How B2B marketers can bridge the new social gap created by Gen Z
We’ve previously reported on the changing social media landscape with the new open-source kid on the block, aka the Fediverse, and how Twitter’s shift to become X has been a wakeup call for brand equity. Watch out now as AI enters the fray with Musk’s xAI’s acquisition of X – the two are ‘intertwined’ Musk says!
But this time round, we’re honing in on one of the key demographics that is shaping the future of social media – Gen Z!
Gen Z are the digital native generation and spend on average over four hours a day on social media. According to new figures in The 2025 Sprout Social Index, 89% of Gen Z social media users are on Instagram, 84% are on YouTube, and another 82% are on TikTok. That’s a lot of social content consumed daily across various platforms!
From discovering products on TikTok to demanding authentic and direct engagement from brands, Gen Z are shaking up social media and this is having wide ramification for businesses across every industry. Changes in B2B buying personas and Gen Z are already on track to make up a significant proportion of key decision influencers, so brands can’t risk becoming irrelevant to this key group.
For B2B marketers, the challenging question is now how to better engage with this younger audience?
To answer this, let’s check out four ways Gen Z are using social media differently to previous generations:
- The new go-to search channel – Social media serves as Gen Z’s go-to channel for information, even beating out popular search engines. Compared to other generations, Gen Z is most likely to use social for discovering new products and keeping up with the news (especially on TikTok and Instagram)
- Visual engagement cuts through the noise – Gen Z is most likely to engage with brand posts that include video or static images on Instagram and YouTube. Interestingly, despite attention spans shrinking, we’re starting to see Gen Z podcasters uploading one to two hour-long episodes and they’re performing well. In fact, long form video is the type of brand content that engages Gen Z most on YouTube
- Influencer trust is a front runner – Compared to every other age group, Gen Z is most likely to say influencer content has the largest impact on their decision to buy a new product or service. Sprout Social’s 2024 Influencer Marketing report found that nearly 40% of Gen Z consumers trust influencers more than they did the year before
- Gen Z buying habits lead the commerce charge – Every stage of the customer journey can now exist on social. Beyond product discovery, Gen Z consumers plan to make more purchases through social media in 2025 compared to previous years and they’re most likely to make purchases through TikTok Shop (which generated $33.2 billion in global sales in 2024 alone), followed by Instagram Shops, and Facebook Shops
The takeaway from these Gen Z trends? If you want to reach this younger generation, do it their way! They’re digital experts for a reason!
Hannah Watson is PR Lead – Analytics at IBA International.
