Mobile Marketing across Gen Z
Last summer, my mom and I were planning a trip to Phan Thiet with the family. Within 30 minutes of bouncing several apps on my phone, I had planned every aspect of the trip, including train tickets, resorts and activities for the holidays. For the next 30 minutes, I’d finish scouting the best restaurant, nightlife in the area and what outfit should be worn. On the other hand, my mom could barely keep track. Then I started noticing how Gen Z is changing the game in terms of how we find information and transact online compared to other generations.
 |
| Mom and I on that trip |
One significant difference between Gen Z and other generations is a shorter attention span. Our brains have evolved and rewired to process more information faster as we were exposed to an incredible number of visual inputs on our devices as we grew up.
Our attention spans have dramatically reduced as a result of constant context shifting. While millennials have a 12-second attention span, Gen Zs has around an 8-second attention span. This means if don’t laser-focused to hook the attention in eight seconds, it's all over. If it is not interesting though, a switch flip, but when the content gained enough interesting, we can activate a superpower that allows them to deep dive into a topic for hours and days.
While millennials can swap three applications at the same time, Gen Z can do five. That means I can play Jelly Splash, send a Snapchat, place an order cosmetics products on Shopee, text a group of friends on Messengers, make a transact on MoMo, and listening music on Spotify within 1 minute.
Speed and Value is the key. The marketer should make sure Gen Z consumers have enough different content in different places to make the scavenger hunt real, while the designer should pay more attention to the content’s visuals, they must be appealing since Gen Z prefers engaging with visual content over text. It can be short-form video, bite-sized content like Tik Tok or Instagram Stories.
When Millennials or Gen X wants to know something, they ask themselves Wh-questions like ‘How is it?’ and then research on search engines like Google by themselves. However, for Gen Z, instead of asking those questions, we heavily rely on recommendations engines and the creators because we understand algorithms and expect personalized recommendations based on what we've clicked, and what we've followed to generate future content that suits us. We are looking for personalization and designs that permit us to showcase our individuality.
Many Gen Zs have three to four Instagram accounts besides the main, they’re often called Finstas, or Clone account, and that term isn't exactly true. These aren't fake accounts, they are actually collections that represent another aspect of our personality. For example, my friend - Manh Khang who is into photography, has an account just for that. Because he doesn’t like to mix content. Hence you were designing for Gen Z, your best bet is to double down on your niche and make your content extremely tailored.
I believe that by taking the time to discover Gen Z’s preferences and what makes us unique compared to other generations, marketers can bring benefit and value to the relationships between the brand and Gen Z customers.
Hi Chau, and thank you for sharing this blog. This so very very interesting findings of differences between various generations. For multiple examples given, it is also true for me, and I find myself in those you are sharing. But can you dig deeper in explaining the success of Instagram with Stories function, and Tik Tok? I think it is so relevant to your topics and examples as well. Anyway, this blog is amazing.
ReplyDeleteHi Xuan Tung,
DeleteGreat to see you again. Thank you for supporting my blog post.
Yes, Tung. The first impression of stories on social media because they're short-lived, but in reality, they are pretty universally liked by audiences of all kinds and relevant for a majority of businesses as they offer a wide range of use cases to explore, especially younger demographics like the gen Z. You can read more about this in my very first blog post, I'd mentioned a bakery named Bo by Butterman as an example of taking advantages of the Stories function on IG. Enjoy ^^
https://chau-sunshine.blogspot.com/2021/07/ig-stories-creating-high-value-content.html
Hi Chau. It's good to see your blog post again after few weeks. As usual, your blog is very attractive and catchy.
ReplyDeleteI can't disagree with you that technologies especially smart phones give us tons of benefits into our normal daily lifestyles. So that, the way that brands attracting their customers need to transfer to mobile marketing to suit with this change. Your blog already mentioned some example of mobile marketing from big brands on popular social media platform such as TikTok, Instagram or also Facebook. However, I think you should give some example about how small businesses can take advantage of mobile marketing to suit with the Z-Generation who spend most of their time on social media platforms.
