Throughout the course it has been hard for me to narrow down on my stakeholders, because I truly think that my project can be used on almost any person. However, when talking to my tutor an analyzing the reasons behind why I want to do this and the problems that I have identified we realized that it was specially a problem for Millennial creatives. This generation has grown up with certain expectations from society to dominate all aspects of technology for them to be successful particularly as creatives. If a creative, for example, an artist, a designer, a poet, wants to be successful they need to either know people in the industry that will help them or become a 360 creative were they become not only the creator behind whatever they’re doing but also their own PR, their own branding and marketing team, their sales department, etc. And they are never taught how to do any of this so either they learn how to or they have to hire an agency which most creatives can’t afford.
Through my years of observing the creative industries I have noticed many creative people with amazing projects get overlooked because they did not have the knowledge or abilities to get their work “out there”. After observing and talking to some of this creatives I noticed a common thread: many of them are very insecure about their practice and also they don’t know how to talk and share information about their practice and their projects. Everytime they talk about it they say something different, it’s unclear, it appears very abstract, they fail to engage with the people they’re trying to connect.
I decided to research if there was some texts that backed up my claim and did find some interesting information.
First some hard data:
Marketingcharts.com. (2022)
About 3 in 10 (28%) Millennials also said they used social media to research or find products to buy. Although social is not the top channel for brand discovery or product research for these consumers — that honor goes to search engines, where one-third (33%) head to find new brands and half (51%) go to research products or services — it does rank within the top 5 channels for these stages of the purchase journey. Some 29% of Millennials say they typically find out about new brands or products via ads seen on social media, while close to half (48%) report researching products by using social networks. (Marketingcharts.com. (2022))
“Here are some important stats to note on Millennial social media usage:
- Millennials are the third most active group on social media.
- Nearly three-quarters (72%) report their social media usage has risen in the past year.
- Millennials are likely to connect with businesses on Facebook (70%), Instagram (64%) and Twitter (33%).
- Millennials are the most likely generation to buy after seeing an ad, watching a product video or reading a social media review.” (Parry, Y. (2021))
Generational Consumer behaviors
STATE of the CONNECTED CUSTOMER. (n.d.).
How the generations are defined
Dimock, M. (2019). Defining generations: Where Millennials End and Generation Z Begins.
I think it’s important to have this general overview of millennial’s social media behavior since millennial creatives main target are also millennials.
On this article on The HuffPost the author talks about their experiences as an artist having to deal with social media today.
“The internet has changed many aspects of our everyday lives. How we learn, how we communicate, how we access information, and the list goes on. I want to talk about how the internet has become a game changer in how we view art and other forms of media. As a millennial artist, I have to be very familiar with the internet and social media. It’s my best option to launch my artistic career, and every young aspiring artist has already realized this. That’s why teen musicians upload their music to Youtube or Soundcloud, teen filmmakers put their work on Vimeo, and teen artists are all over Tumblr and Instagram. It’s not an uncommon thing for young artists to already have an online portfolio, personal website, or run multiple social media accounts.” (HuffPost. (2015))
This situation has been a reality for some years now but the pandemic definitely intensified it as many people lost their jobs, others adopted freelancing opportunities and many others chose to follow their creative dreams.
In this research article I cite below the authors analyzed how young professionals are being forced to create a branded digital self if they want to succeed within the workforce.
“Crafting a professional profile, curating one’s content, and engaging with colleagues and clients are framed as compulsory activities for both job aspirants and the gainfully employed. However, despite workers’ investments of time, energy, and attention, the outcomes of self-branding labor are fraught with uncertainty. We conclude by addressing the stakes of a social media moment when workers of all stripes are prodded to incessantly curate, monitor, and invest in their online personae.” (Scolere, L., Pruchniewska, U. and Duffy, B.E. (2018))
They also point out the skills that are expected from these people:
“Our findings show that it is not just abilities but also the perceptions of abilities that play a part in platform-specific self-branding, highlighting the importance of imagination in human–technology interaction. Specific abilities and skills, such as those required to navigate particular platforms, are hitched to workers’ sense of professional identity.” (Scolere, L., Pruchniewska, U. and Duffy, B.E. (2018))
I know I have painted the scene as negative one, however that is not necessarily the case. The current democratization of content that social media has created opens up the playing field to everyone, making it easier for creatives with no connections to actually be successful on their own.
“With the current age of digitisation comes the formation of alternative media corporations, which open up alternative avenues for artists and creatives among the ‘creative industries to reach a broader range of people. As a consequence of the current digitalization process, new media enterprises are being built, which opens up new chances for artists and other creatives to reach a larger audience. New economic models offered by digital technology also allow artists and creatives to generate and extract more value from their work with a higher level of quality. The value contributed by its users is what makes social media platforms successful. Text, music, and image media have all been digitalized, making this possible.” (Ho)
The digital age that we are living in has opened up our opportunities to reach as many people as we want, we just have to figure out how to do that. And from this research it is definitely not easy. My project is focused on making it a little bit easier for this creatives to be able to communicate in an engaging way. Focusing on telling both their own story and their project’s story in a way that creates an emotional reaction from their audience and therefore awakens their curiosity and interest.
Works Cited:
HuffPost. (2015). Social Media Is Another Canvas for Millennial Artists. [online] Available at: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/social-media-is-another-c_b_6682566 [Accessed 22 Nov. 2022].
Dimock, M. (2019). Defining generations: Where Millennials End and Generation Z Begins. [online] Pew Research Center. Available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/17/where-millennials-end-and-generation-z-begins/.
STATE of the CONNECTED CUSTOMER. (n.d.). [online] Available at: https://www.salesforce.com/content/dam/web/en_us/www/documents/research/salesforce-state-of-the-connected-customer-4th-ed.pdf.
Parry, Y. (2021). How Different Generations Use Social media: a Complete Guide. [online] Sprout Social. Available at: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-use-by-generation-en_gb/.
Marketingcharts.com. (2022). [online] Available at: https://www.marketingcharts.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/GWI-Main-Reasons-Millennials-Use-Social-Media-Feb2021.png [Accessed 22 Nov. 2022].
Scolere, L., Pruchniewska, U. and Duffy, B.E. (2018). Constructing the Platform-Specific Self-Brand: The Labor of Social Media Promotion. Social Media + Society, 4(3), p.205630511878476. doi:10.1177/2056305118784768.
Ho, A. G. Art-Tech: Exploring New Opportunities for Digital Art and Design. ADADA+ CUMULUS 2021.