Bite Size Comms

As PR practitioners, is it worth thinking about Gen Z as an audience? Yes, yes and yes. Those three yeses are, firstly, Gen Z does appear to have distinct preferences and attitudes to certain types of communication. Secondly, what Gen Z does now will be a trend copied by other generation groups. And thirdly, even if they are not your most important stakeholder group at the moment, they may well be in a few years. So time to start building a long-term relationship. Let’s unpack some of that.

Recent research by Vuelio showed that Gen Z’s values were ESG-conscious and visionary (sustainability was their top discussion topic), and personal/social values were important to them. Contrary to popular belief, they were less frugal than Millennials and could be hedonistic and fluid in what they supported.

The research found that their media consumption preferences were:

• TikTok and, to a lesser extent, Instagram
• They demanded short-form content, especially infographics, and had short attention spans
• They were less loyal to brands and much less responsive to campaigns, including social advertising
• Influencers (including AI influencers) have a stronger impact than on other generations.

Ofcom’s Media Nation 2023 report showed that around half of Gen Z watched less than two hours of TV a week, compared to 55-year-olds or older who spent an average of five hours a day watching the box. Social video platforms are far more important to Gen Z. The Ofcom report showed 58 minutes a day on TikTok, 52 minutes on Snapchat and 48 minutes on YouTube. Compare that to Gen Z use of other social platforms: Facebook 18 minutes a day and Instagram 25 minutes.

Two small anecdotes on different behaviours by Gen Z. When discussing content, I ask my apprentices whether they watch Netflix with subtitles on or off. Most say with subtitles on. They also love analytics – not scared of numerical information (that frightens many older PR practitioners!).

Here are some questions to consider. Is short-form, mobile-first, channel-specific content an important priority in your PR content strategy? Do you even regularly use infographics? Do you add subtitles to video content? And to my Gen Z followers, what do you think about this portrayal of your generation?

[Image: Unsplash]