Who exactly is Gen Z?
Gen Z is the newest generation to be named and were born between 1997 and 2015. They are currently between 8-23 years old – how young!
But, do not belittle these young people. One expert says “Generation Z is one of the most powerful consumer forces in the market today. Their buying power is $44 billion and expands to $600 billion when considering the influence they have on their parents’ spending.” Thus, it is important for brands to have the ability to attract the Gen Zs too.
Here are some tips!
Relatability plays an important role. Companies first need to understand the culture of this younger generation, which definitely is not easy as they have many slangs and trends that some cannot comprehend.
Thus, research on the trends such as memes, TikTok videos, the hottest music, and others. Integrate these trends with your brand’s product. This can help your Gen Z audience to relate more to the product, and pique their curiosity.
Culture is closely linked to the habits of people. If the product of the brand is relatable to the younger generation, their habits can be impacted, and the younger generation will pay more attention to the brand.
Invert supply and demand, and play “hard to get”. This often raises the hype, increases the brand value, and makes the Gen Z long for it even more.
For example, brands like Supreme and Adidas do this flawlessly.
They pioneered the business model of keeping supply low and allowing hype to skyrocket demand. Many queue overnight at the shopping mall just for a pair of Yeezys that costs a bomb, usually around $300. Queues snake outside Supreme outlets and people camp on the online website just to get their hands on the limited Supreme items. Gen Z are probably the first to know about these brands.
Next, use social media for advertisement and engagement! A recent survey was conducted to find out how Gen Z prefers to engage with a brand. The respondents ranked social media first (with 1,591 votes), then email (1,515 votes), in-person (1,453 votes), ads (1,268), chat (1,159), and finally through a company’s blog (970).
Youngsters spend their free time scrolling through their feeds on their social media, and that can easily add up to about 5 hours per day per person. Shopping on social media is also convenient to some people since they are familiar with brand apps and the app is easily accessible too.
Be everywhere. Young people use several social media platforms as they do not have one preferred one, and use them for many different purposes. According to a study recently conducted by Response Media, “On Instagram, they showcase their aspirational selves; on Snapchat, they share real-life moments; on Twitter, they get the news; and on Facebook, they glean information.”
They also consume thousands of pieces of content everyday, so brands need to run multiple campaigns and be everywhere in order to see the benefits of their work. Furthermore, this younger generation is said to have only an 8 second span of attention! Having your brand pop up on many social media platforms will definitely be beneficial and will definitely catch their eye.
In addition, social media worthy experiences that your brand provides will highly likely captivate the Gen Z too! Gen Z loves anything and everything Instagrammable! Their social media account to them is a platform where they would love to post meaningful content, especially their favourite memories, to share with their friends. Therefore, if the brand is able to bring about experiences like this, Gen Z will be more than happy to listen to this brand.
An example of this is Refinery 29’s “29 Rooms” which offers 29 installations in one interactive house of style, culture, and technology, will engage Gen Z and lend themselves well to social media content that is highly shareable. Undoubtedly, Gen Z is eager to engage with brands via unique experiences
Do not forget to innovate with the right influencers for your brand. These influencers the Gen Z follows on the various social media platforms surely resonates with them. Gen Zs look up to these influencers and get inspired by their likes, their thoughts, their attitude and even position on social issues.
Thus finding the right influencer that fits the brand and message will definitely speak to Gen Z. Brands can work with diverse influencers who advocate for causes similar to the brand’s mission statement. Hence, this calls for in-depth research regarding influencers marketing.
Try these tips today. Who knows? Gen Z-ers might come flooding!
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