by By: Alexis Bitman
Gen Z taking over the face of the internet is not something unforeseen. Since its creation, social media has played a prevalent role in those who involve themselves online. With the occurrence of COVID-19, so many young adults within Gen Z were left immersing themselves in the comfort and community that is cultivated online. This community left young adults to create humor that is primarily identified through those in Gen Z. Businesses view this as a prime opportunity to use this curated environment in order to appeal to younger audiences in hopes of boosting engagement.
The transition of marketing over the past couple of years has completely shifted towards integrating common social media trends in order to grasp the attention of newer audiences. This goes beyond just businesses and has bled into accounts that represent certain political parties, sporting teams and more. Tactics like these are what have gained the attention towards so many brands that had previously gone un-noticed.
Sports teams such as the Buffalo Bills recently posted a comedic TikTok referencing a popular podcaster, Connor Wood, who is currently participating in “Dancing with the Stars”. This post had no correlation with the Buffalo Bills, however; it gained massive engagement which helped bring attention to not only the team, but also their social media platforms.
A variety of companies find themselves in comment sections as well. Many of these businesses appoint social media workers who are within Gen Z in order to appeal to younger audiences while also making references that will make their company more alluring. A majority of these comments are under posts that have nothing to do with the company itself. For instance, TikToker, Chad Frick, posted a video commenting on how when businesses comment under videos it is just a 21 year old recent graduate working in social media. The post gained massive engagement, receiving multitudes of comments from a surplus of brands. Sephora commented “please I told my mom this was a real job” alongside Clash of Clans commenting “Jokes on you I didn’t graduate”. Comments such as these automatically make the company far more appealing to a younger audience.
Businesses and organizations are aware that their primary audience on social media is those in Gen Z. By knowing this, brands avert their focus from gaining attention from older audiences since they are aware that they gain their attention from them in different ways. This new era of marketing personifies these companies and makes them more appealing and attractive to those online.
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