According to our Southeast Asia Influencer Marketing Industry report, 46.5% of people in the region spend at least five hours on social media. In relation to this, social media users aged 16-24 spend at least ten hours on these platforms. If you are thinking of expanding your market reach, now is a great time to consider Gen Z marketing.
Who are the Gen Zs?
Gen Zs are those who were born in the mid-1990s. This market segment is often glued to their devices and are almost always on social media.Also called ‘post-millennials’ and ‘zoomers,’ Gen Zs are mostly in their early 20s followed by those who are still in college. Therefore, we are expecting to see an increase in purchasing power, within this group, in the next decade and they should definitely be a part of your marketing strategy to keep your brand at top of mind.
Why Brands Should Consider Gen Z Marketing
As mentioned earlier, Gen Zs will have an increased purchasing power within the next decade. So much so that their online and mobile-first behaviour can help increase global consumption to 50% or USD 10 trillion within the next ten years.Nonetheless, taking advantage of this growth means understanding the region’s diversity and their changing consumer behaviour. Here are some current insights that you need to keep in mind:
- Gen Zs are voracious consumers of video content, which also impacts their brand selection.
- They rely on social media but are thoughtful on how they engage with it.
- Gen Zs prefer brands that are popular enough yet allow them to showcase their personality.
- Their purchasing behaviour is often influenced by people they know such as friends and families.
Based on this, we can say that influencer marketing can be one of the best ways on how to reach Gen Zs.
How Influencer Marketing can Help Businesses Reach Gen Zs
Gen Zs tend to be early adopters of products, services, and experiences. Additionally, consumers and social media users in Singapore these days prefer to see product reviews (40.2%) and unboxing content (15.5%) on various online platforms.These are some of the content types that you can generate when working with influencers. This can also be a great opportunity for your target consumers to know that your brand exists. Moreover, an optimised social media influencer campaign can make marketing to Gen Zs effective. That’s because they represent a young group of consumers you want to target for your brand as they can help spread the word about your products online.With word-of-mouth, you can drive desired results like product awareness, traffic, reviews and testimonials, and conversions for your brand.Here are six tips on how you can run an effective influencer marketing campaign that can help you reach Gen Zs:
Select the Right Influencers
Whether you are working with mega influencers or nano influencers, they are your business’s most prized possession. That’s because they can help spread the word about your products, reach your target consumers, and drive conversions.However, finding the right social media influencers for your campaigns is more than just checking which of them has a lot of followers. If you want to work with the right influencers, you need to do the following:
- Determine your campaign objectives
- Consider brand alignment
- Give your influencers creative freedom
Take advantage of an influencer management platform
Generate Genuine Reviews
Gen Zs value insightful product reviews created by relatable social media influencers. That’s because they lack trust for ‘the establishments’ yet crave for credible information.Meanwhile, they know that product reviews by influencers are genuine as these internet-famous people only work with brands they trust and promote products that they are keen to use.That said, the key to an effective influencer marketing campaign is to look for people who can advocate your products and connect with your young consumers.
Instil Trust in Your Brand
In relation to the previous point, influencer marketing allows you to cultivate trust for your brand as 72% of consumers trust brands with positive reviews.This is where your influencers can come in handy. With their help, you can generate user-generated content that includes unboxing videos and genuine product reviews. Doing so can help spread the word about your product, share experience with your target customers, and build product awareness.
Drive Authentic Engagement
The advantage of working with influencers is that you can drive authentic engagement with your target market. In fact, nano influencers can drive an average engagement rate of 7-10%.One reason is that their small following allows them to respond to comments in real time. Another reason is that most of their audience are people they know; hence, they are able to share authentic reviews.
Turn Your Target Market into Advocates
If you want to turn your target market into advocates, Gen Z marketing can come in handy.Oftentimes, the influencers you work with are also Gen Zs. And what’s great about this generation is that they want to be part of the experience. Hence, leveraging young influencers allows you to generate genuine reviews, create thoughtful and creative content, and instil trust in your brand.However, you need to consider brand alignment to make it happen. You cannot expect a food influencer to talk about sports gear, as it can cause a disconnect between them and their followers.In addition, you should also align your brand and product to causes that matter to them. For one, Gen Zs are likely to buy from a brand that promotes a cause. For instance, food brands can work with food influencers who also promote body positivity through healthy eating.
Run Campaigns at a Scale
What’s great about influencer marketing is that you can run campaigns at a scale.For one, you can choose how many nano influencers you can work with depending on your budget. Let’s say your marketing budget is SGD 1,000. This allows you to work with at least 50 nano influencers. As such, you have 50 individuals who are spreading the word about your product online almost simultaneously. If every social media influencer has at least 200 followers, approximately 10,000 people can see your products.When you have more marketing dollars to add on your campaign, you can choose between increasing the number of nano influencers to work with and increasing the amount of payout you can give to the same group of influencers.Is this something that you need for your brand? Learn more about our Nano Ambassador Program.The key to reaching young consumers is to understand how Gen Zs are using social media, what they want from businesses, and who they trust most when it comes to product reviews and recommendations. That way, you can create an effective Gen Z marketing campaign.More importantly, brands should find opportunities on how they can turn Gen Zs to advocate their products. Doing so allows businesses to leverage influencer marketing to connect with more young consumers and drive desired results for their products.
