B&TB&TB&T
  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Technology
  • Regulars
    • Agency Scorecards
    • Best of the Best
    • Campaigns of the Month
    • CMO Power List
    • CMOs to Watch
    • Culture Bites
    • Fast 10
    • New Business Winners
    • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • Jobs
  • Awards
    • 30 Under 30
    • B&T Awards
    • Cairns Crocodiles
    • Women In Media
    • Women Leading Tech
Search
Trending topics:
  • Cairns Crocodiles
  • Nine
  • Seven
  • Cannes Lions
  • AFL
  • NRL
  • B&T Women in Media
  • Thinkerbell
  • WPP
  • Pinterest
  • State of Origin
  • imaa
  • Anthony Albanese
  • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • ARN
  • Meta
  • AI
  • TV Ratings
  • Radio Ratings
  • Sports Marketing

  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.
Reading: Eight ways to engage young people online
Share
B&TB&T
Subscribe
Search
  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Technology
  • Regulars
    • Agency Scorecards
    • Best of the Best
    • Campaigns of the Month
    • CMO Power List
    • CMOs to Watch
    • Culture Bites
    • Fast 10
    • New Business Winners
    • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • Jobs
  • Awards
    • 30 Under 30
    • B&T Awards
    • Cairns Crocodiles
    • Women In Media
    • Women Leading Tech
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.
B&T > Marketing > Eight ways to engage young people online
MarketingMedia

Eight ways to engage young people online

Staff Writers
Published on: 5th December 2013 at 12:04 PM
Staff Writers
Share
6 Min Read
SHARE

Why do people participate online? How can a community definition inform our behaviour as community managers?  Community is a mis-used term, but understanding what a community truly is can help our every day actions as community managers.

Whether engaging young or old, the first rule of community management is understanding why people engage online at all.

Communities are made up of a “specific group of people who form relationships over time around a strong common interest”. They participate online for several reasons including reputation, efficacy, altruism, anticipated reciprocity, a sense of belonging, and emotional connections.

Of those participating in online communities, a vast number are young people and with over 45% of Facebook’s population aged between 13 and 24, engaging with this demographic is more important than ever.

Here are 8 tips on engaging young people online:

1. Look beyond the short-term to long-term engagement

Just as with display advertising, you may only have a few seconds of someone’s attention. That said, you don’t want to exploit that opportunity for short-term likes or engagement. Building connections and loyalty via social media is a long-term process, so use that time to start slowly building a relationship with your audience.

You can start doing this by thinking about ways to better involve your members. Is there a project you can involve your members in? Is there a change they have wanted that you can give them? Is there something you can give them that makes them feel more strongly connected to your community? Things that genuinely build loyalty in members lead to more long-term involvement.

2. Listen

Give members the opportunity to share their thoughts, ask you questions and interrogate your policies. Encourage them to talk to you – you’ll gain valuable insights into what they want from you, as well as how they want to communicate with you. Always be careful about asking for feedback you can’t act on though!  

3. Use their native language

Talk in a language that your followers can understand. Industry jargon, abbreviations and buzzwords mean nothing to them, and will most often turn them off. Saying that, it doesn’t mean you have to end every status update with “LOL ”. Young people expect businesses online to maintain a certain level of professionalism and respect. So, be friendly, courteous and interested in what they have to say, and just remember that it’s important to balance being personable with being too casual.

4. Be relevant

Whatever you’re talking about, try to frame it to match particular self-interests of young people. It’s important to frame things within the context of what a young adult might ask themselves when they see your content: “How will this benefit me right now?” Post content that’s relevant to them right now, that interests them right now, and that’s worthwhile spending their time with right now.

5. Show humour

It can be tough to make a dry topic interesting. Don’t be afraid of using humour – when appropriate. Humour is a great tool for Community Managers. The Australian Bureau of Statistics did a fantastic job with their 2011 twitter account, and received international attention for this joke.

6. Be relatable – have a face!

Although you’re expected to behave like a business, it can be difficult to relate to a business. Put a human face to your communication and ensure that face is someone who is helpful, understanding, and is relatable to your audience.

Do things that will take your membership on a ride with you. Don’t be afraid to rebel against the status quo to stand out from the crowd — young people are often doing this themselves among their own peer groups.

Ask them to share their own experiences as they relate to your topic or industry. Whenever you can, respect their position in the argument (even if you disagree), empathise with them, and work with them to bring about the change they want to see. A business can’t be a friend but it can still act like one.

7. Show respect

Always maintain a healthy respect for your members, not just while you’re building your community but also once it’s built. You don’t own them, they don’t owe you anything and, given a good enough reason, they can turn against you. At the same time, those who feel like they “own” your business — who have shared their thoughts with you and have seen you, and in turn themselves, benefit from their contributions — won’t need a reason to defend you.

8. Allow pseudonymity

If you’re engaging with your members outside of Facebook, consider allowing users to choose their usernames, and not have to use their real names. Pseudonymity can help provide a safer, private space where people feel more comfortable discussing certain topics and sharing information and advice. If you have effective community management you can avoid bad behaviour by enforcing the rules.

Alison Michalk, CEO Quiip

Join more than 30,000 advertising industry experts
Get all the latest advertising and media news direct to your inbox from B&T.

No related posts.

Share
Staff Writers
By Staff Writers
Follow:
Staff Writers represent B&T's team of award-winning reporters. Here, you'll find articles crafted with industry experience spanning over 50 years. Our team of specialists brings together a wealth of knowledge and a commitment to delivering insightful, topical, and breaking news. With a deep understanding of advertising and media, our Staff Writers are dedicated to providing industry-leading analysis and reporting, both shaping the conversation and setting the benchmark for excellence.

Latest News

Ogilvy CEO Sally Kissane To Depart
08/07/2025
Everything You Need To Know About B&T’s Agency Scorecards!
08/07/2025
Agency Scorecard: Atomic 212°
08/07/2025
Agency Scorecard: Leo
08/07/2025
//

B&T is Australia’s leading news publication magazine for the advertising, marketing, media and PR industries.

 

B&T is owned by parent company The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.

About B&T

  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise

Top Categories

  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Opinion
  • Technology
  • TV Ratings

Sign Up for Our Newsletter



B&TB&T
Follow US
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Register Lost your password?