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Interview with a Gen Zer: What Insights Can a 14-year-old Share with Marketers?
55 Plays6 years ago
This week, we interview a real, live teenager to learn what a Gen Z kid thinks about social media and the internet. Our niece, Kira, talks about:
- How she and her friends use SnapChat
- Discuss whether or not Facebook is for "old people"
- Discover the awesomeness of "streaks" on SnapChat
- Define "spill the tea"
- Talk about commercials on YouTube versus sponsored YouTube stars like Shane Dawson
- Think about the future and what social she will use and how she'll do research
- and a lot more
We had a lot of fun and gained some interesting insights. We hope you'll enjoy.
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Context
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to the Marketing Mix Podcast with Alaina and Stacey. Each week we'll bring you ideas that you can implement in your own marketing strategy. We'll share what we know as well as advice from industry experts, some of whom will join us from time to time here on the show. Are you ready to mix it up? Let's get started. Hey there, this is Stacey Jackson.
00:00:25
Speaker
And I'm Alaina Jackson. We're co-founders of Jackson Marketing. We're also sisters. And we're bringing you episode six of The Marketing Mix. Alaina, what's this very special extended family episode about today?
Meet Kira: Social Media Habits of Gen Z
00:00:41
Speaker
Today we are going to dig into the mind of a 14 year old and find out what makes them tick when it comes to social and how they use the internet and just different things like that. So we have our niece here. Her name is Kira Jackson. She is 14 years old and she is a Snapchat guru. And she is going to share with us her thoughts on some of the different social media channels. And we are excited to have her today.
00:01:08
Speaker
So at least this is a fun way to finish out spring break on Kira. We're not listening to that book you have to read. Definitely. So Alaina and Kira, why don't we take a quick break to hear about today's sponsor, then we'll come back and start talking about what Generation Z is doing online. Sound good? Let's do it.
00:01:34
Speaker
All right. And we are back. So Stacy, what should we start off with talking to Kira about? Hmm. Let's see. Well, one thing I always wonder about kids your age, Kira and people in Generation Z, it doesn't seem like you use social media the way older generations do. Do you like to talk to your friends on social media or what are you doing when you're on your phone or on the computer?
00:01:59
Speaker
When I'm on my phone, I usually talk with my friends and chat with them and send them videos or silly photos of me on Snapchat, and we talk a lot in the group chat.
00:02:11
Speaker
So you're mainly chatting through some kind of chat app. You guys don't get on like Twitter or Facebook, right? Well, I don't personally use Facebook or Twitter, but I know my friends have them, but they don't use it a lot. Why is that? Is it because it's mainly old people or you don't want your parents to see it? What you're talking about?
00:02:30
Speaker
No, I don't really know. Well, I think last spring break you did tell me that Facebook was for old people. Well, I don't really see my friends using it that much or anybody like my age using it so often as older people do. I don't want to sound mean or anything. No, you just sound honest and that's okay.
Snapchat: Activities and Streaks
00:02:52
Speaker
Okay.
00:02:54
Speaker
So Kira, Snapchat is your choice of social profile to go use and talk to your friends on. So what kinds of things about Snapchat do you like and what is it that you guys are talking about? Are you actually sharing information with one another about what's happening or are you just sending silly pics to one another? I talk with my friends a lot about different things like stuff that's going on with school or like
00:03:25
Speaker
what's happening when I saw on Snapchat, like they have stories. And if I see something funny or interesting, I'll share that post with them. And also I do like to send a lot of silly photos of me and we go back and forth.
00:03:39
Speaker
Are you guys spilling the tea? Yes. So we are spilling all the tea. And why don't you tell our audience just in case it's a bunch of old people like me, what does that mean? It means like spilling gossip or spilling something that like, or like telling somebody like what happened your day. That was really interesting or like something that's just really mind blowing. So Kira, on Snapchat, I know that we do streaks.