Lastly, thanks for your amazing post.
Welcome back my dear friend, Thinh.
DeleteI think the easiest way for SME to engage with the gen Z is creating eye-catching content as they prefer visual content to plain text. Canvas is a great tool for beginners, SME owners can find tons of good-looking template with different concept here. Actually, I'd used this app to decorate my blog, you can try it with yours😚.
OMG, so sorry. It should be Canva 🤣. I don't know why I mention Canvas here.
DeleteHere is the link https://www.canva.com/
I have to say "wow" reading your blog, so interesting and creative topic. It suits and be right with my characteristics as Gen Z girl, so I feel related reading your blog. I would like to have some recommendations for you. You should illustrate more clearly about how marketers could take advantages of Gen Z to promote their products and besides Gen Z, there are still a lot of older customer for the marketers to focus on. Because older customer (Gen Y) would have stronger financial power, so would you think that marketers should focus more on Gen Y ?
ReplyDeleteThank you Han. Deciding which age group is a difficult task, I believed the marketer should design different strategy for different products. This means each products will have their own targeting customer. It can be gen Z, Y or X. Hence I could not able to conclude which age group is more important, its depends on our products.
DeleteHowever, in the future, Generation Z will soon have a tremendous amount of buying power and will represent a large group of consumers, just as Millennials do now. At this moment gen Z population is 14.4 million in Vietnam, each one with a monthly disposable income at around 2 million VND, they are also considered as a key influence in household purchasing decisions in the family. Hence I think the marketer should be ready for this new generation before too late.
Hi Chau,
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to see you again. I couldn't agree more with your sharing about how we, gen Z, approach and use those technological devices much easier than our parents, or gen X. However, I think it is also a disadvantage for digital marketers nowadays when their target customer is gen X, isn't it? Take my case as a prime example, my 1st assignment is planning marketing strategies for one business aiming to the luxurious customers. Of course, those upscale customers are usually middle-aged. It is undeniable that mobile marketing is a key tool for any business in the current digital market; yet, I think it should consider more tips for businesses who have other target customers besides only gen Z. What do you think about it?
DeleteNice to see you too Thao, welcome to my blog post 🤗!
I believe the best way to reach gen X is through video formats since 58% of them use streaming platforms such as YouTube in order to find useful information. In the video, try to deliver clear straightforward content that solves key points. The video can be minimal and basics, but it needs to be arranged in the most logical way, provides smoothly exactly what they looking for.
I can see in the Excel file that you're working with VIGHT which is a lighting design company. Hence I guess VIGHT can start a YouTube channel, where they can introduce the products to the audience. You can have a look at a YouTube channel named 'Thai Cong TV' whose owner is an interior designer (he has some scandals around these days, but cannot deny that he is s great marketer in luxurious customer segmentation). In his channel, he has shared a lot of knowledge about interior while marketing his furniture. Thank to YouTube, his reputation has increased dramatically, I remember he once mentioned that this method (YouTube) has a much higher effect than buying an advertisement in a luxurious newspaper and magazine. His sale rised after he gone viral on YouTube.
Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/c/ThaiCongTV/videos
I hope this helps nhaa.
P/s: I'm not sure what is the age range that VIGHT is targeting to so I did make assumption that it is Gen X who born in early 60s to the late 1970s.
DeleteI really like the way you start your post with your own real-life story, very intriguing and fascinating.
ReplyDeleteHowever, when you mention about the point that we Gen Z tend to "heavily rely on recommendations engines and the creators", it would be better if you have some a statistics source being cited here. Same with the point that Gen Z people own different social media accounts at once (agree with this because most of my friends do have a secondary account to share their private life with their best friends), you should have a source being referenced here to make you writing more objective. Also, I'm quite confusing about the link between the fact that a person has many social media accounts with the need of marketers to tailor their marketing content. Could you please explain more about this? Because to my opinion, some brands need to tailor their content when they target at a specific group of customers in the big Gen Z community, but some others aim at the mass market, hence it would be illogical if they just produce their content for a niche market. Don't you think so?
