Categories: Articles

Attitudinal Or Generational?

Last week while sitting on the panel discussion, It’s In Their Hands: The Impact of Changing Consumer Trends and User Generated Media on the Communicator’s Role, at the New Media For Communications conference put on by the Canadian Institute, one of the attendees asked a question of the panel. It was a middle-aged woman who is a professional in communications for a large multi-national. After two days of running through Social Media, Blogs, Podcasting, etc… she asked, “is this an age thing?” As if only kids and people in their twenties care about Social Media.
I simply answered, “it’s attitudinal not generational.” Maybe that’s an over simplification, but earlier that morning I got an email from my Mother, who was vacationing, and it read: “Good morning, Have been following your Blog and it looks like you are having a great time in TO…” I then managed to score some time with my Brother (who is in his early thirties). I asked him if he had seen the pictures of our nephew from out West, to which he replied, “I haven’t checked my email in a couple of days.”
Being interested in Social Media is indicative of attitude (and interest) versus which generation you’re from.
So how do you change your marketing attitude? First off, it has be something that interests you. Those that have a passion for marketing will be interested in what the latest and greatest is, so that they can grow, learn and be more effective at what they love to do. Those that have a marketing “job” (which is not necessarily work they love or were meant to do), will always struggle with change and advancement.
If I’ve seen one thing in all of these new marketing channels, it is how simple, fun and accessible they are. You don’t need a biophysics degree to get hooked on Google Reader or tripped out on LinkedIn. You do need a passion and desire to grow and a wanting to understand how people are connecting in a fully-connected online world.
That has nothing to do with your age. It does, however, have everything to do with your attitude and interest in social media and new marketing channels.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.