Why traditional methods of social marketing don’t work with Gen Z?

Gen Z was born and raised within the virtual world, contrarily to millennials. Almost 50% of these young people admit to being constantly connected. In addition to making them digitally aware and savvy, it also means your potential Gen Z customers are extremely familiar with the online ads’ dynamics and mechanisms.

In fact, most of these digital natives confess that they skip ads, avoid them, or use ad-blocking technology, much more than any other demographic.

They also do not fall for any of traditional advertising methods. This is one of the reasons social networks are trying harder and harder to find new ways which cleverly mix native content to very short story ads, in the hope to turn this target audience into social buyers.

But if the traditional methods of social marketing don’t work, how can brands reach Gen Z?

There are a couple of things brands could consider in their online marketing strategies to Gen Z:

1. Being video first is not enough. Build your online persona

Gen Z has a short attention span. Shorter than you might think – studies show it's around 8 seconds. That doesn’t give brands long to impress them. This certainly means that video should be the main form of content to impress this target audience.

Video content is perfect for capturing interest immediately – allowing brands to jump straight into something eye-grabbing. In fact, 91% of Gen Z prefer video marketing formats.

However, for a longer lasting loyalty of Gen Z, going viral with video content on TikTok is not enough for brands. This generation requires more than just some traditional ad techniques of selling a product or service. They need a voice that they would respond to.

Therefore, brands must take example of the social content creators’ function and build an online persona that doesn’t need to hop on the latest trend nor needs to rely on a specific influencer and their audience/followers.

2. Treat Gen Z as a psychographic, not a simple demographic

This means that this audience doesn’t just buy a product, nor an experience because of a cool ad, popular influencer. They are more than just a classic target, they breathe the values of their community, they are inclusive, they are socially responsible and aware of the main challenges our global society is facing. This means that they will choose a brand and/or a company which reflects all of that, which openly embraces a mission, brings a contribute to the society, to their journey in the world.

Brands need to clearly take a stand, and they have to be part of an online community where the discussions about some key topics, dear to the Gen Z audience, mostly take place.