00:04:07
Speaker
maybe you can explain for the audience what streaks are and why they're so important to you and your friends and what's the longest one you have. Okay, streaks are when you send snapchats between someone daily. Like people will send morning streaks and like goodnight streaks and after three days it'll pop up like next to the person's name and I'll say how long you have a streak for so like
00:04:35
Speaker
I have a streak with Elena, it's 55 days, and I have a streak with Stacy, that's nine days. And if you don't keep repeating to send Snapchats, then it'll show up with a little time bar thing. I forgot what it's called. But it'll pop up with one of those. And if you don't send one while that's up, you'll lose the streak.
00:05:02
Speaker
I just think she's a really fun to have and stuff and my longest streak.
00:05:09
Speaker
My longest past streak was like 200
Brand Interactions on Snapchat
00:05:11
Speaker
days or something, but my longest streak right now is 161. Okay, so that's kind of crazy. And one thing that I've heard from someone that's a parent who their kid was going on a trip for church or something like that, they left their phone and gave it to a friend so that they could keep their streaks going.
00:05:38
Speaker
Is that something that you might do? Um, I don't think I would do that. Like if I have the person's like, if, if my friend was right next to me and I had my phone and I could log in and stuff and then like log back out, I would do that. But I wouldn't let them, if they're like across the country or something, log into my stuff, I would not let them do that. Okay. So I think we're good on Snapchat. What do you think Stace? Yeah, I think so. Except for one question.
00:06:08
Speaker
So Kira, if you have a favorite brand, like I know you like Vans shoes or Dr. Pepper, would you like it or dislike it if the brand sent you a Snapchat or was reaching you through Snapchat?
00:06:23
Speaker
So in other words if You got a snapshot, you know how like I might send you a snapchat you get a chat for me What if like somebody like adidas or somebody like that like a big brand? Sent you a snapchat directly. Is that what you're meaning Stacy? Yes, or if you were to encounter an advertisement in snapchat from one of those brands Would you feel like uh gross or would you be cool with it?
00:06:52
Speaker
I would be cool with it. If it's something really new and cool, I would probably swipe up or look it up online to see what it's about. That's what I wanted to know. I don't ever interact with brands on Snapchat and I was interested in what someone your age who uses Snapchat a lot more than I do might think about that.
00:07:14
Speaker
Also the other day, I just realized this, there was an ad that came up about this game and it was on Snapchat. I thought, oh, it looked really cool. So I swiped up and it's, and I downloaded on my phone. So the power of advertising is alive and well on Snapchat. Good to know. Exactly. So yeah, it's good to know. So for those of B2C companies, especially listening to this, uh, your audience is telling you what they would do. So.
00:07:42
Speaker
Make sure you're taking advantage of those opportunities.
YouTube: Entertainment vs. Education
00:07:45
Speaker
So Kira, I know you spend a lot of time watching videos on YouTube. Is YouTube your favorite place to go see videos and are you just browsing or are you looking for specific things on there?
00:07:58
Speaker
I'm not really looking for specific things. I'm just looking for things to watch because sometimes I get bored of like my regular shows and want to find something like really funny that will make me laugh and that's just like crazy. Do you skip the ads in the videos or do you watch them?
00:08:14
Speaker
If I'm forced to, yes, I do watch them. But if there's one side of a skip ad, I usually skip. But if it looks really interesting, I'll watch it. Have you ever used YouTube for homework or to learn new things? Or are you just using it for entertainment? I've been using it for entertainment so far. If I want to learn how to do something, I think I would usually go to Google. But if I want to learn how to
00:08:42
Speaker
build something if i bought something from ikea i would definitely look it up on youtube
00:08:47
Speaker
So that's interesting because the other day we were talking to someone who, I think they have a 16 year old son. And she said that if he has anything to look up, he never goes to Google. He only goes to YouTube, which I thought was kind of interesting because not everything is a video that you might want to look up. So you're saying, Kira, that you mainly would only use YouTube if like there's something that you want to learn how to do and maybe there's a video for it. But like, if you want to go look up a restaurant or something, you might go to Google.
