Adapting Census Outreach To Target Millennials
Between making music and being a mom, rapper Cardi B, a New York native, has recently dedicated a lot of time speaking out about political issues. Recently she has connected with the New York Census to shed light on how important it is to complete the census, especially for minority groups.
In the wake of the COVID-19, the typical way public census outreach has been conducted became no longer possible. Such an unusual circumstance has now opened the doors to re-evaluate the way outreach is done and has opened the door to inform millennials about the census using social media.
The last census took place 10 years ago, the way social media was utilized at the time was very different than the way it is used today. In a data chart published by Pew Research Center, in January 2010, roughly 40 percent of Americans used social media compared to more than 70 percent as of 2018.
In an article published by NPR, Facebook executives focused on targeting false advertisements with incorrect information about the census on both Instagram and Facebook. Prior to COVID-19, outreach efforts utilizing social media had already been arranged but no one knew what significance the modification to outreach would have. The two platforms, owned by Facebook, are the second and third most used social media apps in America. It was later announced that both platforms would offer a link to all users on their homepages directly to the census website.
Besides internal efforts to encourage the importance of completing the census, public figures and social influencers posted about the topic which a younger generation is more likely and inclined to respond to. Cardi B posted a video to her social media accounts, which received just under two million likes on Instagram, encouraging her followers to complete the census. Uniquely, the video is posted twice, one in English and the other in Spanish to help maximize the audience that receives the message. Although she is a New York native representing the census for her state, she has an account with 63 million followers from all across the country as well as the world receiving the message.
In addition to Cardi B, actress and activist Yara Shahidi partnered with Iranians Count, an organization that encouraged Iranians to participate in the census and posted a video to her five million followers. In her video, she details how to properly fill out the form as well as the importance of completing it.
Yesenia Marin, a resident of Highland Park, says she noticed the census ads on Instagram before seeing them in her community. “I saw a few celebrity accounts I follow, promote the census before noticing anything in my area. I've always been aware of the census and known the importance of it but I didn't realize it was happening this year until I saw it online” said Marin.
Chrissy, another resident of Highland Park also mentioned that she noticed the ads on Instagram before seeing them anywhere else. “Prior to seeing any ads, I wasn't familiar with what the census was exactly. One day when I opened my Instagram I saw a post at the top of my feed with a link to the census website. The first time I saw it, I was confused but the second time I clicked on the link and learned more about it. After I clicked on the link, all I saw were more ads and celebrities speaking out about it.”
According to Hard To Count, Highland Park, Calif. only had a response rate of 66.5% for the last census.
Although the direct impact of social media advertising is still unknown, the changes and influence on millennials is beginning to show. Under such an unfortunate situation, a lot of lessons are to be learned and that includes prioritizing younger generations when conducting outreach for things like the census when they are the next in line to impact our neighborhoods, but more broadly our country.
