Generation Z gets a bad rep by the older generations- particularly around their so called ‘low attention span’. We have had numerous clients tell us that they don’t think Gen Z will consume an entire piece of content because it is too long. This idea often makes companies who want to reach Gen Z as a target audience make content marketing plans that won’t work.
But data shows that the idea that Gen Z doesn’t pay attention is completely untrue. If a member of Generation Z isn’t consuming all of your content, it is because it wasn’t valuable enough to them, not because it was too long. Let’s take a look at the landscape of content on the internet today, and how you need to make your content valuable enough to stand out in the crowd.
How Much Content Digital Natives Shift Through
The fact of the matter is that there is an enormous amount of content being created across the internet every day from blogs, articles, videos to podcasts (300 hours of video has been uploaded to YouTube in the minute it has taken you to reach this blog post!).
And it will only continue to grow. The digital universe is expected to have 44 zettabytes of data in 2020- for some context, that is more than 40 times more bytes than there are starts in the observable universe. The sheer amount of content creates a simple economics scenario- the more content competition in the market, the more valuable you have to be.
So, what do you need to do to make your content valuable? First, you need to understand what your audience wants and how they interact with the internet. Here are a few things to understand about Gen Z.
What Are Gen Z’s Defining Characteristics?
We all know that Gen Z are digital natives, but here are a few statistics that delve a little deeper into what that actually means about them as consumers. According to MediaKix;
- 85% of Gen Z learns about new products via social media
- 71% this generation watches more than three hours of online video daily
- 10 hours of screen time: the amount of time nearly half of Gen Z spends on devices each day.
So this generation is not only spending a large portion of their time in front of content, they are consuming it and making purchases from the content that jumps out at them. So that begs the question, how do you create valuable content that Gen Z will pay attention to?
Creating Valuable Content
Don’t Make Content for the Sake of It: Don’t just create content for content’s sake. Do a little research and digging to really figure out what valuable information about your business and industry you can provide for your audience.
Make it Values Oriented: Gen Z is a generation that focuses on their values, so the more you can define what is important- both socially, morally, and ethically- to this specific part of your consumer base the more you will be able to align them with your brand.
Make Good Content: Have a clear message and action statement, hook the viewer/reader in the first few seconds of the piece of content, and keep the creative look of your content clean, simple, and supportive of the message your content is trying to convey.
The onus isn’t on Gen Z to view more of your content; it is on you as the advertiser to make content they want to view. Gen Z doesn’t have an 8 second attention span, you have 8 seconds to grab their attention. Need help creating and implementing a content marketing plan that will work? Contact us to reach your target audience today.