1 Digital Marketing and Generation Z Taylor Shoemaker November 14, 2021 MBA 645: Optimizing Brands Southern New Hampshire University 2 A unique aspect about marketing to Generation Z is that they are consistently searching for the truth and grew up in the digital age (The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2021). They value individual expression and tend to avoid labels. Additionally, they make decisions in a highly analytical and pragmatic way (The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2021). This means that we need to market our product in a way that shows our individual identity and ethical/environmental initiatives. This generation is also technologically advanced as they grew up being exposed to social media, the internet, and mobile networks (The Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2021). Based on these observations, the best digital marketing approach for this generation would be social media marketing and optimizing our mobile experience. The two social media platforms preferred by Generation Z are Instagram and YouTube (Boucher, 2019). Generation Z is using these platforms for entertainment, creating communities, and learning more about products and services. According to a Pew Research Center Study, 71 of 18-29-year-old say they use Instagram (Pew Research Center, 2021). Generation Z is selfreported to spend 4.5 hours on social media daily, while millennials spend about 3.8 hours on social media (Pew Research Center, 2021). Generation Z is a video driven generation, which is why they are primarily on Instagram and YouTube. This generation is known to catalogue their lives through their digital records and these platforms make it easy to share among their friends and followers (Boucher, 2019). These influencers are able to share things that reach millions of people worldwide. Generation is more likely to be influenced by online ads than millennials or baby boomers because they grew up during the digital age (Francis & Hoefel, 2021). This is good news because we can make our ads relevant and personalized. Traditional marketing methods won’t work on Generation Z. They grew up in the digital era and are more aware of environmental issues such as pollution and deforestation (American 3 Marketing Association, 2021). This generation might see mailers as wasteful and create a bad reputation for our company. This generation is also one that listens to their music and watches videos on streaming services such as Spotify, Pandora, Netflix, Hulu, etc. This is why traditional marketing methods won’t be effective in attracting this group of consumers. If we are able to market on these platforms we will be able to reach Generation Z. The pro’s to using TV and radio marketing are that we will reduce our emissions and waste. These forms of marketing don’t require an excess of resources to achieve. Additionally, using these forms of marketing reaches a very large audience including baby boomers and millennials. The cons to using TV and radio to market are they are can’t personalize them to everyone’s wants. Digital marketing allows us to use customer data and find ads that are more likely to attract them (Saars, 2021). Selecting our audience with TV and radio marketing is impossible. 4 References American Marketing Association. (2021, October 4). What is Digital Marketing? American Marketing Association. Retrieved November 14, 2021, from https://www.ama.org/pages/what-is-digital-marketing/. The Annie E. Casey Foundation. (2021, January 13). What are the core characteristics of generation Z? The Annie E. Casey Foundation. Retrieved November 14, 2021, from https://www.aecf.org/blog/what-are-the-core-characteristics-of-generation-z. Boucher, J. (2019, January 16). What are generation Z's social media preferences? The Center for Generational Kinetics. Retrieved November 14, 2021, from https://genhq.com/whatare-generation-zs-social-media-preferences/. Francis, T., & Hoefel, F. (2021, July 2). How gen Z, Millennials & Boomers really feel about online ads. Criteo. Retrieved November 14, 2021, from https://www.criteo.com/blog/genzmillennials-boomers-online-advertising/. Pew Research Center. (2021, April 26). Demographics of social media users and adoption in the United States. Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. Retrieved November 14, 2021, from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/social-media/. Saars, S. (2021, October 7). Generation Z Marketing Strategies: Parallel Interactive. Digital Marketing Agency San Diego | Parallel Interactive. Retrieved November 14, 2021, from https://www.parallelinteractive.com/generation-z-marketing-strategies/.
