Gen Z marketing insights to inspire your next ad campaign

TL;DR 

A fun-sized summary of this article

TikTok shop influencers may just be the missing ingredient in your e-commerce strategy.

Sometimes, the worst way to lean into a trend is to repeat it. Gen Z wants you to try doing it your own way. 

TikTok search is killing Google - which may be good news for you. 

If you want highly engaged followers, you need to start thinking of them like a fandom. 

Times are tough, pockets are tight, and macro-influencer partnerships are starting to alienate Gen Z. 

Our generation is more connected than ever - but we are also the loneliest on record. Your brand can help solve that problem. 

Temperature check

Our generation’s relationship with the online space is not static. As we get older, so does the internet; for better or worse, we’re growing up together. This means that our developments are often a mirror image of one another, but what does that image look like at the moment?

The consensus: times are changing, and so are we. For brands, this is a call to action. Let’s do a temperature check on Gen Z - and then put those insights into motion for a more effective strategy. 

The insights (and what your brand can do with them)

Insight: Gen Z doesn’t just prefer E-shopping over IRL - our shopping habits are also responding to its evolution.

Action: Upgrade your content strategy and target TikTok Shop influencers.

It’s time to get with the program - if we’re online, you should be, too. It’s 2024, and Gen Z’s shopping experiences are increasingly digital. In response, brands are adapting their strategies to match our ever-evolving consumer habits there. But the TikTok marketplace is not for the weak - or the unintentional. The worst way for a brand to do TikTok is by the book; this app is all about evolution, and Gen Z responds to originality, not repetition. The newest development in the digital marketplace? TikTok Shop - and its influencers. Investing in partnerships with TikTok Shop creators doesn’t just provide a direct line to Gen Z consumers, it also is the most optimized way to do social product integration. 

Insight: Gen Z is bored of brands repeating themselves.

Action: Disrupt, innovate, create - but don’t imitate. 

When the internet hyperfixates on something, it’s not long before it’s done to death. Then worse - it’s corporitized. Everyone knows that the moment a brand account with a blue check is jumping onto the joke, it’s wayyyy past due. Brands, let’s be mindful of why you were invited to the feed. 

If you’re jumping onto a trend, you better have the best pun in the world locked and loaded in the drafts or be ready to bring something new to the table - something that only you, as a brand, can uniquely offer. In the efforts of trying to engage in pop culture, brands often forget the power of their place in it - we don’t need you to replace (or repeat) our favorite meme; we want you to put it into a new context.  

Insight: Gen Z is done googling - social media is our search engine of choice. 

Action: Optimize your content for social search.

Gen Z may just make Google go extinct - or at least downgrade it to Bing status. That’s ‘cause we’re just not using it anymore - TikTok (and other social media platforms) are easier for us to search. That’s why crafting content optimized for social is non-negotiable for brands that want our attention (and cash). Leveraging platform algorithms in your strategy is essential for effective positioning and will earn you visibility amidst the online clutter - you may even make our feed. 

Insight: Gen Z is highly engaged with brands that prioritize world-building.

Action: Cultivate a following - and then turn it into a fandom. 

It exists outside the confines of your profile. React, react, react! We want you in our comments - and honestly, in our DMs, too. To build a world around your brand, we need to see you out in it, preferably doing more than just selling us a product. Who are you when you’re not pitching to us? Show it by leaving your digital footprint all over the net. 

Insight: Gen Z is sick of being flexed on.

Action: Ditch the mega influencers and celebrities and focus on meaningful connections with micro-influencers. 

It isn’t 2016 anymore - flex culture is dead, overconsumption is an ick, and relatability is more important than ever. In this current climate, the pomp and indulgence of celebrity endorsements are a recipe for alienation; even once “relatable”-branded influencers are getting the side eye once their follower count-ticks high enough. Plus, we are in a cost-of-living crisis; brands need to read the room before picking brand ambassadors. 

Instead of chasing macro-influencers with 7-figure follow counts, brands should refocus on building relationships with micro-influencers whose niches overlap with brand-aligned interests. A highly targeted micro-influencer campaign is going to come off much more genuine than partnerships with mega-stars -  and is sure to drive more engagement, too.

Insight: We're the generation that's always plugged in, but socially, we feel disconnected.

Action: Brands, invest in experiences that create 3rd spaces for us.

Gen Z loves individuality but hates individualism. It is essential for us to celebrate our differences in a way that cultivates community and brands that get us get that. Adapting to this insight means shifting gears - you’re not catering to the individuals grouped into a demographic; you’re nurturing communities. Brand-sponsored online forums, experiential pop-ups, and organized meetups bring people together and cultivating these spaces makes you an important cornerstone in them.