Gen Zers are an influential group with considerable spending power. To reach them effectively, brands must align themselves with their tribes and influencers.
These young users of social media are the trendsetters of tomorrow and can take your brand’s voice to new heights. So how do we capture their attention? To do that, let’s find out by understanding Gen Z and its unique traits.
Gen Z is a Digital Native
Gen Z is a cohort born and raised during the digital era. They’re internet natives who spend significant amounts of time social media, often making purchase decisions based on influencer recommendations – with 44% having made purchases due to influencer recommendations alone! Influencer marketing should therefore be an integral component of any successful business’s digital strategy.
Brands must embrace and adapt to Gen Z’s distinct sensibilities in order to effectively reach and engage them, which includes shifting focus away from product sales to more on the brand story and story behind its creation. Furthermore, brands must be more forthcoming about their social and environmental commitments; Gen Zers tend to place greater value in company missions and values than individual products – which means they’ll likely buy from companies that show they care about both wellbeing and environment issues.
As part of creating a community with Generation Z, brands must encourage discussion and engagement through virtual events, livestreaming and displaying user-generated content – fitness brand Takeya found great success by using UGC on its website to increase conversion by 58%!
Generation Z values real people over celebrities when selecting influencers for ads, and prefers micro-influencers to high-profile celebrities when selecting influencers for campaigns. Micro-influencers offer greater authenticity, creating relationships with their audiences that provide trust that cannot be found with high-profile celebrities. To ensure your brand’s voice is heard clearly by its target market, search for micro-influencers that have genuine ties to your target market along with strong social media followings to connect.
Dick’s Sporting Goods took an effective approach by recruiting Generation Z to advise their back-to-school campaign. By including young creators in their ads and soliciting input on music selection and outfit selection from them, this allowed the brand to demonstrate authenticity while connecting with its target audience in an authentic and natural manner.
They’re Multitaskers
Gen Z is the first generation born into an always connected world and are used to quickly switching between sources of information — making them adept multitaskers. Their openness to this kind of content makes them ideal candidates for influencer marketing campaigns.
Marketers need to be creative when it comes to influencer campaigns. One effective tactic for doing this is creating multiple touchpoints for your campaign – such as traditional social media accounts, livestreamed videos on Instagram and TikTok or even longer videos uploaded directly onto YouTube – in order to increase chances that Gen Z audience members interact with and purchase your products or services.
Influencers play an integral role in how brands connect with Gen Z. Two-thirds of Gen Z reported following and trusting influencers’ recommendations; indeed, many preferred ads that used relatable influencers instead of celebrities as the subject of ads.
Keep in mind that authenticity is highly prized among this demographic, and incorporating it into your influencer campaigns is key to earning their trust. Show that your brand is authentically involved with social causes while being clear about policies on gender equality, gun control and environmental sustainability. Furthermore, focus on using influencers that align with your audience’s values and interests.
Glow Recipe’s advertising campaigns emphasize the value of clean beauty by featuring models without makeup in their ads, while Dick’s Sporting Goods included female influencers to show that they support girls in sports.
Gen Z prefers micro and nano influencers over mega-influencers as they can better relate to them and feel part of the community. Even though they have smaller audiences, micro and nano influencers still have the power to create highly personalized content and spark new trends.
They’re Authentic
Gen Z was the first generation to grow up with internet, Google, and social media as common components in their everyday lives, which has left them more skeptical of marketing messages they encounter online. Gen Z is aware of influencer marketing campaigns where products are paid-for endorsement; thus they trust more peer input than traditional ads when making purchasing decisions.
Gen Z is interested in brands that prioritize charitable causes, sustainability and activism – as well as those that offer ethical values for engagement. As such, creating authentic content tailored to Gen Z can help market your brand effectively.
Gen Z wants to feel that they’re not being exploited by brands they interact with, which is why many have taken to TikTok to promote anti-branding campaigns and highlight issues surrounding influencer content creation. To combat this trend, marketers should do their research on all platforms they’re targeting as well as source influencers that have been carefully vetted and can deliver authentic messaging.
Generation Z prefers interactive branded content when engaging their audiences, such as quizzes, contests or video tutorials. Fenty Beauty offers several quick tutorial videos that showcase its products in an eye-catching way and allow Gen Zers to easily learn about and try out new makeup without feeling pressured to buy products right away.
Establish a community around your brand that shares its core values and beliefs. Influencers who possess these qualities will help spread its message while simultaneously increasing brand recognition for your product or service.
Overall, Gen Z is an influential group. Their ability to shape culture and set trends quickly make them essential customers, so brands need to ensure they remain up-to-date on marketing tactics, speak their language and provide engaging experiences that keep Gen Z engaged.
They’re Social
Gen Z is more focused than any previous generation on companies with social and eco-conscious practices, products which align with their values, and influencers who can demonstrate these ideals through their accounts.
Influencers hold more sway with Generation Z than celebrities do, and their recommendations tend to be trusted more. This could be partly because Gen Z sees themselves more in influencers as they tend to be relatable, genuine and well-informed individuals. Furthermore, Gen Z responds well to influencer marketing content by following links posted by influencers to learn more about a product or brand.
Marketers looking to reach this generation must be willing to experiment with new strategies and channels, like when Calvin Klein collaborated with TikTok creators to highlight its clothing in engaging, entertaining ways that resonated with Gen Z audiences – this campaign was highly effective in reaching this demographic and increasing sales for the brand.
Dick’s Sporting Goods provides another fantastic example of influencer marketing reaching Gen Z via influencer partnerships; they partnered with a group of young creators to produce an ad for their back-to-school campaign that was interactive and engaging, reflecting Gen Z’s preference to engage with content online rather than passively consume it via TV or movies.
When creating campaigns targeted towards Gen Z, it’s essential to keep in mind their digital native status and constant connectivity with phones, tablets, and laptops. Because of this, they do not respond well to one-sided dialogue; they prefer two-way discussions between brands and consumers instead. To take full advantage of this situation, ensure you provide relevant information to your target audience members promptly while answering their inquiries quickly.
It is crucial when working with influencers that you keep Gen Z in mind as they will quickly recognize any attempts at manipulation from you and will only want to work with influencers that truly love and use your products for an unforgettable content experience for their audience.