00:09:16
Speaker
Yes. Like maybe if I was really confused in like math, which I struggle with, I think I would go to YouTube because they do have some helpful videos, but I would usually go to Google. Okay. So that's, that's interesting. Good to know. So Kira, of the people that you like to watch on YouTube, are they like YouTube famous kind of people or are they just everyday people doing crazy stunts?
00:09:42
Speaker
What kind of people are you watching on YouTube? I guess I'm watching like some that have like a million or like more than that. But I also do watch them like lower or not like lower channels, but they have like fewer subscribers, but they're also funny. And I also like to watch like try not to laugh challenges.
00:10:01
Speaker
I think you mentioned people like Shane Dawson and other people. Do they ever talk about brands or things on their videos that they want people to try? Definitely because on YouTube they'll get sponsored by someone and they'll mention it in their video. So do you feel like that's a commercial too? Or you just, it doesn't bother you that that commercial is happening. You don't care about skipping that because you like the entertainment they provide.
00:10:26
Speaker
Well, it depends on what they're talking about. If they're talking about getting sponsored by a car brand or something, I think I would skip that part of the video. But I know Shane Dawson came out with a video and it was talking about an app where it finds super good deals on websites and it helps filter stuff for you. And I was really interested in that.
00:10:49
Speaker
There's a makeup guy that you watch and he's supposed to be pretty popular. I think that he talks about specific kinds of makeup. So does that make you, when you see the different things that he does and how he might use it, does that make you want to try a specific makeup that he is talking about?
00:11:08
Speaker
Definitely when I watch beauty gurus, I definitely want to try the makeup that they use because it looks so good when they put it on. And I'm like, I have to try that. If they look so good, maybe I would. Well, I can say that you would look good no matter what you use for your makeup. I'm a little biased, but I think you're gorgeous.
Future Social Media and Career
00:11:28
Speaker
Yes, girlfriend. Kira, when you think about the programs you're going to take when you enter high school next year, I know you're going to do some culinary classes. Do you think you'd want to start your own YouTube channel to show people how to cook or start your own podcast or even a blog? I know you're not going to write a blog, but what do you think about making yourself into some kind of YouTube or podcast star?
00:11:52
Speaker
Um, I'm not sure because I feel like I would be really awkward, but I think it would also be fun to do it. But like, I know that people can be very hateful. So that's something that I, I wouldn't like, I would be really scared to do it. So one thing we previously talked about doing was the as seen on TV stuff and starting a YouTube channel for that. Is that something you still want to do?
00:12:19
Speaker
Possibly. When you think about yourself in the future and whatever job you might have, how do you think you might use the internet or social media to do your job? Do you have any ideas? So put another way, let's say you started working a job and you had to learn something new or maybe
00:12:41
Speaker
they ask you to use excel in a way that you didn't know how are there ways that you might think that those might apply for you to use the internet in those situations to get the answers to some of the questions you might have. Or even to make a purchase of something that you've never bought before that you have to learn about so that you make the right purchase. If it was something that had to do with like.
00:13:05
Speaker
Excel or like one of those formats, I would definitely use YouTube because I know there's a lot of tutorials about it. And for like a purchase, I think I would use Google because I don't think there's that many tutorials and stuff like that on YouTube, but I think Google would be more a reliable source for me.
00:13:27
Speaker
Do you think you would ask your friends or colleagues that might be in your business about what's a good product I should purchase for this purpose? Would you rely totally on Google? I would definitely get it from another person's perspective because Google might tell me one thing, but somebody who has had experience with that might tell me another.
00:13:47
Speaker
And do you think you would see yourself in the future still ask your friends when you're older through WhatsApp or Snapchat? Or do you think you would move into a more public type of forum like Facebook if that's still around or Twitter? I think if I got older, I think I would use Snapchat and stuff like that less and I would use more text messages.
00:14:09
Speaker
Okay, so that's interesting. So you'd still try to keep the conversation between you and your friends or whoever you want to speak with and not put it out in public like Elena and I or Millennial Generation might do now with Twitter or LinkedIn or Facebook.
