What's the first thing you grab when you wake up in the morning? Mobile phones.
What do you do even before you brush your teeth? Check Facebook.
And that is why social media is going to be the key separating those who adjust and those who get left behind, said Sina Azari, Vice President, Present Financial, at the LAMP Asia conference.
There are over two billion millennials worldwide and they will overtake every age group as the world’s largest generation. This generation is going to be the largest employed segment by 2025, leading about 75% of the workforce across the globe.
“So if you don’t focus your attention on this largest and fastest growing generation, we are going to be in a lot of trouble. And what they are on is social media,” he said.
Many millennials struggle with earning a decent income and are burdened with their massive college debts. “So they are looking for opportunities and they need opportunities. And if social media is not part of your strategy, you are missing the boat because millennials are spending over four hours a day on their phones.”
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“We are living in a new era and the stakes are very high. For the last two years, we have tripled the pace of our growth by applying these techniques. It is all about grabbing attention because before we can share how wonderful our opportunity is, we need their attention,” he said.
Focus on visuals and strive for viral recognition. A picture will send a message five times quicker than having to read the words.
And the evolution and attention span on social media is so quick, it has moved on to video content to produce stories.
What does it mean? “We get our team involved on social media. Every week, we spend two hours, two days a week, around a table in our office with our laptops open, with our cell phone in hand. We share, host a discussion and we take our top posts and as a team, we share them everywhere,” he said.
What happens in the community? People check their cell phones in the morning before they brush their teeth and they see 50 people putting the same picture and talking about how exciting it is, they want to be part of that excitement.
“I have a very simple rule: culture creates content. Because if you are proud of your culture, you share it with others. If you are not, maybe we can fix that.
“We share our culture publicly before anyone even comes into our office. They know how our office looks like, they know who our executive team is, and they know who our top producers are,” he said.
It’s a marathon
“Create, plan, execute, measure. It is ok to fail as long as you fail forward. Don’t stop, it is a marathon, this is not a short-term opportunity,” he said.
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The companies that learn how to master capturing attention will win. Even if they may not be like or follow, they are watching.
“This world doesn’t wait for anybody. And technology is going to continue to advance and it’s going to consistently put us in places that are going to be challenging our comfort zones. There’re only going to be two types of people: those who adjust and those who get left behind. At the end of the day, it’s going to be your choice,” he concluded.
Asia Advisers Network is the official media partner of LAMP Asia organised by GAMA International.
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