August 2016

3 facts you should know about Generation Z

Generation Z

Although Millennials won’t want to admit it, they aren’t the big thing anymore, Generation Z is where it’s at now. With the oldest people in this generation graduating university this autumn, employers need to be ready in order to compete for the top talent.

Usually identified as being born between the mid 1990s and the late 2000s, this group is often wrongly labelled as millennials, and although they do share many of the same characteristics, they have significant differences. This generation have always known their smart phones, and won’t have any idea what to do with a VHS.

This tech savvy group of young people can be an organisations biggest resource, but be aware that there are less of them than their predecessors, and they do have different principles, so you will need to learn what is important to this group.

Don’t be faceless

One reasons that Snapchat and Facebook Live are doing so well with Gen Z is because they show that brands have a human element. We all want to be able to connect with a brand, but this is more important to younger people. These folks want to see a funny, quirky side of the brand, they want to see human inspiration and they are more likely to share content if they find it funny.

Trolli are a great example of producing great fun content, which is humorous, and shareable. They’ve been running the below campaign on YouTube along with an amusing snapchat filter to tie in. Visual content is where it’s at.

Don’t be afraid to have a bit of fun with your brand, if you don’t then you might just become invisible to Gen Z

2. Dual Wielding

Jiji-VML-Qais The number of Gen Z members who browse using an internet enabled device whilst watching TV has hit 74%. Although this is one of those traits that isn’t too dissimilar to millennials, it’s important to link content between the screens.

A recent Google study shows that more often than not, a user will view content on a smartphone, then move to a laptop. This shows that the multi-screen experience is more sequential than simultaneous.

Understand that consumers don’t want to consume the same content from multiple sources, but want each platform to enhance their experience, and also to lead on from one another easily.

3. Intrusive Ads

Since Ad Blockers entered our lives, we’ve been able to bypass the majority of the intrusive ads that we get force fed. Although, there are still many adverts that slip through the net. These adverts have been found to do exactly the opposite of what marketers want; a study by Ad Week shows that 56% of people have reduced their social media usage as result of newsfeed ads.

Generation Z are much more likely to listen to a personal recommendation, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a person they know in the flesh. With YouTube being the favourite platform for this generation, a recommendation from a blogger/vlogger/influencer can be 57% more effective, than traditional marketing methods.

Generation Z want to know who you are, they want to know that you do what you do for the right reasons, and they want to learn. Make sure not to annoy them, with the internet as their best friend, they have a lot of other brand options available to them. This makes Gen Z the hardest generation to keep as a loyal customer.

Get in touch with our team for more information.

How brands can keep the ball rolling after Uni

It’s that time of year where students begin to make the huge adjustment from being students, to stepping forward into the wide world as graduates.

This change can be terrifying for many; as soon as they lose the student title it means that all of a sudden there are big responsibilities in mind like finding a job and a home, well, after the initial holiday period! Others may have felt stifled at university and are excited by the prospect of freedom, but they are about to find that they are a small fish in a massive ocean.

Understand your audience

The number of undergraduate students finishing university this year is a little under half a million; it’s an awful lot of people with a huge spending power (and that doesn’t even include postgrads). So it’s crucial to understand what they care about and
how to target them based on their needs and wants. Generally, this includes three things; money, food, and themselves, but be aware not to over-simplify your audience and make assumptions. Conducting focus groups can help to greater understand students and graduates, and what matters to them. Build your content so it focuses on helping to fulfil their needs, that way they will begin to build a personal connection between their interests and your brand.

What is really important to remember is that graduates don’t wake up on the day of the graduation suddenly as different people, with different interests and different values. They are very much the same people, and will be for a while. The only major change will be their student discount card expiring!

With that in mind, it’s best to engage with them the same way you would have before they graduated.

Think of the bigger picture

Appealing to students and their desire to earn money is an interesting one. Now more than ever students are worried about their finances and sticking to a budget.

Intuit, an American financial services corporation, developed Mint.com a free, easy to use, aesthetically beautiful budgeting program. The application is mobile friendly, secure, and it has a strong community centre where informative blogs and videos are shared. It was primarily designed to be a marketing exercise focused solely on offering free information.

This is a good example of appealing to graduates without dumbing down the topic. Giving them informative posts about money and budgeting post university life is as likely to appeal to them as much as a freebie did at a fresher’s fair.

Follow trends and respond

The stereotype is that students just eat takeaways and pot noodles everyday. While there are some students that do fit that bill, there is a large proportion that is hugely health and fitness conscious. This is even truer when students graduate, they no longer have big deadlines to be eating around.

Eating clean is a massive trend among young people, with 41% of under 25s saying that they’d actually pay more for healthier products. As you would expect, health brands are jumping on this, Wholefoods Market, for example, is doing really well out of the newly health-conscious youth.

The organic food shop posts regularly on a community blog, this in itself isn’t anything special but what they post is. Obviously everything is in some way linked back to organic food, but also featured are tips on recycling, tips on how to set the perfect summer table, and unusual vegetables, among other stuff. A simple way to expand the brands appeal, again by being informational and useful.

Alongside the blog, Wholefoods Market is taking education to the next level by putting up posters around its stores explaining where the brand’s food comes from; sustainable seafood safety lists, and what exactly the difference in taste is for customers, with in-store promo sending traffic to the blog.

The bottom line is, create interesting content that fulfils a need of your graduate audience and keeps your brand in the forefront of their minds. By building relationships founded on offering support and guidance brands can reap the rewards from their marketing efforts.

If you would like to find out more about how we can help you keep students interested in your brands post-university, get in touch today!