You Should Get to Know Gen Z

At Northwest Vista College, the majority of our new students are considered “Gen Z” or those who were born between 1995 to 2000 and are just now entering college.

This Gen Z group, according to the “New York Times” is the “the generation born after millennials that is emerging as the next big thing for market researchers, cultural observers and trend forecasters.”

NVC Public Relations is continually trying to research best practices to reach our target audiences. We recently learned some interesting information from a webinar titled, “Who is Gen Z and What do they Mean for Marketing.

According to the webinar, Gen Z is a group, who has grown up with social media and prefers information online. They value relationships over processes and seek control. They are constantly on their devices and watch a lot of videos. Here are other highlights from the webinar that might be beneficial: 

• Their attention span went from 12 seconds in 2000 to now eight seconds.
• They grew up in a multicultural world and expect to see that in marketing.
• They don’t pay attention to surroundings because they are on their smartphones. 
• They want a good experience and outcome when it comes to service. If not, they will mock you on social media and tweet “You Suck.”
• They want clear instructions, short-term rewards and binge learning makes sense for them since they are known to watch countless hours of movies online.
• They prefer school email and social media when trying to communicate with them, along with text messaging (though with permission). Friends don’t communicate via email, so thus the distinction.
• Your message should contain photos of a diverse world, graphics and symbols, humor and not a whole lot of words.