June 07, 2023

How to Market to Gen Z

It’s no secret that one of the biggest challenges businesses face today is how to reach the younger generations, specifically Gen Z. Born between 1997 and 2012, Gen Z is a highly influential demographic that is now coming of age and entering the workforce, which means they’re beginning to have more disposable income in their pockets.

In this article, we’ll explore what Gen Z is all about, why the demographic is important to businesses, best practices for marketing, and how to reach those young people using social media and Snapchat.

Understanding Gen Zers

Gen Zers are an exceptionally diverse and complex group of people. If you want to connect with and sell to them, it’s crucial to understand their characteristics and preferences so that you can develop informed, effective marketing strategies that they can ultimately relate and respond to. Some defining traits include these:

Gen Zers are digital natives: They’ve grown up in a world entirely immersed in and driven by technology, so they’re perfectly comfortable existing in the digital world. They’re highly tech-savvy and completely at home navigating various digital devices and platforms.
Gen Zers are socially conscious: They want to make a difference in the world, and as a result, they’re passionate about social and environmental issues and inclined to take action to effect change.
Gen Zers are unusually individualistic: They’re keen on expressing their unique personalities, particularly through their clothing, music, and lifestyle choices.
Gen Zers value authenticity and transparency in the brands they support: They’re skeptical of traditional advertising, prefer to engage with brands that are genuine and honest, and react very favorably to the realness of user-generated content.
Gen Zers are constantly connected to the world through their smartphones and social media. They typically rely on multiple social media platforms to connect with friends and family, stay informed, and discover new products and services.

Why Gen Z is Important for Business

Gen Z is an incredibly significant demographic for businesses to market to because they're quickly becoming one of the most influential consumer groups. With over 2 billion individuals worldwide — representing about 30% of the global population¹ — they're a massive demographic group, and their spending power is only increasing as they enter the workforce and gain more financial independence.

Because Gen Z is the largest and most diverse generation in history, they wield significant buying power. According to a report by Knit, Gen Z standalone buying power is around US$44 billion and its buying power influence is US$600 billion.² With that in mind, it’s an easy leap: As this demographic continues to enter the workforce and become financially independent, their purchasing power will only continue to grow.

But sheer numbers aren’t the only factor that make Gen Z a crucial target audience. They're also a very influential population, with strong opinions and values that are shaping the cultural and social landscape in many ways. They’re the generation leading the charge on sustainability, diversity, and social justice issues. Businesses that fail to align accordingly risk being left behind.

Equally significantly and as we mentioned earlier, Gen Z represents a generation that has grown up in an era of constant technological change. As a result, they're perpetually connected and able to adjust digital course readily as new technologies emerge, with social media and online platforms playing a central role in their lives.

Businesses that can successfully engage with Gen Z on those channels have the potential to build deep, long-lasting, loyalty-rich relationships that can very literally and monumentally sway their bottom line for the better.

Marketing to Gen Z

To effectively market to Gen Z, businesses need to take a different approach than they have in the past. Here are some strategies to consider for yours:

Create honest, socially responsible content
As mentioned earlier, Gen Z is passionate about social justice and environmental issues. Gen Zers want to know what your brand stands for and what your company is doing to make a positive impact on the world.

So, make sure your business is actively addressing these concerns, and highlight your social responsibility efforts in your marketing messages. Focus on creating honest, transparent, genuine marketing content that showcases your values and mission and synchronizes your business with your customers’ persuasions and expectations.

On Snapchat, use your Public Profile to position and convey your business’s personality and values, and to communicate your commitment to social responsibility by engaging with your customers.
Use social media platforms
Social media is an essential part of Gen Z's daily life. For that reason, you should leverage platforms such as Snapchat to reach this demographic, making sure your marketing efforts are optimized for your platform of choice.

Craft and utilize creative and engaging content to capture Gen Z’s attention, including short-form videos and influencer partnerships, both of which tend to be strong performers in this context.
Embrace video content: It’s no secret or surprise that Gen Zers prefer video content over other types of content — they’ve grown up in the thick of social media’s ascension and radical image-capture technology evolution.

Focus on creating engaging, compelling, and informative videos that are intentionally brief (remember short attention spans) and showcase your products or services in as interesting a light as possible. As we’ve seen at Snapchat, Gen Z’s extremely keen on user-generated content, so you can expect better results when you choose to go down that road.
Provide personalized experiences: Gen Z is more interested in meaningful experiences than material possessions. They prefer and expect personalization: customized approaches that cater to their (and their friend groups’) unique preferences, interests, and tastes, and align with their values. They can largely see right through fluff. Instead, they want realness, they want truth, and they want personalization.

When those demands are met, you stand a great chance of landing a new customer. So be sure to use technology to enhance the customer experience and make it easy for Gen Zers to interact with your brand on their terms.
Partner with influencers: Gen Zers trust influencers, value their opinions, and respond to their direction much more so than they do with any given corporate entity. It’s in your best interest to invest time and effort into pinpointing and developing relationships with strategic influencers, and partnering with them to promote your offerings.

Snapchat can help your business grow.

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Marketing to Gen Z

To effectively market to Gen Z, businesses need to take a different approach than they have in the past. Here are some strategies to consider for yours:

Create honest, socially responsible content
As mentioned earlier, Gen Z is passionate about social justice and environmental issues. Gen Zers want to know what your brand stands for and what your company is doing to make a positive impact on the world.

So, make sure your business is actively addressing these concerns, and highlight your social responsibility efforts in your marketing messages. Focus on creating honest, transparent, genuine marketing content that showcases your values and mission and synchronizes your business with your customers’ persuasions and expectations.

On Snapchat, use your Public Profile to position and convey your business’s personality and values, and to communicate your commitment to social responsibility by engaging with your customers.
Use social media platforms
Social media is an essential part of Gen Z's daily life. For that reason, you should leverage platforms such as Snapchat to reach this demographic, making sure your marketing efforts are optimized for your platform of choice.

Craft and utilize creative and engaging content to capture Gen Z’s attention, including short-form videos and influencer partnerships, both of which tend to be strong performers in this context.
Embrace video content: It’s no secret or surprise that Gen Zers prefer video content over other types of content — they’ve grown up in the thick of social media’s ascension and radical image-capture technology evolution.

Focus on creating engaging, compelling, and informative videos that are intentionally brief (remember short attention spans) and showcase your products or services in as interesting a light as possible. As we’ve seen at Snapchat, Gen Z’s extremely keen on user-generated content, so you can expect better results when you choose to go down that road.
Provide personalized experiences: Gen Z is more interested in meaningful experiences than material possessions. They prefer and expect personalization: customized approaches that cater to their (and their friend groups’) unique preferences, interests, and tastes, and align with their values. They can largely see right through fluff. Instead, they want realness, they want truth, and they want personalization.

When those demands are met, you stand a great chance of landing a new customer. So be sure to use technology to enhance the customer experience and make it easy for Gen Zers to interact with your brand on their terms.
Partner with influencers: Gen Zers trust influencers, value their opinions, and respond to their direction much more so than they do with any given corporate entity. It’s in your best interest to invest time and effort into pinpointing and developing relationships with strategic influencers, and partnering with them to promote your offerings.

How to Market to Gen Z

Understanding Gen Zers

Why Gen Z is Important for Business

Marketing to Gen Z

Snapchat can help your business grow.

Understanding Gen Zers

Why Gen Z is Important for Business

Marketing to Gen Z

Snapchat can help your business grow.

Gen Z and Snapchat

Best Practices for Advertising to Gen Z