by MarkLives (@marklives) Our weekly wrap of the latest market and consumer research:
- Freedom-seeking generation
- Best-performing Facebook content
Temporal fluidity
Generation Z or Generation Fluid is the one generation that strongly resists being characterised or ‘boxed’ and is determined to define who they are as individuals. This is according to the new white paper produced by Joe Public Shift, “Generation Fluid: Understanding the dynamics of today’s youth market”. Market Research Wrap presents the third excerpt in a four-part series. [Cheryl Hunter]
Young South Africans are fluid in the way they define who they are and express themselves. Brands need to be aware of the youth’s attitude to all things ‘flexi’ and, therefore, acknowledge their desire not to be labeled, as well as their feelings about personal identities and experiences.
From sexual and gender fluidity (and neutrality), and career fluidity to the desire for flexitime to attain work-life balance and the growth in trends and movements such as flexitarianism, this is a generation of individuals seeking the freedom to create their own eclectic, authentic and fluid identities and realities.
They seek the freedom to embrace their own eclectic, authentic and fluid selves — a concept which brands must recognise and adopt. Identity fluidity will manifest itself in many new and exciting ways in the upcoming years.
Many brands (globally and locally) are latching onto this insight, seeking themselves to defy labels and reinvent their identities beyond rigid product/service classifications. South Africa, for example, has even seen identity fluidity emerging locally, with Discovery launching its fully online banking platform, expanding its sentiment of wellness to ‘bank healthier’. It is also apparent in the fashion industry, which offers a more-unisex appeal to account for #GenerationFluid.
- Download the full white paper by registering at Joe Public United.
Link posts vs video posts
According to “Facebook Study 2018”, a new Facebook research by web-based social media analytics tool, Quintly, which analysed 105m posts across 94 000 Facebook profiles, 55% of all post types are links; videos receive 258% more in interactions than link posts; and weekend posts receive 13% more interactions. [Cheryl Hunter]
In what Quintly describes as the most-comprehensive Facebook research yet, it has established that while links are the most-frequently used post type, they simply aren’t relevant when it comes to interactions: Link posts receive 72% fewer interactions than video posts. Yet link posts are the only way to drive traffic to your website from Facebook. If that’s part of your strategy, brands need to live with a lower reach while working towards the strategic goal of sending traffic to your website.
In addition, Quintly compared interactions on weekdays to that at weekends, and found that interactions are 13% higher on weekend posts.
Comments Justina Kowalski, Quintly digital communications specialist, “It is something worth saying again and again: if you are aiming for high interaction rates on Facebook, it is essential that you start producing and posting video content — keeping the right format in mind.”
Julian Gottke, Quintly marketing lead, says, “Yes, Facebook’s popularity might have reached its peak but no marketer should ever underestimate the effectiveness of the blue dinosaur.”
- Register to download the free study at Quintly and read more on the Quintly blog.
This weekly “Market Research Wrap” column offers an overview and critique of the latest market and industry research.
Cheryl Hunter (@cherylhunter) has written for the South African media, marketing and advertising industries for more than 15 years. A former editor of M&M in Independent Newspapers and contributor to Bizcommunity, AdFocus, AdReview and the Ad Annual, she has also produced for various television networks and currently consults on communication strategy and media liaison.
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