Hi my friend 😙,
DeleteThank you for reminding me, I should have added the reference in the blog post. Most of the idea was taken from Ms Sarah Weise speech, she is the author of the book InstaBrain and CEO market researcher of Bixa. Unfortunately, she did not include any statistics so I could not mention them here 😥. For the second question, Ms Sarah did not specifically explain the relationship between a person who has many social media accounts and the tailored level of marketing content, but here is my POV. When a person follows the influencer/ brand IG because it has a common interest with that person, that person will expect the content that gives them a perfect fit for their needs and wants later on. If the content is tailor, the brand can earn more engaging with that customers to build brand trust and loyalty.
P/S: You forgot to mention your name in the comment section. I think it is a must so Dr Thuan/ Vicki can know this comment belongs to you nhen. 😁
Hi there, one thing I really like about your post is how you get into the story by a story of your own, which is (to me) very lovely and practical. One thing I would love to see more from this article would be "real" data or statistics about how businesses would approach this matter, like which specific perspective of mobile marketing they can focus on to attract more Gen-Z users? Or your own prediction of now the next generation will approach mobile applications, for example.
ReplyDeleteAside from those, keep up the good work and don't forget to stay safe!
I don't know why my name isn't shown but this was written by Duy Nguyen (s3877513) ^^
DeleteHi Duy,
DeleteThank you for your recommendation, I think I should add more statistics to make this more objective. This blog is the combination of my reading from multiple Facebook page like "Tam Su Con Sen'', my observation, and Ms. Sarah Weise speech about UX design.
As a non-marketing student, I', quite surprised that Marketing students have a really high demand for statistics 🤣. And yes, I'll try to add more stats in my upcoming blogs. Thanks Duy again nha.
Hello, Chau. It's refreshing to read your blog article after a few weeks. As always, your blog is visually appealing and engaging.
ReplyDeleteI can argue with you that technology, particularly smart phones, provide us with many advantages in our everyday lives. As a result, the way businesses attract consumers must adapt to mobile marketing in order to keep up with this shift. Your article has highlighted many examples of large companies using mobile marketing on major social media platforms. The term "digital natives" or "iGeneration" implies that Gen Z intimately familiar with technology and means they live within technology.
One intriguing statistic I found is that 44% of Gen Z will provide feedback and suggestions for future improvements whenever there is an opportunity. Additionally, Generation Z is twice as likely to share positive reviews as bad ones. And more fascinating fact is that 40% of respondents indicated they give feedback often or very frequently when Gen Z is willing to contribute to the company's development and assist other customers with their decision-making processes, especially on the interactive devices such as mobile. What I'd want to know more about is how small businesses can leverage mobile marketing to engage with the Z-Generation, which spends the bulk of their time on social media platforms. I'd love to hear your views. Overall Keep up the excellent job!!
Hi friend,
DeleteThank you for coming back. Nice to see you again. As you mentioned before, gen Z are likely to share their thought about the products. Hence I think the SME can give them discount coupon (it can be 5 or 10%) for the next purchase if they take a picture and review the products on social media (either post or stories, along with the brand tags of course).
You can have a look at 'nhatanhstore' Instagram stories hightlight named 'Feedback'. You can see tons of feedback there, because this store offer customer 5% discount throughtout the year. I think nhatanhstore need a great job here, since 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business. And some of the photos are really nice, nhatanhstore can used it for their content and study customer opinion later on.
Here is the link: https://www.instagram.com/nhatanhstore/
Hi Châu, I really like your comparison between generations to describe how mobile influences our life. Your example is varied and explores many aspects that I overlooked, such as surfing many apps within 1 min. However, just my curiosity, how will these mobile factors influence the way brands doing marketing?
ReplyDeleteThroughout your blog, I see some places have smaller font size than other. I don't know if it is a way to emphasise, but it will be easier to read if you keep the font size stable.
