effective it has been.

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What attributes are Millennials looking for?

April 22nd, 2009

In recent posts, we looked several aspects of the “Attracting College-Educated, Young Adults to Cities” study including:

Now, I want to look at what attributes of a community Millennials find important. 

 

The Segmentation Company describes the attributes Millennials desire out of their communities in a hierarchical fashion.  At the bottom are the most important attributes they call “Basic Quality of Life” attributes (slides 13 & 14).  These include:

Next up in importance on the on the list are “Great Aspirations” attributes (slides 15 & 16) including such characteristics as:

 And finally, the study identifies “Connections and Lifestyle” attributes (slides 17 & 18).  While greater in number, these attributes of lesser importance in the selection process:

 It is interesting to see research of this nature because communities can use it as they prioritize their community development work.  In other words, take care of those attributes in the Basic category before moving to those in Aspirations and Connections/Lifestyle categories. 

The information also gives me hope because I think rural communities can compete well in the first two categories.  Safe, affordable, good schools are the bedrock of what makes most rural places special.  Unfortunately, we could often use a little improvement with the clean, professional opportunities, and green space attributes.

It would be interesting to hear how people feel their rural communities fair with the above attributes. If your community has them, do you think it’s helped attract young people?  And if your community doesn’t, do you think it’s hurt?

Image note: The image is a screenshot of slide 17 from “Attracting College-Educated, Young Adults to Cities”. 

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Gen Y decision-making

April 21st, 2009

Where do millenials turn for information when they are making a decision on what places to call home?  According to the “Attracting College-Educated, Young Adults to Cities” study, they are most likely to rely on the following:

It is interesting to read what I’ve suspected:  that they trust these “more personal’ sources of information much more than traditional marketing such a chamber of commerce website or brochure.

What it also tells me is that rural communities seeking to attract millennials should consider the following:

The above ideas are just that – ideas.  They not right for every community.  But rural communities have to start thinking more like this if they want to succeed at attracting millennials.

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Why the interest in college-educated millennials?

April 17th, 2009

One of the problems I have with the “Attracting College-Educated, Young Adults to Cities” study is its focus on college educated young people.  It seems to suggest that college educated students are more valuable than young people who didn’t go to college.  Ouch!

Now, I’m a former teacher, so I get the importance of education–especially in today’s “knowledge economy.”  But I also know a lot of very creative, talented entrepreneurs who never went to college.  This leads me to think the study’s focus is somewhat misguided.

It also leaves me wondering, “Do non-college graduates want different things from their communities than college graduates?” 

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Are you a “Jobs First” person?

April 16th, 2009

…or “Community First” person?

 Do millennials look for a job first and community second, or community first and job second?  In a post last week, I attempted to raise that question as I advocated the importance of making our rural communities places where people want to live. 

Karen Wylie at Backroads Business blog picked up on this and shared this idea with a person in her North Carolina community, who had a different take. He suggested west coast residents may be “community first” people, but east coast residents were still “jobs first” people.  

In response, I posted a rather lengthy comment on her blog, which I am reprinting below:

Interesting theory! Since my community is a place where east (farmers on the east side of the county wear seed corn hats) meets west (ranchers on the western part of the county wear cowboy hats), I’m left wondering if Midwesterners are a hybrid of the two: half of our young people move away to places for jobs, and the other half moves away to places where they want to live.

That sarcasm aside, I suspect that young people only choose communities over jobs when they see the community as a place of opportunities. Nobody is going to move to a community unless they believe there is opportunity for them – either now or in the future.

But “place matters”! It’s hard to argue with research (from 2006) that shows 2/3 of college grads age 25-34 decide where they want to live before looking for a job. Again, I suspect it applies mostly to “places of opportunity”, which often translates into urban paces. But every community needs to think about how to develop community features that are attractive to young people.

And that leads me back to my opening paragraph. Unless we want most of our young people to move away (which is the norm in my part of the world), we have to create places where young people want to live. That means employment opportunities (including entrepreneurship) as well as community features that young people crave. In other words, it’s not JUST about a job anymore.

Key to the message above is that research from a qualified organization shows that “2/3 of college grads age 25-34 decide where they want to live before looking for a job.”  Titled “Attracting College-Educated, Young Adults to Cities,” the study was completed for CEO for Cities by the Segmentation Company, a division of the marketing consultant Yankelovich.

Admittedly, the study was completed before (2006) our country’s current economic crisis, and at least one source suggests the crisis is having a dramatic effect on how millennials look at employment.  Moreover, I dislike pitting “jobs first” versus “community first”.  We need to keep in mind that both are extremely important. 

Is the research in the study relevant in today’s economic climate for rural communities?  I think so.  And I bet communities, both rural and urban, will develop some innovative projects to meet that need.  I look forward to learning more about them in the future.

 Other resources:

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