Understanding who your ideal customers are and exploring target personas is crucial in marketing. What are their challenges? What do they enjoy doing? What do they like or dislike, and what do they expect of you as a brand?
All of these are elements you should consider regardless of the generation you’re targeting. However, adapting and improving our efforts and strategies is something we, as marketers, must do in order to stay one step ahead of the game.
But How Do We Target Our Marketing to Gen Z?
Gen Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) receive marketing and spend money in a different way than previous generations. Statistics predict that Gen Z is on the path to taking the title of the most educated generation to date, with 34% of Gen Z making it a priority to find a high-paying job. They are entirely comfortable with research and data collection, as they’ve never known life without the internet. They’ve been online since childhood, using the internet, mobile phones, social networks, and shopping from a young age.
Marketing efforts will vary from generation to generation, depending on what matters to each, and what events have taken place in the formative years. For Millennials, authentic experiences hold the most importance, whereas for Gen Z the main driver is the search for truth. The fact that they’re adept in searching for information and cross-referencing data sources in their quest for the truth is something to consider when strategising on how to market to Gen Z effectively. This includes considering the forms of content they choose to produce to reach them, and on which platforms.
So, What Are The Best Routes for Targeting Gen Z?
Gen Z-ers have never experienced life without social media – they have lived and breathed a life where photos can be snapped and shared with hundreds or thousands of followers within seconds, major events are live-streamed, and news is accessible via tweets.
For this reason, the best way to market to Gen Z, the tech-savvy generation, is through the various social media channels available at the touch of a button.
Content Created with Channels in Mind
Creating content with the different audiences of each social media platform in mind is the key to successfully reaching Gen Z. Each of the platforms has an entirely different audience – so why would you plaster the same content across each of them?
By crafting content to fit with the social community you will be sharing it on, it’ll be visible to those receiving the content that you’ve intended the content to come to them specifically – reinforcing the trust they’re looking for.
Use Video in a World of Constant Content
The age of video content is now – and Gen Z can’t consume enough of it. Consider the fact that YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world – after Google.
Tailoring your marketing strategy to heavily feature, or revolve around video, is likely to reap effective results for those aiming to reach the generation who grew up on video platforms such as TikTok, and are likely to want to watch a video of something than read a piece of long-form content. That being said, it’s important to note that due to platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok limiting the length of video content, Gen Z tends to favour short bursts of video content.
Utilise Influencer Control
Influencer marketing is one of the best tools to have in a marketer’s kit when it comes to Gen Z audiences and has seen continued growth over the past decade. Again, it comes back to them seeking the truth.
Influencers are viewed by their followers as trustworthy experts in their field – so it’s no surprise to learn that 24% of Gen Z women and 16% of men are guided by influencers when it comes to making decisions.
Divulge Users with Entertainment
It might seem obvious, but no matter what is going on in the world, users are drawn to fun content. While it’s important to bear in mind various social, political, and economic factors that are going on in the world, creating fun and adventurous content can draw Gen Z to your brand.
Drawing Conclusions - Creating Content with the User in Mind
If you’ve been in digital marketing for longer than five minutes, you’ll be aware of Google’s various algorithm updates – one of the most recent being the ‘Helpful Content Update’. It does what it says on the tin – aims to strip back unhelpful content produced with search engines in mind and prioritise content that has been created with the user in mind. This, particularly when marketing to Gen Z, is pivotal in becoming visible and ranking well within the SERPs, as well as being seen generally by your target audience.
Photo by Eliott Reyna on Unsplash
