This can be a regular social media user , who does not have to be a celebrity but has the ability to influence people within a community . A nano influencer is perceived to be authentic and connected with a small , focused niche .
The Who
Speaking of niches , the famous STP model helps marketers to understand segmentation of audiences and choice of a target audience . The study of consumer behavior allows us to explore a deeper understanding of our customers . When it comes to digital marketing , the term customer journey comes up . A customer journey begins way before any interaction with the brand . It begins from the very first time one hears about the brand . The customer journey is the experience a customer has before , during and after the brand interaction . The customer persona is a composite of the characteristics of the typical customer within the target segment . In order to fully appreciate a customer ’ s journey , one must first understand the customer persona ; the demographics , the beliefs , preferences , practices and pain points of a customer .
In the recent campaigns across social media platforms , the majority of the campaign messages were targeting the young people - the generational cohort called Gen Z . Gen Zs are people born between the years of 1997 - 2012 . It is interesting to note that there is no standardization system to categorize generational cohorts and therefore these years are only guides rather than absolute year groups .
Gen Z are said to be born using technology and are sometimes called digital natives . They also have a strong set of values and ethics . This drives them to look for a purpose in life and not just a 9-5 job . It is no surprise that with this customer persona , the call to action touched on calls for justice , peace and the platforms used were primarily Tiktok , X spaces and WhatsApp . Understanding the appropriate media consumption habits of a persona allows you to get your message to your target audience in an effective and efficient manner .
The How
This focuses on multimedia content curation that incorporates the look and feel of the brand . Content creators must choose the most appropriate options . Part of the decisions rests with the preferences of the target audience . In the protest campaigns , long form content was not seen as much as visual content . There were no visible signs of paid for promotions , or full-length films though there may be opportunities for these in the future . Email campaigns were also not an option of choice as information needed to flow swiftly and to as many Gen Zs as possible .
One popular choice was the inclusion of influencers who came on board not because they were paid , but because they felt a sense of responsibility to the cause . They were able to bring together people from different generations to rally behind the clarion calls - demanding for the resignation of top politicians who were perceived to be liars , fraudsters and thieves . You might have noticed that the branding - the look and feel of the communication , was consistent making it very easy to identify the messaging .
The Gen Z movement , sometimes called a revolution , may have been leaderless and tribeless , but there were plenty of instances where marketing principles were applied quite accurately , thereby driving the results in increasing campaign awareness , uptake of the campaign calls to attend rallies both on the ground and also in digital barazas .
The content marketing strategy is based on research and insights . We shall look at this in part 3 of this series .
In the words of Robert Rose , “ When taking a content-first approach , our job as marketers is not to create more content … it is to create the minimum amount of content with the maximum amount of results .”
Thrity Engineer-Mbuthia is a marketing professional with over 25 years ’ experience in corporate and academia . She is also a Certified Executive Coach specializing in Career and Leadership Coaching . You can reach her via mail at : Mycoach @ thrityengineer . org