Gen Z is turning this CEO’s business model upside down

“This whole whole generation is going to turn all our business models upside down.”

I’m a consumer who falls somewhere between baby millennials and geriatric Gen Zers, and after hearing Hootsuite CEO Irina Novoselsky talk about my generation — she got it.

I’m sure being a millennial, so closer to Generation Z than the average CEO, helps her keep up with younger consumers, but I also think what sets her apart is how intentional a marketer she is.

She even went so far as to talk to 500 Gen Zers to understand their spending and social media habits.

“I was encouraged to do so by coming across this information 65% all business decision makers will be Generation Z or millennials starting next year,” says Novoselsky. “The fun fact is that 2024 was already the first year in which more Gen Z in the workplace than Boomers.”

Here’s what Novoselsky discovered:

1. Gen Z is a generation of contradictions.

“They grew up with a phone in their pocket, but they don’t want it to talk, they don’t want it to be sold to them, and they don’t want our push model today,” she explains.

And he is right. It’s my inbox fulland I don’t like companies playing on my phone, so I’d rather find my next favorite lipliner-gloss-gloss combo on my own terms before I give any brand my money.

Novoselsky says the current approach to the marketing model is a little too aggressive for Gen Z consumers. All those emails I get when I abandon my cart or browse a few items? Yeah, I don’t read all that.

And Novoselsky says it’s pretty common among Gen Z.

He explains, “They complete 60% of their buying journey before they even make contact with a sales rep because they want to discover and evaluate their business on their own terms.”

Like when I was looking for a new turntable, I scoured the internet for TikToks, YouTube Shorts, Reddit forums, and blog posts detailing recommendations and features to look for before I decided to invest in the Fluance RT80.

2. Forget about talking to the manager; Generation Z wants to hear from your CEO.

When Generation Z explores a new brand, they’re not just interested in your latest flashy product. They want to know what your brand stands for, if it takes any important stances online, and if its values ​​align with theirs.

Most importantly, they want to know what your leadership is all about.

“Most of them won’t do business with a company that doesn’t have a CEO in place,” says Novoselsky.

Yes, that’s right. Your CEO can’t just be the person behind the electricity; they need to pull out their phone, open TikTok or Reels and start talking directly to Gen Z consumers.

For example, the founder and CEO of Huda Beauty, Huda Kattan, is on almost every Reel, TikTok, photo or ad for the makeup company. She has also appeared on podcasts and collaborated with celebrities such as Olivia Culpo and Kehlani.

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She is as much a content creator as she is a business owner and CEO.

It is also very loud diversity and inclusion in the beauty industry and it talks about important causes, which is crucial because a recent study shows it 58% of generation Z consumers lose trust in the brand if it does not publicly address social issues.

Kattan’s approach works. The company has about $200 million in annual sales and is valued at $1.2 billion.

So if you want to connect with Gen Z, tell your CEO it’s their time to shine.

3. Generation Z wants to hear their peers, not your ads.

“And that peer review can come from social media platforms like Reddit, LinkedIn or Instagram. Or it just comes from their own network,” says Novoselsky.

You don’t believe her? Well, here’s a statistic for you: a recent analysis revealed that Reddit is emerging 97.5% time in Google search product review queries.

Novoselsky says Gen Z wants to know what their friends or community members are using, how they’re interacting with the product and whether it’s worth the investment.

Therefore, I highly recommend building a community around your brand. Host Reddit AMAs (Ask Me Anything), live stream events, or create platforms specifically for your audience to connect, share ideas, and talk about your brand.

One of my favorite examples actually comes from my previous employer, a Florida TV station called First Coast News. To increase viewership of its weather segment, the station started a Facebook group called First Coast Weather Watchers, where viewers could join and share photos and videos of local weather events.

Members would provide advice to each other on how to prepare for upcoming hurricanes and tropical storms, and chat in real-time with meteorologists to gather information on weather affecting the region.

The community not only increased the viewership of the segment, but also established trust between the viewer and the station. So when the tropical storm was on the rise, I would often see viewers on social media recommending their peers to join the Facebook group and tune in to our channel.

4. Basically, Generation Z will continue to turn marketing on its head.

Novoselsky is excited about the future of marketing and the kind of creativity that Gen Z will bring to consumers and marketers.

“Anytime you’re forced to do something innovative and think outside the box, it just challenges you to think differently,” she says. “This whole whole generation is going to turn all our business models upside down.”

And part of thinking outside the box means finding new ways to organically show yourself to your target audience.

Novoselsky says marketers should ask, “How do you create this environment where you can show up in this authentic, organic way and let this generation really do their own research and diligence instead of having this push model?”

“Gen Z really wants to be in control,” she explains. “That starts with weaponizing the data where they want to read it and creating that two-way dialogue.”

Fenty Beauty practices this approach.

Generation Z is flocking to TikTok in droves, and one of the app’s most popular features is its filters. So what did Fenty Beauty do? The brand has created its own in-app filter that allows users to virtually “try on” different combinations of lipsticks and pencils. Then, if users like what they see, they can purchase products through the TikTok Shop or search for products on the Fenty website.

The company met the target demographic where it is (TikTok) and created a fun filter that gave consumers the power to decide for themselves whether they will like the product. They then made it easy to purchase products within the app.

Regardless of your target demographic, Novoselsky has plenty of wisdom you can apply to your own marketing strategy. Consumers, the way they shop and the way they interact with brands are changing, so you need to be prepared to think outside the box and adapt.

For example, 84% of traders they say the video helped increase traffic to their website.

That’s why I stepped out of the box of regular writing to launch HubSpot’s Blog Video Program. In this program, writers create short video content to accompany blog posts and give their content a second life on video sharing platforms like Reels and YouTube Shorts.

So, take a page from Novoselski’s book and break out of the traditional marketing mold. It’s time to embrace Generation Z.