Hi Kim,
DeleteGen Z attention spans have dramatically reduced as a result of constant context shifting. Gen Zs has around an 8-second attention span, if marketers don’t laser-focused to hook the attention in eight seconds, it's all over. Hence marketers should consider creating eye-catching visuals to complement the text since images with colour increase people’s willingness to read a piece of content by 80%.
Regarding the texts, perhaps, it is because it is italic the words, let me check them again on other devices.
Thank you for coming, hope to see in the upcoming blogs nhé!
Hi Chau! First time reading your blog and sensing great refreshment here. Love the way you started the blog with your personal story (lovely pic of you and your mom!) and how you pointed out the differences in the use of mobile devices between the two generations, an interesting take on the topic!
ReplyDeleteI like the way you pointed out Gen Z's attention span, how Gen Z prefers personalized content, apps switching habits or preferences for visual over text. These help us to understand the rationale behind the using habits of the generation. However, would be great if you could include references or researches to back up your point. I find data visualizations with numbers a great way to demonstrate your findings. Another way you can show evidence is through hyperlinks, maybe the sources where you found the information from, or websites with information related to your statements.
Your blog leaves me with a bit of confusion, which I think can be easily improved by a bit more of deep dive. How can these findings help businesses with developing mobile marketing strategies? There are apps that mainly used by the young generations, but there are ones that have a wider target audience, including both millenials and Gen X, Y and Z. How do business create strategies accordingly so that it fits different audiences?
The point where you brought up a person can have many instagram accounts is very relatable. I, personally, have 4. Each of my Instagram accounts is also a different side of me, with different personalities and different usage habits. However, the link of this point with the other points is kinda unclear. It would be cool if you could point out in what ways this affects mobile marketing, or businesses in tailoring campaigns aiming for users with different hobbies? I believe this is relatively new findings, since in the past we have never noticed such user habits.
Your blog was very visually engaging and attractive, loving the gifs. Fresh idea and easy-to-follow layout, keep it up! Looking forward to more of your blogs in the future, cheers!
Hi Hang,
DeleteThank you for reminding me, I should have added the reference in the blog post. Most of the idea was taken from Ms Sarah Weise lecturing on LinkedIn Learning, she is the author of the book InstaBrain and CEO market researcher of Bixa. Unfortunately, she did not include any reference so I could not mention them here. She also discuss how the brand can create strategies accordingly so that it fits different audiences? You can have a look at it here: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/ux-foundations-generational-design/designing-across-generations?u=2104756. Please use your RMIT account to access freely.
For the last question, Ms Sarah did not specifically explain the relationship between a person who has many social media accounts and the tailored level of marketing content, but here is my POV. When a person follows the influencer/ brand IG because it has a common interest with that person, that person will expect the content that gives them a perfect fit for their needs and wants later on. If the content is tailor, the brand can earn more engaging with that customers to build brand trust and loyalty.
Thank you Hang for coming, glad to see you here. I'm very looking forward to seeing our recommendations and corrections in the upcoming blog 🥰.
Hi Chau, thank you for sharing your points. First of all, I have to say that I love your blog's design, it makes me easier to follow the content. Hence, you have also attached realistic screenshots and pictures about your personal life, which is very appreciated.However, I am confused that Mobile marketing is only for Gen Z, why firms don't target Gen X as they have more financial power. In other words, most Gen Z have low income or he/she is still living with their parents' money so why brands do not figure a new way to target our parents more, since at the end of the day, the sales/revenue is the determinant of the successful level of a marketing campaign.
ReplyDeleteThank you Kien,
DeleteDeciding which age group is a difficult task, I believed the marketer should design different strategy for different products. This means each products will have their own targeting customer. It can be gen Z, Y or X. Hence I could not able to conclude which age group is more important, its depends on our products.
However, in the future, Generation Z will soon have a tremendous amount of buying power and will represent a large group of consumers, just as Millennials do now. At this moment gen Z population is 14.4 million in Vietnam, each one with a monthly disposable income at around 2 million VND, they are also considered as a key influence in household purchasing decisions in the family. Hence I think the marketer should be ready for this new generation before too late 😊.
I hope it helps.