00:14:24
Speaker
I think I would use, if when I got older, I think I would use text messages more than anything, but I think I would still try to keep up with other platforms, like just post once in a while, but not like be like post after post after post after post. Got you. And have you heard of LinkedIn? I've heard of it, but I'm not really sure how it works. That's okay. There's a lot of people that are on it that aren't really sure how it works.
00:14:53
Speaker
So I know that you mentioned you would ask others about if you wanted to know more about a project but not a project but a product Would you look up reviews? I know like if you're going to look at a restaurant You might look on yelp to check out the reviews But if you wanted to find out about a product, would you look up reviews on google or anything like that? Is that something that would be of interest to you?
00:15:16
Speaker
Definitely because I got new Crocs and I went on Amazon and I was looking at these like really cheap like a hundred Croc charms and like I went through the reviews and they look really reliable because they added like photos onto them and one person gave it a really bad review because they got like the same charm so I was not sure about that one. What are crop charms?
00:15:46
Speaker
The stuff you see at a croc store if you ever go in one and they're the stuff that you put in the holes in the crocs. Oh, okay. You learn something new every day. And for those of you that don't know what crocs are, she's talking about the shoes, the croc shoes. Oh, I thought it was a crocodile. Thank you, Elena. Some people may not know what crocs are. No, I was just making a joke. I wasn't being a smart aleck. Okay. Well, you've given us some interesting insights here, Kira.
00:16:16
Speaker
What do you think in the future, do you think people will mainly rely on their phones and not even use computers? Or do you think people will still need computers in the workplace and at
Technology in Education and Beyond
00:16:28
Speaker
school?
00:16:28
Speaker
I definitely think computers will be there because they're very reliable and you can do a lot more on a computer than you can do on a phone. That's true. It seems like most of the time you would prefer to watch shows and stuff on your TV.
00:16:48
Speaker
phone instead of the actual TV. So you don't think that you would have that same kind of feeling of wanting to just work on your phone as opposed to a computer or laptop or something.
00:17:00
Speaker
I think for me it all depends because like sometimes I don't feel like doing stuff on the computer because like I had to like load it up and then I got to do all that but my phone I could just like grab it and like do that and I'm done but computers are also really nice to use because you can have multiple tabs open and you can click on each one but on the phone you can only have one open at a time and it takes some time to open a new tab and I think it's
00:17:30
Speaker
Easier to use the computer for like multiple things Online than a phone especially with like Excel or an in powerpoint. Yeah, I agree and it's good to hear that We're not gonna lose computers
00:17:46
Speaker
Although mobile search on Google has overtaken desktop search, so who knows what may happen? Yeah, but I mean, just searching for something is different from actually working, you know? That's true. Kira, is there any other knowledge you want to drop on us today about social as far as how teenagers use it or just in general marketing kind of stuff that you can give your knowledge on?
00:18:14
Speaker
I'd be curious to know what you do with technology at school, too, before we wrap. In sixth and seventh grade, there was a game called Kahoot, where the teacher would set up a whole quiz of how many questions they wanted, and it would be projected to the smart board, and there would be a question, and it would be timed.
00:18:34
Speaker
There are four choices you could choose from. You had to pick the right one. After the time ran up and after everybody answered the question, it would show a bar graph. It would show how many people answered this question, that answer, how they answered that answer. In my science class, we would take it and whoever got first, second, and third got extra credit. Nice.
00:19:00
Speaker
So you like to do the quizzes at school, but I know you also like to take those personality quizzes. Who were you the other day when you took the Harry Potter quiz? The first time I took it, I was Hufflepuff. The second time I'm Slytherin. I'm just not sure anymore. And which office character were you? I was between two of them, too. Like, ugh. I was either Toby or Andy.
00:19:28
Speaker
I think that's your ride at all. That's a big difference with Toby and Andy. I can see Andy for sure. I can see. Yeah, I can see Andy, but not Toby. So Lane, any other questions for Kira? Before we go, are there any other knowledge that you would like to drop on us today about how teams use social or just technology in general?
