Social Media effects on Gen Z’s consumption

In 2022, social media plays a crucial role in the decision making process before buying anything. The covid pandemic in 2019/2020 increased the amount of time people spend on social media drastically due to lockdowns and covid restrictions.

The group that was mostly affected by this rise in social media was probably the Gen Z group. This includes people born between the early 1990’s and late 2010’s, the generation that is succeeding to the millennials. Let’s look at TikTok for example; during the pandemic TikTok gathered 2 billion downloads in summer 2020

The following statista research outlines how social media impacts sales with Gen Z.

The survey was conducted in 2021, after the first two years of covid, in the United States on more than 350 respondents that were Gen Z’s. They were asked the following question: “What type of product do you buy more thanks to social media brands post and/or influencers content?”.

Out of the respondents 41% of them cited apparel and almost 23% cited beauty and make-up.

Research indicates that Generation Z is the largest generation in American history, and constitute 27% of the Unites States population. The statista research paired with this information shows the importance to be on social media for a brand that targets Gen Z’s. Both of the highest-ranking items on which Gen Z’s would be influenced are both related to appearance: apparel and beauty/make-up. Social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok both emphasize on the appearance and “aesthetic” of the people using their platform and majority of Gen Z’s use those platforms. Actually, as of March 2021, almost half of tiktok users were in the Gen Z age range (11/12–30/31).

It would thus be smart for companies in apparel or cosmetics to invest in advertisements or sponsorships on those platforms. Especially when we know that TikTok Ads bring in 2.5X ROAS (Return on ad spend) and that the average TikTok user spends daily more than 30 minutes on the app.

*Note: This article is a class assignment for BUS 465 — Integrated Brand Promotion and Advertising at NCSU Poole College of Management.

Sources :

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1255308/products-purchased-social-media-influence-united-states/

https://www.bamboohr.com/hr-glossary/generation-z/

https://marketerhire.com/blog/tiktok-ads