Digital marketing has slowly become one of the most potent forms of marketing. Unless you add digital marketing to your scheme of things, it is tough to reach your target audiences these days. Influential marketing has gradually started to challenge traditional forms of marketing. When it comes to social media and marketing, people think it influences only the millennials. But this is not true at all.
You need to understand that influencer marketing is one of the most effective ways of reaching out to your target audience, not just for the millennials but also for audiences across age groups and interests. And, when we say people from all age groups and interests, it, of course, includes Generation Z or GenZ. Millennials are not the only ones hooked to their mobile phones. GenZ also spends a lot of their time on their mobile phones.
With consumer trust dwindling in brands’ marketing communication, people these days turn to their family and friends for a recommendation, And, this is where influencer marketing plays an extremely significant role.
Though influencer marketing is one of the best ways to promote your brand across all age groups, yet you need to understand that each group requires a different approach. Every age group differs in behaviour, interests, and needs. Hence, it is vital to customize your campaign per the needs of the age bracket you target.
It is not necessary that an influencer marketing campaign that is a hit among the millennials also generates the same traction in the older age bracket. That is why you need to customize your campaign to target them effectively.
And, if you are looking for marketing strategies to reach GenZ, then you are in the right place. Let us take you through who all constitute GenZ, how to market to GenZ, and the rise of TikTok on social media.
So, who is GenZ anyway?
Irrespective of the type of marketing, it is imperative for the brands to know their target audience thoroughly to reach them effectively. Hence, when you are planning to target the Gen Z, it is necessary to know a few things about them as well.
So, who is GenZ anyway?
Generally, people born from 1995 to 2010 are known as Gen Zers. Born and brought up in the digital age, this generation (also known as digital natives) is pretty comfortable in using online platforms and social media. They tend to spend a lot of their time on the online landscape.
And, what are the platforms that you need to choose to target the GenZ?
If you want to target GenZ effectively, you need to target these platforms:
- YouTube
- Snapchat
To effectively target GenZ, you need to make sure that you communicate your brand’s values to them. If your influencer campaign can put values into action, then your marketing strategy can resonate well with them.
Also, if you want to attract Gen Z, you need to be authentic and genuine. You can use micro-influencers to target them effectively because they listen to them.
You should also use social media to boost in-store purchases. Almost half of Gen Zers use Instagram to discover new brands. Hence, your influencer campaign for them must include Instagram’s in-app shopping feature. But it is vital to ensure that your content is appealing.
Marketing to GenZ
If you want to make your marketing campaign successful, it is vital to know your audience. If you don’t know your audience, you cannot target them effectively. Hence, if you want to reach out to your GenZ audience, it vital to know what they want, how they make their purchases, and things that can influence them.
You need to understand that marketing to GenZ is different from millennials. If you want to make your campaign effective, you need to understand their values and how they go about making their (read GenZ) purchases.
Gen Zers are independent, focused, hard-working, determined, responsible, and competitive.
So, why is it important to understand them?
It is important to understand Gen Zers because the youth culture is impacting the consumer culture in a big way across age brackets. Industries take the cue from Gen Zers.
Generation Zers have tremendous buying power, and you cannot ignore them. It is not their buying power alone that you need to factor in as a business. You also need to understand that they have a huge influence on their parents’ spending. And together, this forms a huge consumer block, which businesses cannot afford to ignore.
Generation Z and millennials have some similarities but have differences as well. They have a similar digital, social, and mobile behaviour, and both groups are early adopters of everything that can make their lives simple.
The differences include – privacy is more important to GenZ, they have more traditional values, and are more competitive than the millennials.
For Gen Zers, human equality, family, individuality, success, fiscal security, and transparency are extremely important.
So, what influences Gen Zer’s purchasing decision?
Two things that are extremely important to them are quality and value. If they don’t see value in what they are buying, they don’t go ahead and make the purchase.
Identity for Gen Z is also very important. Usually, they purchase an item if they think that it fits their unique identity, or if they believe that the product reflects their values.
Peers also influence the purchasing decisions of GenZ. They tend to take the advice of their peers before making a purchase.
Also, if you don’t make your products available in a mobile-friendly way, Gen Zers are unlikely to buy from you.
Generation Z believes in instant gratification. They want products and services that they can consume instantly.
Finally, what attracts GenZ to brands?
Gen Zers are upright in their approach; they follow what they preach. And, this is what they expect from the brands as well. Businesses that take a stand on important issues tend to leave an indelible imprint on this generation.
Generation Zers don’t like to remain in a make-believe world. Hence, if you want to target GenZ effectively, you need to make sure that your marketing messages are realistic.
They believe in striking an authentic two-way conversation. Hence, if you want to market effectively to GenZ, take them along.
This is TikTok’s Time
As marketers, it is important to know the platforms you need to choose to tap your audience. There are various social media platforms that you can use to reach your target audience. For example, you cannot ignore Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat if you want to target the Generation Z.
But there is another platform that is catching the imagination of people, and it is TikTok.
Yes, this is TikTok time, and it has taken the internet world by surprise. TikTok is a machine learning social video platform from China that is gaining popularity by the day.
TikTok is growing rapidly, and as a brand, if you want to target Gen Zers, you should not ignore it.
TikTok is a mobile-first social content platform that offers short-form videos that are rich in music, dancing, comedy, trends, and intimacy. It allows you to follow people, browse popular videos, and explore hashtags.
You would think that it is just like any other content app like Instagram, Vine, YouTube, etc. out there, but it has much more to offer.
TikTok is unique because of two reasons – the type of content it offers and the content distribution system it adopts to distribute the content.
On this platform, everything starts and ends with sound. The sound here is an audio clip with a duration between 15 and 60 seconds, from music and dialogue clips to TV shows superimposed on top of your TikTok videos.
TikTok is changing the social media landscape altogether. We have been used to seeing different content coming from different sources, but TikTok is changing this concept. A new trend has emerged, where everyone seems to be making the same content – here the person doesn’t change the content, the content changes the person.
Hence, as a marketer, if you want to reach your GenZ audience, you need to add TikTok to your scheme of things.
What sets TikTok apart from others is its content distribution system. It uses AI and ML to evaluate your video and ranks it accordingly.
As a marketer, you need to understand that if you want to capture the imagination of your audience, you need to speak the same language as that of the TikTok users.
TikTok has become a mainstream app with celebrities and brands trying to figure out how to make their presence felt on the platform to exploit the huge market.
Hence, if you have in place a strategy to target your GenZ audience on TikTok, you are sure to get the first-mover advantage.
So, as a brand, how can you engage with TikTok?
There are three ways you can go about doing it:
You can advertise on TikTok. Your ad/s will be displayed when people load the app and when they scroll their feed.
You can also make your video content. But make sure that your content is original, you follow the trends, and use proper sounds.
You can also use influential marketing to promote your brand on TikTok. You can pay TikTok influencers to include your brand in the content they create or tag your TikTok account.
Soon, TikTok is going to improve its advertising platform. TikTok is also trying to find a way to facilitate shopping for its users so that they do not have to leave the app.
In the times to come, most brands will have a TikTok strategy to target their audiences, people across age groups will use the platform, and it will become a hub for e-commerce dealings.
If you want to tap your audience and are looking for an effective marketing strategy, you can contact vStacks Infotech now. We have been in the digital landscape for a long time, and we know what it takes to create an effective social media marketing strategy.
