A study by Harris Poll Thought Leadership has brought to light some astonishing results. After you recover from the initial shock from the result of this study, we suggest you gear up to adapt your halal social media strategy fast.
Here is what Abbey Lunney, Co-Founder of The Harris Poll Thought Leadership Practice, said about the study:
“If you think TikTok is just about viral dances, you’d be mistaken. Young people are turning to it for deeper purposes, like gathering information, building community, and cultivating equity. We see a giant shift happening in social media away from surface-level likes, and hyper-edited photos towards spaces for authenticity and discovery.”
Here are the five shifts in social media behavior your halal brand needs to know about and act upon, fast:
1- Algorithm Above Friendship
Your halal brand should capitalize on the fact that Gen Z in particular uses social media to be informed, entertained, and to send direct messages, rather than to see updates from their friends.
This is a shift from where we were some years ago when marketers struggled on social media due to the fact that Gen X and Boomers were on platforms like Facebook mainly for friend updates.
The study shares that Gen Z’s social media feed is “mostly filled with personalized content that the platform thinks I’ll like” (62%), and the majority agrees that “algorithms have increased the content they like to consume”.
So make sure Tik Tok and Instagram algorithms love you and recommend you to Muslim zoomers’ feeds. If you want to get the basics of how to approach Muslim Gen Z’ers please read Muslim Gen Z Marketing 101.
2- Tik Tok Above Google Search
One of the most surprising findings of the study is that the Muslim Gen Z you want to reach see Tik Tok as a better search option than the mighty Google search engine.
TikTok is the first channel Gen Z uses to search for sociocultural content, with 34% of the market share, beating YouTube (24%), Google (19%), and Instagram (17%). This contrasts with previous generations, including Millennials, for whom Google remains the first platform of choice (Boomers 57%, Gen X 47%, Millennials 40%).
3- Tik Tok Above Books
If you create valuable educational videos on Tik Tok, you will most likely be discovered and liked by Muslim Zoomers.
According to the study, 63% of Gen Z regularly use TikTok to learn something new. We’re not just talking about food, fashion, and sports, but also career planning (37%), small/local business (36%), politics (28%), social structures (27%), and even life sciences, physical sciences, engineering, mathematics, computer science, and health sciences. (20%). This is critical because 81% of Gen Z and Millennials believe that continuing education is essential to their ability to achieve financial stability in their lives.
4- Real Life Above Overly Perfected Life
So this is a significant change, especially for the Muslim Gen Z population (because Islam teaches moderation and transparency). There will be no more escaping into the overly marketed and artificially perfected lives of others on social media. It is drawing to a close.
According to the study, 80% of Gen Z believe that most social media lifestyles are fake or overly perfected, and nearly 75% would like to see proof that people are living the way they claim on social media. Large proportions want social media to validate information shared on its platforms (39%), but they do not want filtered images and content on social media (24%).
5- All Ages Above Age Discrimination
Remember when it was fashionable to dismiss adults and the elderly as uncool or even “out of whack” to some extent? Another positive shift has occurred, which is especially significant for Muslim zoomers because Islamic culture encourages learning from older people with more experience than oneself.
According to the study, 78% of Gen Z and Millennials say they have learned a lot from content created by people older than them. Furthermore, nearly two-thirds (66%) of Gen Z and Millennials say they enjoy watching videos of senior citizens.
Conclusion
With Gen Z, we have a generation that has their feet more on the ground and their heads less in the clouds. They prefer authenticity over hype and transparency over being cool.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for halal brands not only to engage Muslim zoomers with Islamic ethically sound content that resonates but also Gen Z as a whole.
We are not talking about preaching Islam but rather showing the beauty of Islam through social aspects: respect for parents, helping the needy, fighting oppression, standing up for the environment, etc. This is what is meant by الأمر بالمعروف (Al Amr Bil Maroof [advising what is instinctively known to be good by humans]).
This, when done well, will be rewarding for your halal brand business-wise but also in the hereafter!
start targeting muslim consumers