The Generation Z basically grew up with technology and lifestyle-driven daily-routine. It’s no wonder why they’re called the “certified digital natives” and “visual-driven generation”.
Now, business marketers are doing all they can to target them because the Gen Zs pull in most of the good metrics. Almost half percentage of this audience live online and mostly watch content.
According to a recent survey conducted by Pew Research Center, 45% of teens now say they are online “almost constantly.”
Another research has shown that the Gen Zs spend more time on mobile devices (an average of 11 hours per week) and streams more content (an average of 23 hours of video content a week) than any other generation. That’s almost one full day spent watching (rather than say, reading) content.
Gen Zs have unlimited access to smartphones and well-developed apps, which means that marketers really extend their efforts on investing in organic and mpaid marketing.
The rise of mobile usage all over the world is helping fuel Gen Z’s habitual online activities, like checking social media apps whenever there’s time to kill.
According to Criteo, their conducted Gen Z report showed that 62% of Gen Z likes ads that provide value. Since relevance is key to feeling organic, all the better if ads can feel like native content in actual social media feeds.
When marketing to Gen Z, keep in mind where they are most active: Facebook, Instagram, Pinteres and YouTube.
It’s easy — they’re always the platforms driven by visual content like photos and videos. Gen Zers tend to create, consume, and engage with much more with visuals than words-only status updates. Read: An awesome concert / amazing look / outstanding vacation is best communicated through well-lit photos, videos, or snaps.
Highly tailored search tools are already reaping their respective rewards. Such is the case for Pinterest, a site made popular by the Millennials and Gen Z which leverages a smartphone camera and machine learning applications to match customers to objects and designs for a rich product discovery experience.
That being said, for Gen Zs, it’s the visual content over words.
Brands and retailers who want to win should take a lesson from visually-driven platforms and optimize their online product photos and media like how-to videos, as well as (of course) their actual social media presence. Gen Z also expects two-way communication with brands on social media, and those that can make it easy and seamless will win more of Gen Z.
Indeed, visual search will be at its peak in the succeeding years, especially for e-commerce businesses who are progressively reaping good results thanks to the Gen Z shoppers, whose influence and adoption of the unique technology makes it highly relevant to different business sectors.
According to Barkley’s Gen Z Insights Center, Gen Z already has up to $143 billion in direct buying power with the potential to impact more than $665 billion in family spending. Furthermore, this group is projected to make up 40% of consumers by 2020.
Lastly, Generation Z is pretty much lonely individuals, having been used to social interaction online most of the time. However, by creating immersive, multisensory, and mixed-reality content experiences – such as VR-powered video games, pop-up museums, escape rooms, and micro-theme parks –brands can counteract this detachment by removing external distractions while consumers are participating: “You put on a VR headset and you have no choice but to be fully present in the moment.”
So if you’re not leveraging on producing a high-quality visually-appealing experience, you might want to re-consider right now.