Generation Z refers to the generation born after millennials, between 1997 and 2015. This demographic cohort accounts for 2.1 billion of the world’s population, 40% of all online customers and has the most flexible spending budget at $600 billion when considering the influence they have on their parent’s spending.
Due to their massive market dominance, young adults are an extremely important demographic for marketers and should always be a target audience for a business’s digital marketing campaign.
As Gen Z is the newest generation, there are many unknown characteristics and stereotypes about what strategies and products appeal most to their demographic, making it challenging for marketers to target them successfully.
For example, it’s a common stereotype that Gen Z has a “lazy” attention span of about 8 seconds – compared to millennials’ 12 seconds. But in reality, Gen Z has a sophisticated processing filter that results from growing up in an oversaturated media landscape and fast-paced society.
Marketing to Generation Z – as with marketing towards any newly established audience – generates certain tactical challenges and behavioural changes. By implementing the following five digital marketing tactics, your business will be able to cater and create brand loyalty to this unique demographic.
Given that Gen Z represents such a significant opportunity for entrepreneurs focusing your efforts on them is one of the wisest decisions you can make. There is no better time than the present!
Email Marketing is Still an Effective Channel for Gen Z
Whilst the stereotype is that Gen Zers do not use email, this is untrue for the majority of the generation! A recent survey found that 81% of Gen Z check their email at least once a day, with 32% of respondents engaging with branded emails at least a couple of times per week.
Since most advertisers target Gen Z through social media, most businesses target millennials, Gen Xers and boomers for their email campaigns – meaning there is less competition for email marketing targeting Gen Z. Less rivalry means more chance for your message to catch the eye of a Gen Zer and pass their 8-second filter, successfully engaging the younger audience.
Email remains a valuable medium for engaging and connecting with your followers – even for Gen Z – because email is a clear line of contact that does not rely on algorithms to distribute your marketing content to the intended audience.
Every Social Media Platform Has a Different Marketing Use
It’s no surprise that Gen Z’s preferred channel for brand engagement is through social media, but Gen Z does not have a favourite platform. Instead, they use multiple digital platforms which span across numerous devices more so than previous generations.
However, they are not sharing or consuming the same material on each platform, from TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter to Facebook each has different entertainment purposes. For your digital marketing campaign to provide the best results, you must consider which social media platforms can work together to augment the most effective launch for your campaign.
For a successful campaign across multiple social media channels, marketers must ensure consistent messaging and branding across each channel’s unique nuances. Though you should change the formatting of your message to correspond with how Gen Z uses each platform, but your overall message should remain consistent.
Otherwise, you risk being misunderstood; for example, short-form videos are most important on TikTok, people-centred images are favoured on Instagram, and text-based content is more effective for Facebook Advertising.
Ethics and Sustainability Should Be at the Forefront of Your Business Model
Most of your audience, but especially Generation Z, craves genuine ethical and social responsibility more than any other business characteristic.
In fact, when shoppers find a business that resonates closely with their personal identities, 55% of Gen Zers become more than just one-time buyers, they become loyal to the brand and are happier to pay more for their products as they align with their values.
User-Generated Content is More Important
Diversification has an especially powerful influence on Instagram; users are more likely to purchase products from companies that encourage inclusivity, such as showcases models of various races, ages, skin colours, and faiths.
People-based product images, in general, help Instagram content feel less like an advertisement and more like a lifestyle piece, fostering viewer confidence. People in a post do not even have to be a famous influencer!
Posts which include customers and regular people are more effective as this marketing material connects consumers and the brand as friends, rather than something impersonal, such as a flat lay or a heavily photoshopped shot.
Not only can these types of user-generated posts display the products in motion, but they also boost the credibility of a business. In fact, 79% of survey respondents user-generated marketing affects their buying decisions.
Invest in Instagram Shopping
If a business is looking to increase its sales, there is no better digital marketing tactic to implement into an Instagram marketing campaign than Instagram Shopping. No other strategy influences users to immediately buy a business’s products as Instagram Shopping does.
With 70% of shopping enthusiasts using Instagram to find new items and over 130 million Instagram users interacting with at least one shopping post per month, Instagram is a valuable business method for businesses to establish a virtual shopfront and e-commerce website which ultimately generates sales.
The Instagram Shopping Feature allows businesses to incorporate product catalogues into their Instagram profiles. Companies can then easily tag shoppable products into their Instagram posts and stories in the same manner as you would tag a friend.
I hope these five marketing tips – from a Leading Digital Marketing Agency in Sydney – helps you cater your digital marketing campaigns successfully to the Gen Z audience and gives you some creative ideas on how to entertain the younger demographics without wasting too much capital on trialling and testing.