When looking towards the future of higher education marketing and ways to ensure that we are reaching potential students who are a part of Gen Z, marketing strategies should continue to evolve in a way that allows for engagement with this younger generation where they are. Adjusting marketing strategies to engage with this younger generation is key to help drive engagement with them. 

‍What is Gen Z looking for in Advertising? 

Personalization is important when marketing to Gen Z. “A focus on customer-centric marketing driven by zero- and first-party data, and automated AI Driven personalization is the best way to reach Gen Z.” They are aware that their data is out there and that it's used to market to them, so make sure you are utilizing your data in an efficient way. If a prospective student visited the nursing program section of your website, it would be best to retarget them with an ad about your nursing program instead of an ad about your engineering program that they are likely not interested in. Making sure you are serving them ads that best fit their interests is key to helping drive engagement with them through advertising. 

Gen Z is a generation that is growing up in a tech savvy world and they are willing to continue to embrace new technology as its available if it makes sense for them. Because of this, making sure that an emphasis is placed on user experience is important when looking to advertise to Gen Z. This means it is important to ensure the entire advertising experience is seamless. This starts by making sure your advertising is linking to the most relevant content on your website. You should also ensure the process for a potential student to request more information or complete an application is streamlined and simple to follow.

An additional thing that is very important to Gen Z when they are looking at a brand is ensuring that the brand is ethical and stands for something. Wanting to make sure that they are associating with a place that supports certain social issues or is environmentally conscious is important to them. What makes your university stand out? What is it that you are doing to make a difference in the world that may be important to that generation?  

‍How Should you Advertise to Gen Z?

Gen Z grew up with social media as a mainstay in their lives and for this reason it is an important avenue to reach them. Marketing should not focus on just one of these platforms either. Since they are a generation of early adopters, it's important to look at all social platforms as avenues to talk to them. TikTok and Snapchat are currently key places to advertise to stay connected with this generation. As of 2021,TikTok has overtaken Google as the most visited domain, and since 63% of US TikTok users are between the ages of 10 and 29, you can see why this social platform is a great place to reach Gen Z. We have this blog that you can take a look at to see how TikTok has performed for our client. 

According to the Liveclicker Marketing to Gen Z report, “49% say they obtain their news and information from YouTube vs 37% of millennials” which means that it is harder to reach this generation through traditional means. That means it's important to reach them on streaming platforms such as Tubi TV, Pluto TV, etc. According to Tubi TV for example 39% of their audience is 34 years or younger. Incorporating streaming platforms is important to ensuring that you are reaching Gen Z.

With your advertising on any of these platforms, it's important to consider the user experience of your ads. Instead of showing them an ad featuring your school, show them the types of experiences that they can have there. Additionally when approaching advertising to Gen Z you want to take each platform that you are advertising on into consideration when you are building your ads.

‍Additional things to consider for higher education marketing: 

On top of advertising to your potential students, it's important to advertise to the people in their lives who may help influence their decision. Their parents will have some guidance in their decision making process, so making sure those influencers are aware of what your college has to offer is also important. 

Reach out to the Moran Group today to learn how we can help you market to Gen Z. 

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Source: 

• Liveclicker Marketing to Gen Z Report