Communicating with Gen Z through empathy
What we’ve learnt & how to apply it
Our speciality is understanding Gen Z (14–24 years olds). The more we’ve got to know them, the clearer it is that they are paving the way for a completely new way of thinking and behaving and, quite rightly, they don’t abide to the traditional ‘be seen and not heard’ model of teaching. They’re the most intuitive generation and are totally comfortable with finding out information themselves, which is why they don’t feel the need to force themselves to pay attention to things that don’t interest them. But, it’s just as important as ever for those with life experience to help steer them in the right direction. It’s still the job of older generations to encourage them to open their minds, imaginations and hearts to understand the world around them. We just have to use new tactics to peak their interest. That’s what we do at ERIC — we design new ways of communicating information to Gen Z in a way that they both engage with and enjoy. We’re part of that new industry you may have heard of — Edutainment (a hybrid of education and entertainment).
The biggest lesson we’ve learnt when it comes to communicating with Gen Z? Empathy tops the list. You have to communicate with empathy. So, these are the top empath tricks ERIC uses to engage Gen Z when it comes to sharing information with them.
Would you be interested?
When we’ve experienced life a little more than the average sub-25 year old, we learn that sometimes it’s important to wade through the boring stuff in order to pick out the little nuggets of interesting. However, if you haven’t reached this milestone of wisdom yet, you won’t bother wading through the boring. You’ll just get straight out of the pool. If there is too much stuff in your content that you find boring, you haven’t a hope in hell of making someone young listen to you — they will just switch off immediately and look for something else to entertain them. The solution? Get rid of as much boring as you can. Reframe it with the interesting. Dress it up to make it appealing. Throw in some crazy. But the reality is, if it’s not that interesting to you then it’s not interesting to anyone else.
Does it look good?
Don’t underestimate the power of good design. If it looks good, people will pay attention. On the whole, young people don’t like corporate-looking things. And if you disagree with me, cast your mind back to when you were under 25 and think about the things that grabbed your attention. I think it’s safe to assume it wasn’t the formal, framed advert for insurance on the train, it was more likely to be the guerilla marketing clubnight poster next to it, haphazardly stuck on the wall. Because visuals are the first method of attracting your target audience— you eat with your eyes.
Is it entertaining?
There is absolutely no reason why things need to be communicated in a non-entertaining format. Ask yourself, is this really the best I can do in terms of making this engaging? Is there a way I can turn it into a story? What are the parts people would love the most and how can I enhance those? The power of storytelling should never be underestimated, and there are plenty of resources out there that can help you tell the story you need to. Identify the most compelling aspects of what you’re trying to say and bring them to life with entertainment. At ERIC, we always put entertainment first and information second — because what’s the point of telling anyone anything if it isn’t going to leave an impression on them?
Are you up-to-date?
Do you think you’re being relevant? This point extends beyond cultural references (beware of throwing in references to things that are out-of-date — it’s a tactic we see many people doing, but they often fall flat on their faces because they’re using a reference that’s 5 years too old). What we mean is, when it comes to communicating with young people, it’s best to make sure you’re aware of how they’re living their lives. By being in touch with their everyday reality, their biggest struggles, worries, joys, positives, you can make more of an impact with the method of communication. For example, we’re hyper-aware of the fact most of the ERIC community want career mentors, but we’re also aware that they have zero industry contacts. So whenever we talk about mentors we make sure that our content is addressing the ‘no industry contacts’ issue and therefore it has relevance to them.
The author of this article, Sam, runs ERIC with her best friend Mae.
ERIC was created as an experiment in 2017 by long-time friends Mae and Sam. Having always been annoyed at the lack of career guidance they received, they realised what frustrated them most was how career fairs were so unbelievably dull and uninspiring. So they decided to test out a new type of career fair — a fun, immersive and engaging festival of creativity.
Today, ERIC Festivals have been a huge success, supporting tens of thousands of Gen Z to discover opportunities that excite them. ERIC is now on a mission to be the leading community empowering Gen Z creatives on career and self-development.
ERIC are launching an app in late 2020 that will allow young aspiring creatives to discover an extensive variety of career and self-development content on-demand. Kind of like an educational instagram, it’s a marketplace of podcasts, articles, videos and event, posted by different youth-led content creators. To know more, please sign up here.
