Have Spotify Cracked User-Generated Marketing? | Gen Z Marketing Insights - 7th December

Welcome to?Gen Z Marketing Insights,?where we showcase the latest news, trends, and insights into student and Gen Z marketing. Be sure to subscribe to stay up to date with everything that's happening in the youth marketing space!

This week we bring you the most recent social media & marketing updates from Twitter , some worrying news for international students, and how Spotify has once again smashed the user-generated marketing playbook with their 'Wrapped' campaign!

?? Marketing News - Twitter, Pinterest & WhatsApp

Twitter has increased the number of tweet recommendations for more users, meaning more content will be visible from people you don't follow, but may be interested in. Twitter is hoping that this change will increase engagement on the platform and keep people on the app for as long as possible. For brands, this could help improve reach, but it remains to be seen whether or not this will benefit organisations on the platform. It is interesting how (yet again) social platforms are copying each other. We've already seen Instagram showcase lots more 'recommended' content on people's home pages (similar to TikTok ), and Twitter is the latest platform to get on the trend.

Pinterest has announced that their year-long trial of the ‘Creator Rewards Program’ has now ended and it wasn’t successful. The idea was to encourage creators to create Idea Pins, which were story-like videos up to 60 seconds long that people could click through and watch. The program was offering cash bonuses to creators who reached certain targets set out by Pinterest. A number of different social media platforms like Snapchat have tried this type of scheme in the past, but for the most part, they have all failed. It's not always easy to create artificial 'influencers' online - building communities takes time!

WhatsApp will now allow you to view yourself as a contact and therefore you can send messages to yourself, similar to on Teams and other platforms. Not 'marketing' related as such, but definitely useful for marketers! The new feature has been tested over the past couple of weeks and it will be rolled out in new phone updates soon.

?? What's been happening in the student world?

The UK has now posted record immigration figures and the Prime Minister has reacted, perhaps strangely, by targeting international students. Rishi Sunak is considering restrictions on foreign students in the UK to ‘curb’ migration, including reducing the number taking 'low quality' degrees. It will be very interesting to see how they deem a degree to be of 'low quality'.

Students at Chinese universities have been protesting against the ‘Zero Covid’ strict restrictions, in the most significant protests in China in 30 years. China's restrictions have been some of the strictest in the world throughout the pandemic, with entire buildings and communities locked down for weeks at a time in some instances without being able to leave. We haven't seen such huge student protests since Tiananmen Square, and we hope all students are staying safe!

In other news, school and university students are again facing disruption to their lectures and classes due to staff strikes. There were three days of strikes last week and many students had their lectures cancelled as more than 70,000 members of staff protested over their pay. Some students have joined in with the protests, whereas others have been critical due to missed lectures.

?? Trend of the Week - Spotify & Stats!

At the end of last week, Spotify released its annual ‘Spotify Wrapped’ – it’s basically a page in the app which tells you the top songs and artists you have listened to this year. Spotify then creates a personalised playlist for you based on your 100 most streamed songs this year, which you can then listen to on repeat. However, most importantly, people are encouraged to share their 'wrapped' stats/playlist with the #spotifywrapped tag. Countless students and young people then share to their social stories. Last year the campaign engaged 120 million people, creating massive user-generated impressions. Even better, it's basically free! A simple landing page, a bit of social promotion, and you've created one of the biggest user-generated campaigns of all time...

Marketers love stats, and it seems to be becoming far more common for brands to release (or share elements of) their data in an attempt to improve engagement or acquisition. For example, Netflix and Amazon now suggest the 'most popular' TV shows and movies in your area. They even do a 'Top 10' so people can see the #1 show at any given time. It's great marketing. Using this data, media outlets then create content using these stats, further sharing the reach of the platform. People love social proof, and it's evidently working as a marketing tool. But what do Gen Z think about it?

We asked 1000 students whether they look forward to seeing their Spotify-wrapped playlists and if they share their list with other people on social media. A huge 26% state they have shared their 'Spotify Wrapped' list on social media. Considering only 50% said they had Spotify, that's over half our audience sharing their playlist to their friends!

But what about stats for other brands? Does it work? We asked the same audience about Netflix and 'recommended' sections in online stores.

Gen Z love recommendations. Whether that's by friends, family, or even a brand. Over half our audience stated they will be more likely to watch content if it's recommended/popular in their region. It works!

?? Freshers Festival Tip of the Week - UGC

What Spotify Wrapped shows us, most of all, is the power of user-generated content. People, especially Gen Z, are social creatures. They love sharing on social media, particularly when it's something new or 'trending' like Spotify Wrapped. What's more, it's free! User-generated content and social proof are absolutely key when marketing to a younger audience. They want to be on-trend, they want to be involved in the conversation, and they want to feel involved with the right brands. Brands have to work out the best way to encourage this UGC. Whether that's producing stats for users to share (like Spotify), or creating a trend for people to take part in, user-generated content is often the best way for brands to go viral and reach their campaign goals.

That's all for this week, see you next time!

Freshers Festival Group