.svg)
1. Get Your Brand Onto The Digital Realm.
Gen Z lives on social media, with platforms such as TikTok and Instagram leading the pack. These channels offer rich digital insights and features for brands to leverage in order to understand consumer preferences and make direct sales. Invest in quality content creation capturing short form video content as this is devoured by Gen Z. Consider optimising content, captions and on-screen text for SEO, as TikTok in particular uses these features to push your content out to the right people. Embracing AI-generated content can also resonate well with this tech-savvy generation with 61% having positive attitudes towards this creative.
2. Show Your Personality.
Gen Z values authenticity and humour above all else. Brands need to establish a genuine personality and engage with their audience. They are socially conscious and value unfiltered raw content, particularly engaging with brands that don’t take themselves too seriously. For example RyanAir on TikTok nails this content as they are unapologetically themselves recognising the low-budget downfalls of their airline and making fun of this. Despite its dark humour and self-deprecation, its business has seen a 24% increase in revenue and bookings due to this strategy!
3. Build Community
Connectivity is crucial for Gen Z. Known as the loneliest generation post Covid, they are actively looking for ways to engage and connect with like-minded audiences. Polls, lives, Q&A’s, interactive content and commenting back to your audience can help foster a deeper connection with Gen Z.
Collaborating with influencers who align with your brand's value can also help to reach your audience effectively. Gen Z values influencer marketing more than any generation, and assigns credibility to the brands that are used by their favourite creators. Consider whether a micro influencer or larger long term ambassadorship is better for your brand and what your end goal is. Just be careful not to fall into the trap of hiring a popular creator who would never actually use your product for the sake of reach.
4. Capture Attention Quickly
Gen Z have one of the shortest attention spans with it taking just 1.3 seconds for them to lose active attention of an ad (Yahoo). Create content that has a strong click-batey hook and gets straight to the point. Ask yourself why should someone else care about the content you are creating? Does it provide any value to their life? Does it entertain, educate or appeal to their emotions? 2024 is all about producing value-tainment.
5. Be Transparent & Authentic
Gen Z can spot an ad from a mile away. They are hyper-aware of the hard sell as they have grown up surrounded by advertising, celebrity co-branding and even in real life event sponsorships. Consider focusing your content strategy less on selling and more on creating that authentic and intriguing experience. Brand trust is second only to price when Gen Z makes purchasing decisions. Remember, Gen Z is the cancel culture generation, one misstep could lead to being #cancelled, so uphold your brand values both internally and externally.
