Gen Z makes up 20.35% of the U.S. population, and they’re the most diverse generation in terms of race and ethnicity. Known as the smartphone generation, they’re tech-savvy, avid social media users, and protective of the environment.
These are just some of the facts you should know about Gen Z to be able to understand them and get them excited about your brand. Consulting with a branding agency might be a good idea to attract the post-millennial generation, but getting informed first is a must. In this guide, we’ll explain six steps you should take to get Gen Z excited about your brand.
1. Appeal To Gen Z By Showing That You Care
Gen Z is a caring generation, with the likes of Greta Tunberg being their voice for nature preservation, and ultimately, saving the planet. Marketing to these teens and adolescents shouldn’t be flashy or flamboyant—they prefer eco-friendly and ethical brands.
Treat the planet and your employees with respect and gratitude if you want to grab the attention of Gen Z. Your brand policy should be in line with these attitudes if you want to successfully grab Gen Z’s attention.
2. Have A Healthy Purpose
Most businesses focus solely on the numbers and the income they make. That might be fine with some of the older generations, but the Gen Z population isn’t so product or money-oriented. They prefer a brand that has a clear purpose and tries to make the world a better place.
If you show initiative to help your community, spread positivity, preserve nature, fight for those less fortunate, and stand up to social injustice, you’ll look good in the eyes of everyone, especially younger generations.
3. Interact With Them On Multiple Platforms
Gen Z is a very interactive generation, they are native to social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Tik Tok, YouTube, Twitter, and more. Responding to your audience through these outlets can increase their interest and gain their loyalty.
Younger audiences are brand conscious and gladly flock to brands that are listening and catering to their needs. Loyalty is a two-way street, and you have to build it gradually but remember to maintain it throughout your brand expansion and marketing content for future success.
4. Don’t Patronize Or Lie To Gen Z
Being honest is not always easy, but if you want your brand to succeed, you’ll have to be genuine and inspiring. False advertising doesn’t sit well with anyone, but the older generation tends to succumb to it more than the younger ones.
Try to be relatable and personalize your communication with the Gen Z audience. It will go a long way if you treat them with respect and be upfront and honest.
5. Focus On Mobile Users
Baby boomers might have trouble adjusting to the tech era, but Gen Z is born in it. The majority of this population uses smartphones and tablets as their go-to digital devices. Many brands prioritize the desktop experience, but that shouldn’t be the case anymore.
If you want to target younger users, make sure the mobile experience is smooth, fast, and optimal. Invest the same or higher amounts in the mobile version of your website — don’t necessarily prioritize the desktop experience.
For example, you can hire a Chicago web design company to help you out with this, if you’re living in Chicago. There are companies that specialize in this all over the US, and employing industry-leading experts can surely help your brand.
6. Cut Straight to the Point—They Have Shorter Attention Spans!
The digital era brought many benefits to brands across all industries. However, it also brought some flaws to the younger generations — their attention spans are very short, around eight seconds, which is four seconds shorter than the attentions of millennials.
How do you grab someone’s attention in such a short period of time? There are a few schools of thought on this.
First, you need to be creative and employ modern media methods whether using Facebook ads or Instagram feeds to reach your audience. Most people are visual learners and prefer this medium, which also applies to Gen Z.
Second, you can try to offer an incentive for them to sign up for an email list of some sort. While they’re typically weary of doing this, if you offer the right lead magnet it’s possible to get them signed up. From there, use an email marketing platform from this list to deliver a ton of value over the course of a few weeks and then focus on your “ask”.
Generally speaking, Gen Z likes extremely short videos, such as those featured in Instagram Reels or on Tik Tok. Adding these catchy videos to your website, within emails, or even better, reaching out to audiences on these dominant social media platforms, can be the key to grabbing their attention.
If you’re not familiar with using these apps, consider hiring Gen Z influencers to help you out. They can tag and showcase your brand, which is more likely to catch the attention of Gen Z than relying solely on your main website.
Parting Advice
Remember that some of these tips will work better than the others because Gen Z is a vast population with over 67 million people in the US alone. If you’re considerate and put in the effort to personalize your brand toward Gen Z, you’ll likely get their attention.
Author:
Mathew Reeves
Experienced in Online Marketing, Mathew writes for business and for pleasure, mostly focused on digital trends and web design. A huge people person, passionate about travel and books. Allergic to the poor internet connection.
