Communicating With Young People Does Not Require a Foreign Language
Kate Londen, the communications director at Young Invincibles, writes about it
There is a reason that the attention of young people is coveted by those trying to sell products and win votes alike. Young people are a major part of the country and have an influence even bigger than their numbers. Young people are the drivers of trends and transformers of culture.
Young audiences made The Beatles happen and turned hip-hop into a force. Young audiences drive fashion trends and are the reason skinny jeans and side-parts are now firmly out-of-style. And much digital ink has been spilled over the ways that young audiences are changing the workforce.
So of course, everyone wants to know how to reach young audiences. There is a lot of advice out there but so much of that advice involves approaching everyone under 25 as if they speak a different language or are fundamentally different than those that came before them.
I have been working in communications for 12 years, for nonprofit advocacy organizations and my last two roles have been focused on targeted young adults. Lately, I have been reading a lot about reaching Gen Z and I find so much of the advice useless or condescending.
As the communications director at Young Invincibles, an organization all about elevating the voices of young adults, I have a perspective to share here. I work with a team, many of whom are young, to find people and engage with them on the issues that matter most.
Through my decade working in communications with organizations targeting young audiences, here are the top five things that I have learned:
Start with values. In the most important ways, young people value the same things as anyone else. Young people today have many of the same shared values as any age. They care about their families and friends and the wider community. They care about diversity and everyone getting a fair shot. They want to find a way to build a stable and successful life even if they might find new ways of getting there. When it comes to reaching these audiences, grounding what you say in shared values is the best way to start.
Storytelling is always powerful. From the ancient oral traditions to #storytime on Tiktok, storytelling is one of the best ways to reach someone. At Young Invincibles, we help young people share their own stories and when young audiences see stories from someone that looks like them, it invites interaction which can push a message further.
Authenticity is everything. You never want to turn into someone else when trying to reach young audiences, they will be able to spot that from a mile away. Establish trust first by being authentic.
Don’t dumb things down or pander. Using straightforward language and brevity is great. Talking about important or complex topics with a bunch of forced slang words or creating some reductive metaphor is just insulting.
Meet people where they are. While you don’t have to change who you are or learn a new language, you do need to know where to find young people and put your message there. The youngest audiences are not just digital natives, but social natives. You may never get young people to read a 50-page report on your website, but they very well might get just as much from seeing an authentic story about the importance of that report on the social networks where they already are.
Valuing young audiences means treating them and their attention with respect.
That doesn’t mean that the communication can’t be fun. We love a good meme. But focusing on shared values, elevating stories, and staying authentic still matter even when having fun.
Sticking to these key principles means you don’t have to learn that viral TikTok dance to get your message through.
Kate Londen is the communications director at Young Invincibles, an organization founded by a group of students in the summer of 2009, motivated by the recognition that young people’s voices were not being heard in the debate over health care reform.