00:19:52
Speaker
I don't think so. Lynn, thank you very much, Ms. Kira, for joining us today on your last day of spring break. We both appreciate it greatly. Yes, we do. So everybody, there you have it, our little Gen Z Jackson giving us some insights. I think some takeaways that even B2B marketers can have are that these younger generation individuals like to take quizzes.
00:20:21
Speaker
Keep those quizzes ready for when those people get into the job market and getting into purchasing roles or research roles. That's still going to be relevant. You're going to need to rethink some of your social media strategies perhaps to
00:20:37
Speaker
work around more of a messenger type of strategy or text messaging, which that has its own issues with opt-ins. But just start thinking about how you might reach those individuals in a more closed type of system. And another thing to think about is,
00:20:55
Speaker
On youtube and different places like that where you have ads come in on videos You want to create an ad that is more catching and that will draw their attention so that they'll go and check it out because
00:21:09
Speaker
While that seems to be a given, it's not always a given for certain brands. And on the YouTube front, yeah, the influencers they like today as teenagers or even people in their college years, those influencers are going to change. They'll either evolve with the audience or new people that are influencers in their industry that they choose will become top of mind to them. So think about,
00:21:38
Speaker
As you grow or begin to create influencer programs, who are those influencers in your industry that can start cultivating a younger audience of new people that enter your industry and how can you
00:21:54
Speaker
use video and that influencer to reach people because like Kira said she might skip a commercial but if she's hearing from someone she either finds entertaining or that she respects she and other gen z people will engage and listen to what that influencer has to say and let's not forget snapchat um if you're not currently using snapchat it's an easy thing to get involved in and you don't want to miss out on certain opportunities you can set up filters as a brand
00:22:24
Speaker
And the people that are using Snapchat will see those filters and possibly be using them. And it just creates a different way of connecting with and engaging with your audience.
00:22:34
Speaker
I think another way that people could use those filters, not just as a brand like a lot of consumer brands do, but say your HubSpot or some kind of like software brand or another brand that does a big B2B event, you could create those geo filters in Snapchat for people to use. So even if you don't directly advertise or create those
00:22:58
Speaker
custom filters, there's always geo filters that you can set up and start getting those younger people involved in your b2b brand through the Platforms that they like to use already right and as they start to get a little bit older Getting that name recognition out there for your brand so that once they get into that working and get into the workforce
Advice for Brands on Advertising
00:23:18
Speaker
they will have a better sense of knowing who you who you are as a brand and if they hear that name, they'll be like I know that name and it won't be a complete
00:23:29
Speaker
new experience for them. And even if you're not a brand that a 14-year-old is going to notice today, like if you create industrial widgets, at least you'll be getting used to using those new social outlets that those younger people as they mature and enter the workforce and your industry, they'll be there when they're ready to learn about you. Kira wants to add something.
00:23:56
Speaker
Also make sure you don't over advertise because I know I've seen so many ads over and over and it just gets annoying. Good to know. So that's a good thing to know to know your audience, right? I wonder if she hates the same brand advertising over and over again or the same commercial over and over again. She said same commercial. Okay. So mix it up people.
00:24:25
Speaker
All right, so I think those are some of the main takeaways I had in mind about what could we learn from a Gen Z person, whether you're trying to reach them now at this age they are or in the future when they enter your different industries and workforces.
00:24:41
Speaker
So thanks everybody for joining us today. I hope you got a little something out of it. And even if you didn't, we had a good time hanging out on spring break with our niece. Yes, we did. And if you want to give us some comments or leave us a voicemail, you can do that. You can reach Stacy on Twitter at Stacy underscore Jax.
00:25:02
Speaker
that's s t a c y underscore j a x or you can reach me on twitter at elena underscore jax a l a n n a underscore j a x Or you can go to anchor.fm and leave us a voicemail So we look forward to hearing from you and continuing the conversation Bye
00:25:25
Speaker
The Marketing Mix is hosted by Stacey Jackson and Elena Jackson of, you guessed it, Jackson Marketing. If you need help with your inbound marketing efforts, visit us at JacksonMarketingServices.com.