Measured on the average lifespan in my country I am quite young, but to people born in 2000 or later I am old. And I mean old. Like the old where you don’t know you are old yet, so you act young and that makes you cringe. Or chugie, as them young people nowadays would say.
The thing is, while my generation already was considered to be digital natives, Gen Z grew up with smartphones and Wi-Fi.
Being a Social Media Manager and catering to an audience that thinks everything I thought was normal (skinny jeans and side parts – I got rid of both a while ago, but I think that makes me even more cringe?) is kinda hard.
While I do understand how the generations before mine interact with social media and how to write for Boomers, I don’t know how to connect to the younger generation. Teenagers really do scare the living shit out of me, as My Chemical Romance quite timelessly sang in 2006. Ironically I was 13 when that song came out. Just starting my teenage (and emo) career, singing that song full of fervor.
The only good thing for me and my job is that Zoomers are extremely online, as sproutsocial writes. So there will be a need for social media managers in the future, no matter what you say, aunt Brigitte. (She is such a Karen).
But the difference is, how they use social media. While Aunt Brigitte uses it to post blury holiday pictures and test results that say she is smarter than 98% of the population, and to stay in touch with her friends and family, Generation Z uses it mainly to kill time. And they looove to interact with brands. Which really shows that we need to keep social in social media and interact with our followers. They expect a more personalized experience and make it easier to shop directly on our social media channels.
For Gen Z fast response times are even more important. I always preach that responding to as many comments as fast as possible and to always answer messages. As Gen Z gets older – and they will, same as me, live through the horror of not being young and relevant anymore – they will become a bigger and bigger factor online and on social media. And organizations and companies will have to react on that. A fast working community management will be key, even more than now. A Boomer will forgive you taking a week to answer a message. A Zoomer? Not so much.
And now you will have to excuse me. I need to look at some millennial memes and try to make the new finger heart with my index and middle finger. WHY IS THIS SO DAMN HARD?
Photo by Laura Chouette on Unsplash
carina mayerhofer 
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