By George Gossland

Scary fact? According to recent studies, Gen Z’s attention span is 8 seconds! That’s 4 seconds less than the last generation. Well, that just makes our job in marketing that much harder.

So when producing Gen Z social videos, every second counts, literally. This generation will leave in a heartbeat and forget you ever existed if you don’t keep them engaged (probably the most efficient breakup you’ll ever have at least).

It’s not all bad though. Gen Z was brought up online, so they are more connected than any other generation. If you do manage the seemingly impossible task of catching their attention, get ready to be tweeted, snapped, shared and posted. It may just be the thing that makes your business take off.

Find your place

Prime years spent going through a global pandemic? Yeah, being under 24 and having to stay at home really sucked. The result? An increased lack of trust in their government and, in extension, a dislike of corporate philosophies. So what’s the mindset? They are opinionated, independent, and supportive. Gen Z is going to do things differently from the generations before them – if you don’t like it, tough.

So big corporations are the enemy – can’t argue with that, but we can learn from it. You need to showcase your brand through your content as authentic, independent and with meaningful values. Stand up for something, connect with what’s important. If you are real and honest, you’ll connect with Gen Z much more easily.

Keeping it real…

…yeah, don’t say this. You need to connect with their tone of voice without being cringy or trying too hard (Gen Z will smell inauthenticity from a mile off). Getting tone of voice spot on builds trust and relatability. All this builds a relationship with your brand – is that more sales I’m hearing?

It is what it is, you need to start vibing because tone of voice is a mood. Getting it wrong would be a big oof (thank me later for that Gen Z gold).

Be original

This is the key to all Gen Z social videos. If you’re original, you’ll get noticed. Think outside the box, maybe a bit of humour – whatever it is, keep it engaging. Remember it’s not about your personal taste but what your target audience will connect with. 

Another great way of being original but engaging is taking a trend and putting your own twist on it. This means you stay relevant and will come up in those search results (cheeky).

Let’s talk platforms

We’ve already covered that Gen Z is the most connected generation, so guess what – you’ll need to cover all of the major online platforms. We’re talking TikTok (this one’s a biggie), Instagram Reels & Stories, YouTube and Twitter. It may increase your workload but it’s definitely worth it.

However, you can’t just whack the same video on all online platforms. You’ll need to tailor your content depending on where you’re posting. TikTok suits short form so you’ll have to get the viewer’s attention within the first second – keep it short and snappy. This is similar to Instagram stories too! On the other end of the scale, YouTube gives you more freedom to go into more detail and test a longer form. 

They all have their benefits too! Tiktok is amazing for generating views whereas Youtube is ideal for showcasing your cinematic style. However, in recent months, YouTube has realised the TikTok style is outweighing them, so introduce YouTube Shorts (sneaky bit of copycatting going on there).

Over to you

Bon voyage you Gen Z expert. I hope you now know where your heads at with Gen Z video content (sorry had to throw one in for the road). Remember to be authentic, be original and stay on top of popular platforms – who knows, there could be a new one next month. 

But it doesn’t need to be goodbye. If you need some help with your social video content we have a whole team of experts who can help you out. We would love to chat so get in touch and we can take a look at how to get your marketing vibing (sorry not sorry).