Authentic Partnerships Will Help Brands Reach Gen Z This Holiday Season

Finding the perfect gift is always tough, but it seems to be hardest for Gen Z who, according to new research, require more touchpoints than any other generation before deciding to make a purchase. They are likely to conduct heavy research before buying a product and social media content is a primary source for reviews. In fact, influencers and gift guides have a substantial impact on Gen Z purchase decisions, with more than half of them reporting they have purchased a gift based on content from an influencer — far more than any other age group.

For brands struggling to connect with Gen Z consumers, the evidence is clear: gift guides and influencers, including nano and micro creators, are an impactful way to attract attention and drive purchases. And, knowing that Gen Z does a bit more research than others, providing more content and touchpoints is key to a successful strategy.

Holiday Collabs Over Ads

For years, digital advertising grew by double digits as advertisers embraced everything from display to video to mobile, striving to reach targeted audiences with engaging creative. As traditional advertising’s effectiveness started to fade, marketers looked for new ways to reach audiences. As such, influencer marketing took off.

Today, trust in traditional advertising is very low. Instead, consumers value recommendations from real people, including influencers and creators. People don’t want to hear brands talk about themselves; they want unfiltered opinions from unbiased third parties they implicitly trust. Therefore, they’re turning to review sites, influencers, family and friends before making a purchase.

As a result, influencer and partnership marketing is growing faster than advertising spend, but it’s not a like-for-like replacement. Brands need to be considered relevant to the conversation and to fit authentically into a creator’s content for a partnership to work. This is never more true than during the holidays when people are buying gifts for family and friends, and generally seeking inspiration for entertaining and celebrating.

Influencer marketing is maturing into a channel that requires brands to be a bit more discerning in their approach. What was effective just a couple of years ago is already fading for Gen Z audiences, who are skeptical of content that feels forced. Scale and volume aren’t as important as finding the right match because Gen Z prizes authenticity more than other generations.

Finding the right match, meanwhile, requires thoughtful calculation. Otherwise, brands could end up alienating audiences. Influencers who push products in ways that aren’t natural or who offer generic content to appeal to a wide audience are quickly identified by discerning consumers as sell-outs, and brands that use them risk alienating rather than attracting Gen Z.

A Gateway to Authentic Collaborations

While brands can’t simply buy straight into influencer marketing the way they once bought an ad, they can certainly take steps to streamline and optimize the process of recruiting and managing the right creators for them.

An influencer management platform is able to serve up influencers by type, channel, geography, reach and audience demographic. Brands can search for partners at scale and still be incredibly specific, and once they have identified the influencers they want to work with, they can contract, manage, pay, and optimize those partnerships based on comprehensive performance insights.

So while influencer marketing taps into trusted, human voices that provide recommendations and reviews savvy consumers can believe in, it also benefits from sophisticated technology that simplifies and improves the user experience for both brands and creators.

It’s Not Too Late to Be in Time for the Holidays

Our recent consumer study found that 92 percent of consumers conduct research before buying, which means creators have insight to share about what content is trending and what products and ideas are most popular with different audiences.

With the holidays upon us, many advertisers are already in the midst of content-based influencer campaigns. As consumers keep browsing, many smaller influencers will continue making holiday content well into the season.

Quality creators have a lot of value to offer. Two popular digital elements consumers say they love — wish lists and product reviews — are easy content elements that a retailer could bring to a creator for a quick collab even late into the holiday shopping season. Showcasing five-star reviews of best-selling products or assembling curated wish lists for different kinds of buyers is engaging and helpful.

However, the vital part of creating partnership campaigns that speak to Gen Z is that they reflect the singular tastes and habits of their audience. Gen Z is a truly digital- and social-native generation. They’re big fans of content, but they're also sophisticated judges of quality and relevance. Apply the same criteria to your holiday creator partnerships and campaigns and you’re giving yourself the best possible chance of seasonal success.

Olivia Savage is a passionate full-stack marketer and influencer marketing expert at impact.com, an affiliate, influencer and referral marketing platform.