Successfully marketing to Gen Z can be likened to the moment you spot a rarely seen species on a game drive. You strain your eyes trying to find it in the brush and when you do, it vanishes as soon as it appeared. This market is so elusive that it’s forcing companies to rethink their strategies as traditional methods fall flat. But why do they matter at all and why should we care? Because this demographic is projected to make up 40% of consumers by 2020 according to the Gen Z Insights Centre. Born roughly between 1995 and 2012, Gen Z’s are starting to go to tertiary education centres and become young adults, meaning that they are the next generation that will sustain businesses. According to the Content Marketing Institute, this demographic expects greater transparency, accountability and personal validation with every online experience they choose to engage in. So what does this mean for your content marketing efforts?
Trust and personal information
Gen Zs are more familiar than any generation with the importance of protecting personal information online and what happens when that trust is violated. So in order to gain their trust, it’s important to give a clear explanation of how disclosing their personal information will offer them an enhanced experience on your platform. 91% of millennials and Gen Zs said that they trust companies more when this happens, according to a 2017 Salesforce report on trends in customer trust.
Merging the physical with the digital
Creating a seamless experience online and face to face is a must for Gen Zs. Nothing irks them more than a brand that has a great social media personality and engages with customers, only to find their in-store experience filled with incompetence and rude, unfriendly staff. Who you are online must align with who you are in the physical world too.
Take a stand
When Nike backed athlete Caster Semenya during her hearing with the IAAF to determine whether or not she should receive medication to reduce the level of testosterone in her body (which the organisation believed gave her an unfair advantage), the brand risked alienating conservative customers but they released their #BornToDoIt campaign anyway. This was also the case when they stood behind American football player Colin Kaepernick as he was being sidelined from the game for kneeling during the national anthem and speaking out against inequality in America. This demonstration of brand courage resonates with Gen Zs who respect and support companies that take a stand. To attract this audience, make sure that your content marketing showcases a fair amount of a social conscience that aligns with your brand’s core values.
Create personal growth opportunities
A Forbes.com article contends that more than millennials, Gen Zs are looking for opportunities to hone their skills. Offer the solution by creating content that teaches them something, be it video tutorials or product demos. If it’s good, it will pique their curiosity and if it’s great, they will share it with their social media followers.
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