See media consumption from point of view of GenZ – Strategists
By Abimbola Mohammed
Aditi Mishra, CEO, Lodestar UM, and Kulanath Kaushik from Lodestar UM’s strategy team, have asked brands to see media consumption from the point of GenZers by being dynamic, following trends, and adopting short video content. They also advised brands to monitor changes in GenZers’ attention span as well as make use of the right technology, the right social media platforms while pushing out content to their target audience.
They specifically noted that, because different social media platforms are launched frequently, it is becoming difficult for brands and marketers to track GenZers at every platform and medium than when it was just traditional media age.
In the 6th episode of a podcast monitored by MARKETING EDGE, the strategists maintained that brands need to think more critically on the type of media to reach GenZers who are digital natives.
On her part, Mishra noted that GenZers are digital-first since digital is pervasive to them in their ways of life.
“Life is not just about how they look at digital as a medium but probably how their lives are digital in a way. It is a very interesting mix of what one typically would call a real and virtual world and there is a seamless flow of how they experience things in the real world versus the virtual world. Virtual is not only something they use but also how they explore and seek experience where one builds on the other.
“GenZers use different social media platforms differently. A discussion with one of them reveals that she uses Twitter for news updates, Instagram specifically for motivational quotes and go to Quora to seek questions when she is in doubt about something or reach out to friends on various social media platforms. So, each of the social media platforms has specific nuances; they are very segregated in that way,” she said.
She added: “Findings from studies show that evolution trends have emerged. Taking a platform like Discord for example, it was essentially for gamers. But looking at the way it has been adopted, people are now using it as a conversational platform. So, there is this constant shift from the GenZers. A few years back, Facebook was the platform for them, but today, GenZers will not be caught dead there; although they might have an account there but they hardly use it.”
Also speaking, Kaushik noted that because they use different platforms for different purposes it has made it harder for marketers to decide on the platform for them and also the content they like to consume depending on the platform they are at a given time.
“It is very important for marketers and communicators to start thinking about how they look at the engagement and evaluate the right platform for the brand to be. Comparing GenZers and millennials, Genzers have higher engagement and higher time spent on media compared to millennials. They want short content that is easy to consume and this leaves pressure on brands in terms of how to capture their attention.
“So, if brands need to pass a message in 2-3 seconds, they think of how they can capture their attention in that short time. There is need for brands to innovate, get good insight in terms of what they’re bringing to the table and also how to translate that into communication. It’s about how to tell your brand story versus a lookalike format. All these are some of the challenges brands and marketers have to straddle as they go along in engaging GenZers,” he said.
He concluded by saying: “The advent of different platforms makes it difficult for brands and marketers to decide what do or where to target because each of the platform is very fragmented and has specific use. So, brands have to be very useful and think through on how to leverage platforms.”
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