Empower my brand
Empower my brand

GenZ Buyer Personas and How to Market to them?

Millennials and Gen Z make the most influential consumer groups right now. For most brands, members of these groups fall into their target audience. Their combined purchasing power forecast is nearly $250 billion. Though both these generations of buyers depend heavily on online reviews to make purchasing decisions, Gen Z consumers are more difficult to reach. Honestly, marketers have been trying to understand the somewhat unpredictable behavior of GenZ consumers without much success. The thing is, with GenZ, you cannot make assumptions. You can learn more about them by listening to their online chatter, though. The data is abundant because the members of this group have been netizens from almost the time they left their cradles.  The data shows potential GenZ buyer personas. Based on these, we have a few tips on how to strategize your marketing efforts.

GenZ buyer Personas

Guide to GenZ Buyer Personas

For this generation, the internet and the digital world have been a part of life since the beginning of time. For them, information travels fast and wide. They are a generation who have also been raised in a more progressive society. All these impact their judgment, even as consumers of products/services and information. 

If you were to set up a social listening tool for audience segmentation, you would see the different personas from the GenZ group. And looking at the characteristics, it makes sense because it relates to the socio-economic background. 

Basing our study on the demographics, interests, and top trends highlighted by the word cloud, here are some insights we drew. 

The Prominent Personas

There is a reason why we are discussing this when we should discuss marketing strategies. If you wish to get your message across you, have to align it to the core values of this generation. GenZ can mostly be divided into seven groups. 

  • Digital Natives: They know how to filter information and access data they require from online sources. Extremely tech-savvy. 
  • World Changers: GenZ members are growing up in a world that is at the brink of collapsing thanks to climate change. Members of this generation show a drive towards sustainability, clean energy, and other ways to save the planet. 
  • Adventurers: GenZ members also show a strong desire to travel around the globe. Knowing about interests like these can help you develop a strong message for your brand and make it relatable for this target audience.
  • Entrepreneurs: With an explosion in population and limited job resources, members of the GenZ community are turning to the idea of being self-employed.  
  • Gaming Fans: Being digital natives, most of these youngsters have built a career online. Some of them are even using gaming platforms like Twitch to earn a living. 
  • YouTubers/Influencers: Like gamers on Twitch, there has also been a rise in the number of YouTubers/influencers from this generation. 
  • More accepting of LGBTQ+: This generation has been raised in a more progressive society and is more accepting of the LGBTQ+ community than any others. More members of the GenZ group identify as LGBTQ+ than any others. 
  • Fashion Forward: This generation is also fashion-forward. They are ready to try out new trends, sustainable clothing lines, et cetera. Study their choices well if you are a fashion brand trying to reach them.

How to Market to GenZ?

As confusing as they might seem, marketing to GenZ is not that difficult. Mainly because this generation talks on social media, all you have to do is pay attention to the conversations happening online. The members of this group are youthful, energetic, cause-driven, and business-minded. They are globally curious, wish to explore more, and believe in making the world a better place. 

We looked at the word cloud for what’s trending in their age group. The top keywords seemed to be related to #Travel, #MarchForOurLives, #KPop, #Bitcoin, #Fitness, #Entrepreneurship. This youthful generation is ready to take control of their finances. Children as young as 17 years are already running successful youtube channels and earning millions. 

Use these insights to build your marketing campaigns. Examples of brands already doing this are available in plenty. Imagine Dragons (An American Pop Rock Band) combined musical interests with other interests like politics and LGBTQ+ during Loveloud Tour, and it became a massive success. 

Airbnb too has started with its cause marketing campaigns. They have associated their brand with various causes. Airbnb’s open house campaign became a success and the brand received 119000 mentions for natural disaster relief.  If you listen to these conversations, you will be able to identify the scope of where you can fit in within the circle. After all, it is an entire generation you are targeting here. If you wish to cut through the noise, you will need to deliver your message their way. Hopefully, this guide to GenZ buyer personas can help you understand some of their unique interests and preferences.

Understanding How Gen Z Consumers Shop

Gen Z can truly be called the digital generation. They grew up in the world of social media, smartphones, and cheap internet. So where does this generation spend most of its time? The obvious answer is – on Instagram, Snapchat, and Youtube! That’s right, Gen Z uses these three platforms the most, and Facebook is only fourth on the list. Shunning Facebook from the top seat this generation may seem unpredictable. However, they do talk online about products and services a lot, quite like their predecessors – the Millennials. So we decided to take a dive into the purchase habits of Gen Z consumers, decipher them, and gain some insights. 

Social Listening to Gen Z

Social Listening helps to Understand GenZ Consumers

Understanding these young minds isn’t difficult especially when they are ready to interact with you online. Social listening platforms like Auris are capable of researching insights from these conversations. Here’s an analysis of how this generation likes to shop and arrive at such decisions. 

They Love Authentic Content 

Remember what we told you about millennials in our previous blog posts, and extend it to Gen Z because Gen Z consumers too love authenticity. Any marketer would be happy to know that Gen Z talks about purchases they make or want to make online – a lot! The previous generations discussed such matters with friends and family members. But for Gen Z, online influence is greater. For them, influencers and the Instagram-culture are the new normal. And usually, any authentic and favorable content from their favorite influencers drives them to make purchase decisions. 

For marketers trying to figure out the connection, Gen Z might seem young, childish and their loyalty fleeting. But their behavior can be understood clearly from social data. Listen to the chatter, connect with them, and offer values that compliment their lifestyle. This increases your chances of converting them into your paying customers.

More Original Influencer Marketing Content 

Like we mentioned in the previous section, Gen-Zers would rather trust a review video on Youtube by an Influencer than your online product brochure. Morning Consult’s report confirms this. They reported that 52% of Gen-Zers trust influencers they follow. However, not every influencer would be able to sell your product to them. If you analyze the most popular influencer campaigns for this generation, you will notice authenticity is a big element. Social listening to the chatter on some of the influencer posts we saw a higher purchase intent on a post made by Summer Mckeen than on Kendal Jenner’s. A deeper dive into this will show you the sentiment for these audience members. 

This Generation is Really Smart

Lastly, members of Gen-Z might be young but they are probably the smartest when it comes to being tech-savvy. McKinsey says 65% of Gen-Zers say they like to know what’s in vogue and wish to be in control. They are true digital natives and thanks to their savviness they are well-informed. Before making a purchase, they would spend hours on research. They evaluate the information online. They visit your website, read reviews, watch videos, and make informed decisions. To impress this generation make sure that the information about your brand as well as product is readily available and transparent. Keep an eye on what others are saying about your brand because all these reviews matter to GenZ folks. 

In conclusion, Gen Z is easy to understand if you are listening to them and acting responsibly. Reports show they are 59% more likely to connect with brands on social media than the previous generations. So you have to stay alert for any negative review that comes your way. These folks are active on social media and will call you out. Social media monitoring helps you receive real-time alerts. Use its help well to win these young consumers over.