Hubspot’s 2022 State of U.S. Consumer Trends Report is a well of riveting information—especially when it comes to social media in marketing.
Generational marketing is a specialty of ours at The 3rd Eye, so we gathered relevant information that reveals social media’s impact on consumer behavior per generation.
Blogpost at a glance
A key avenue for product discovery
Don’t forget about influencers
A key avenue for product discovery
After running a survey on 1000 participants from varied generations, Hubspot found that social media is key to product discovery in 2022—especially among Millennials and Gen Z.
“Thirty-six percent of respondents have discovered a new product on social media in the last three months. For Millennials, that number reaches 50%, and for Gen Z, it tops out at 57%.”
Don’t forget about influencers
Across generations, influencer recommendations were rated as “one of the most important factors in their purchase decisions” by 30%. Gen Z places even more weight on these, with 55% rating influencer recommendations as the most important factor.
“In the past 3 months, 28% of Gen Z and Millennial social media users bought a product on social media. Millennials also get the most use out of social media as a customer service channel, with 24% using social media direct messaging for support over the past three months.”
Gen Z may rely on these recommendations more, but those 30% across generations should not be ignored! Micro Influencers can have niche audiences of any age with various levels of engagement.
Tik Tok is a force to be reckoned with, and there are influencers of every age, with every variety of reach! For example, Bayer’s recent campaign Teach Me How To Gummy targeted an audience of ages 50+ via Tik Tok with actor Alfonso Ribiera (MM+M).
If you find someone with influence over your target audience—no matter the generation—it’s worth harnessing their power.
Authenticity
The success of influencer product recommendations goes hand and hand with this insight, which highlights just how important the way a message is delivered is for consumers.
“Of the consumers we surveyed, 78% say it’s more important for a marketing video to be authentic and relatable than to be polished with high-quality video and audio. “
This insight is simple, but very important. As marketers we put so much weight on production value—which matters, don’t get me wrong. But sometimes we forget the power of being real, raw, and honest.
Consumers want to relate to your content. And if you’re afraid of sacrificing product value for authenticity, it’s a perfect opportunity to bring in the influencers. They’ve already garnered trust with their audience, and being authentic is essentially their job.
Device Usage
Mobile matters, more now than ever. Especially when it comes to products. Across all generations, 56% reported that their preference is to look up a question on mobile.
So, no matter who your audience is, approach your creative as mobile-first—since that’s where consumers are more likely to act.
And it’s not just about the mobile display, the platform matters too. Like with everything on this list of insights, social media is key.
If businesses are looking for the best way to share the value of their products with consumers, not only is the mobile format important, but also the location of where they share their content.
Thirty-six percent of respondents have discovered a new product on social media in the last three months. For Millennials, that number reaches 50%, and for Gen Z, it tops out at 57%.
Wrap Up
If you’re tapping into generational marketing—meaning you’re tailoring your branding to the generation of your target audience—then these preferences are crucial. Memorize them. Consider how they affect each campaign. And don’t be afraid to tap into the power of social media.
