(Image source: entrepeneur.com)
The term “Gen Z” is on the rise recently. Marketers all over the world are scrambling and generating countless of techniques, tricks, and gimmicks to market their brand to Gen Z. But, how important Gen Z for our brand anyway?
To answer that question we need to take a look at some facts first. According to Marketing Profs. Gen Z has yet to reach the age of 21, but they are already showing some bright promise in terms of consumption and spending power. Furthermore, Mashable reports that the Gen Z will contribute approximately $44 billion to the U.S. economy.
But wait, what exactly is Gen Z?
For those of you who are not familiar with the term, Gen Z is people born in 2000s. They are practically very different from the millennial, because they are exposed to great changes in the world. They are born amid 9/11, economic depression, global warming, informed by the looming shadow of armed conflicts, terrorism, depleting resources, and social media. Gen Z has special characteristics that differ greatly from the millennial. They are more tolerant, open-minded, and care deeply about the environment and social issues.
According to the 56-slide presentation “Meet Generation Z: Forget everything you learned about Millennials,” produced by New York City advertising agency Sparks & Honey, The Gen Z want jobs that create social impact. They strive to be entrepreneurs, technocrats, and inventors. They care about the community and how much they spend their money.
Being a digital native, it is normal for Gen Z to be very knowledgeable about the Internet and social media. They are obsessed by smart-phones, video games, and texting. It’s all about sharing pictures and videos with these guys. So the next question is: How can we market our brand to the Gen Z?
- Picture over Text, Videoover Picture
If you want to market your product to the Gen-Z, forget about Facebook; at least don’t make Facebook as the main channel anyway. Why? Because most of them are under 18. Not to mention that Facebook is losing popularity to the newer social media platforms such as Twitter or Instagram. So instead of using Facebook, use YouTube or Instagram to spread the message and advertise your brand.
It is important to note that the Gen-Z prefer picture over text. Don’t forget that we are talking about a generation who are familiar with the term: “Too long, didn’t read LOL”. Having a short attention span becomes a unique characteristic that they have, perhaps even shorter than the millennial. So boring, long, and drawn-out text is a big no for the Gen-Z. Research has suggested that their brain have faster speed at processing information, but keeping their attention is another thing. So use interesting pictures or photos that will engage them. They are familiar with swiping, pinching, and zooming. So pictures are a very natural way to get their attention.
Now let’s talk about Instagram and videos. Since Gen-Z has a very short attention span, so videos are a sure way to grab their attention. Interesting, funny, and engaging video is great, but don’t make it too long. We live in an age where six seconds videos are really a way to go to viral all over the Internet. The popularity of Vine teaches us about the new generation attention span: short, concise, and interesting is the formula to make videos nowadays.
- Create More Snack-able Content, Communicate in Short Burst
Snack-able content is bite sized chunks of information that can be quickly consumed by the audience. The content itself is supposed to be short, sweet, and extremely informative. So the trick is to create a very substantial content, but make sure that the content remains to be easily digested. Knowing that the Gen-Z has a short attention span, marketers should create contents that are easy to look at, but still manages to deliver meaningful (or even thoughtful) information to the readers.
Also, the content needs to make people has an itch to share it. We need to exploit the Gen-Z tendency to share everything. Once you get their attention, the next step is to create an engaging content. A content that resonate well with the Gen-Z is a content that look and smell like the Gen-Z. So, create a content that has similarity with the characteristics of Gen-Z.
I’m not saying that it’s easy to create such content, but that’s the challenge that us marketers needs to face.
- Help Them Create an Impact, Tap Into Their Entrepreneurial Spirit
Growing in an era where global warming, armed conflicts, and dwindling resources is a day to day issue, the Gen-Z strive to make a difference. Creating a socially conscious brand image will help communicate your brand easier to the Gen Z. Furthermore, creating a campaign that revolves around helping the environment or the community will boost participation from the Gen-Z. Make them fight for a social cause, include them in a positive social and environmental change. Remember to not underestimate them, communicate with them as an adult. They understand very well about global issues, so don’t you ever look down on them.
Living in the middle of economic depression and tough job market makes the Gen-Z think of something different to earn an income. Most of the Gen-Z believes in Entrepreneurship. So you may want to co-create something with them. Why? The Gen-Z don’t want to be treated as target audience, they want to be treated as a partner. So make something that will help them reach success. Help them be an entrepreneur. Create an advertising, product, or campaign that will empower their entrepreneurial spirit.
Reference:
http://www.macleans.ca/society/life/get-ready-for-generation-z/
http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/six-tips-talking-post-generation-163046
http://mashable.com/2013/04/29/snackable-content-buzzword/
http://www.slideshare.net/sparksandhoney/generation-z-final-june-17
