As Gen Z starts coming to campus, stores have a whole new demographic to reach. Gen Z is the first fully digital generation and relies on social media for pretty much everything. This means stores need to amplify their social media efforts to make sure they are connecting with their customers.
Gen Z is using social media to stay connected with their friends and family, learn new skills, and get inspiration for purchases. Let’s look at how to connect with Gen Z on social to make sure you can influence them to purchase from you.
In order to reach Gen Z, we need to understand where they are engaging with brands. Most students are using Instagram to connect with brands. A fair number of students are using Facebook, Twitter, and TicTok. However, hardly any students use Snapchat to connect with brands. Below is a visual breakdown from a survey conducted by NRF and Barns and Noble that shows how many students use each social media to interact with brands.
Gen Z isn’t using social media to make purchases, instead they use it to research products. The main brand engagement activities Gen Z participates in are watching tutorials, entering sweepstakes, and sharing content. Here are some statistics from the NRF survey on what Gen Z uses social media for.
- 69% find inspiration
- 66% research products
- 26% make a purchase
- 22% contact customer service
Lastly let’s take a look at what makes Gen Z follow or unfollow a brand.
Follow
- Personal interest in the product
- Type or style of content
- Brand personality and perceptions
- Benefits like coupons, discounts, and giveaways
Unfollow
- Posting too little or too much
- Losing interest in brand or products
- Irrelevant or boring content
- Negative brand personality, perceptions, or actions
We hope this gave you a better sense of how to connect with your customers on social media. Have you found other practices that work? Share them in the comments below.
Source: NRF
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