Generation Z and Social Media

Social media has gone through a lot of changes in the past year. Twitter rolled out #280characters. Instagram allowed for multi-photo posts. Augmented reality (AR) and photo filters continue to evolve. And everyone competed for eyeballs with ephemeral content, that is, short-lived stories and video.

As 2018 approaches, it’s only natural to wonder how social media will continue to evolve, and how to use these innovations to appeal to the lucrative millennial and Gen Z demographics.

For those not in the know, Gen Z is the generation born after 1992 who grew up in the digital age, compared to millennials who are the children of baby boomers and remember (even if only briefly) an age before the internet.

Gen Z is entering the workforce and has immense buying power ($44 billion). Marketers need to take the characteristics of this generation into account, while still targeting the now-aging but larger demographic of millennials.

In terms of social media consumption, millennials spend an average of six to seven hours per week on social media, whereas 44 percent of Gen Z check their social media at least hourly.

Here are some social media trends to look out for in 2018 and how you can use them to entice both millennials and Gen Z.

1. Better Personalization

All the major social media networks are actively improving their analytics to allow for better personalization of advertising and content.

It’s notable that 74 percent of Internet users get fed up with a site or network when sponsored content has nothing to do with their interests.

Right now, “personalization” is still often equated with creepiness – ads that follow you all over the internet after you’ve looked at an item or abandoned a shopping cart.

This is starting to change. Using deep learning, Facebook is working to improve its algorithms to account for a user’s passions, browsing habits, and changing interests. Instagram is even starting to use image recognition to determine your interests from photos (as well as any brands that appear in them, of course).

We may not have reached the peak of personalization algorithms, but you can start creating more personalized content now. Be creative in how you adapt your offers or ad campaigns for different audiences, rather than reduce Gen Z and millennials into a bucket. Try creating variations of ads with different copy or imagery to reflect the audiences you are targeting. If it resonates with the viewer, it’s much more likely to get a click.

2. Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) Using Ephemeral Content

Available for a limited time only!

Ephemeral content such as Stories or Snaps are only available for a limited time after they’re published. Live video may be recorded for posterity, but only by watching it live can you interact with the host of the video and other viewers. Brands, influencers and celebrities alike use ephemeral content to encourage consistent social engagement.

SnapChat was the king of this type of content, but has seen a decline since Instagram and Facebook both released their own ephemeral content feature called Stories. Instagram Stories has 250 million daily users as opposed to Snapchat’s 166 million. While millennials grew up with social networks like Facebook that encourage you to keep a record of your life online, Gen Z engages a lot with SnapChat and Stories as it allows them to engage with their friends privately with no paper trail. This way they can ensure they won’t leave an awkward photo to be dug up years later, or face the scrutiny of their parents.

Brands have been doing a lot with social media stories. On Instagram, Cheerios sent out personalized compliments to their users, and Loft used Stories to encourage viewers to tag their friends in a style challenge.

There are plenty of opportunities to boost your brand using ephemeral content, but the key is to be authentic. Traditional ads won’t cut it here. You need to find ways to engage and relate to your audience.

3. More (Quality) Video

As traditional cable continues to see a decline in engagement, social media video is continuing to rise at an impressive rate. As of this year, video streaming represents 74 percent of all internet traffic.

Facebook video garners a lot of engagement, with 100 million hours of videos watched every day, but this is still a sliver compared to YouTube’s 650 million hours. At any rate, that leaves a lot of potential for brands to get in on the action.

Videos for brands on social must be entertaining or inspiring in order to win over younger viewers. HubSpot has great roundups of amazing social video campaigns for both Instagram and FB.

4. Unsurprisingly, Mobile is Still King

It’s official: 80 percent of social media time is spent on a mobile device. If you’re not already, you need to be thinking mobile-first when planning your content.

Make sure that you optimize your post or ad copy and images for mobile – minimal copy and simple, but colorful images make your messages more enticing when a user is scrolling on a small screen. You must also ensure that the pages you link to are responsive or optimized for mobile.

5) More AR Than You Can Shake a Stick At

Augmented reality, or AR, uses live footage taken on your phone and enhances it or adds 3D elements to the environment using technology. The most famous example is the Pokemon Go app which swept the world last year, but AR features are making their way into social, as well. For example, the ability to take a selfie of yourself as a White Walker from Game of Thrones on Facebook:

Some of the more recent AR trends on mobile include Apple’s new animoji, and Google’s soon-to-be-launched AR stickers for photos.

While creating your own filters and AR characters won’t be within the scope of every marketer, if your brand is known for being fun and at the forefront of internet humor, make sure you keep up to date with the newest releases, and see if you can make them work in your own marketing.

6. Influencer Marketing That Adds an Air of Authenticity

What an age to be alive, where anybody can become a celebrity. Many brands have been thrown for a loop by the rise of YouTube celebrities and influencers – those who gained popularity outside of the normal publicity channels through social channels and YouTube.

Gen Z and millennials alike relate to these grassroots celebrity stories – Gen Z in particular. According to Google, 73 percent of Gen Z feel a close relationship with at least one YouTuber, and about 40 percent would even say that they feel they relate more to those YouTubers than their own friends.

Many social media stars and celebrities use ephemeral content to show behind-the-scenes footage of their work or lives, encouraging users to tune in regularly. If your brand has relationships with influencers, this is also a great opportunity for product placement if it’s not forced. Influencers won’t work with brands that don’t fit in.

7. Interactive Posts and User-Generated Content

Whereas millennials grew up with cable and classic, passive advertising, Gen Z are more savvy in choosing the content they want to watch, when they want it. They’ll skip ads or ignore them when possible.

Instead of running passive ads, brands need to come up with interactive ways to engage with customers on social. Polls are an easy way to get feedback from your followers, and also give followers a chance to choose what type of content or offers they want to see from a brand, such as this one from eBay:

Perhaps the most powerful type of interactive content is user-generated content. According to one report, User-generated content on Instagram can receive up to 6.9 times more engagement than branded content on Facebook.