In 30 seconds:
- Wednesday 9th March 2022 was a big day in the Fanbytes calendar: our first in-real-life event since the pandemic.
- Named ‘100 Days to Engage Gen Z: How to Build Brand Love on TikTok and Social’, we looked at how to create, scale, influence and measure your social media presence.
- With speakers from Talking Influence, Imagen Insights, COTY, The Inkey List and more, it was a day packed with learnings. Let’s take an inside look.
“Everyone thinks Gen Z are broke. It’s hilarious. They are already out there buying your products.”
Jay Richards, Co-Founder of Imagen Insights, came in strong for the first panel of Fanbytes’ event, 100 Days to Engage Gen Z: How to Build Brand Love on TikTok and Social. Talking with Fanbytes Head of Marketing, Rebecca Fennelly, Fanbytes Senior Creative Strategist, Celeste Houlker and Talking Influence writer Neve Fear-Smith, this session covered brand starting points on social media.
The truth is, many brands are apprehensive about new social media platforms – and TikTok is the latest (and most vital) example. This app is more geared towards Gen Z than the social media behemoths that came before it, and this “digital native” generation are more discerning than their older counterparts.
How can you make your social media presence convincing – and not risk turning off Gen Z? Getting it right, we heard, means understanding your audience first.
That’s just one insight in a day packed full of them. We created our event with the brands who have all kinds of questions about social media in mind. So, let’s take an inside look.
Fanbytes LIVE: our takeouts from the event
To command Gen Z’s attention – and appreciation – on social media, brands need to reimagine their approach across a range of activities. But there’s good news: implementing these steps and changes not only fosters loyalty amongst a valuable new consumer base, but can elevate and future-proof your brand.
We’re detailing the key learnings for brands in our free guides, ‘Fanbytes LIVE: Takeouts from the Event”. These cover how to create, scale, influence and measure your social media presence.
The first guide is available to read now. Click the button below to download.
Step 1: Create
How can brands of any size get started on TikTok? The first panel session of the Fanbytes event covered how brands can learn more about their niche, how to build a brand’s personality on TikTok (including how to use TikTok trends) and how brands can find their “tribe” and turn them into “brand evangelists”. Speakers talked about engaging core followers for small brands, and how large brands can break barriers to connect meaningfully with Gen Z.
It was followed by a fireside chat between Fanbytes Senior Campaign Manager, Matt Sherratt and BT Sport Head of Social, James McManus, uncovering the brand’s social media strategy and examining what makes their TikTok content so engaging.
For the full breakdown of the “CREATE” talks, read our first event guide.
Step 2. Scale
The next phase of the event covered how brands can “hack” the TikTok algorithm to scale their presence on the platform, including leveraging trends and working with influencers.
AdWeek Brand Editor, Rebecca Stewart was joined by Coty Influencer Marketing & Comms Lead, Grace Fung, Fanbytes Director of Fashion & Beauty, Sophie Freeman, influencer Rhia Wales (@rhia.official), and ACCA Head of Marketing, BD and Early Careers, Karen Smith to discuss how the landscape of influencer has changed, and how brands can convincingly tie influencer and social media marketing together across multiple platforms.
Their talk was followed by a panel discussion between Fanbytes Director of Operations Joe Saw, Guinness World Records Head of Social Dan Thorne, Fanbytes Head of Creative Strategy Tom Sweeney, The Inkey List’s Selfless by Hyram Global Social Media Manager, Saoirse Cleary and Fanbytes Senior Campaigns Manager, Jacqui Smith, where the speakers dug into more detail on content formats, how to identify and use TikTok trends and influencers, and where to take risks.
You can read more about these talks in the guide to the second phase of the event, ‘Scale‘. Alternatively to read more on Jacqui’s experiences in fashion and beauty influencer marketing, check out her article on how Black Lives Matter has changed the space here.
Missed the event?
Fancy an inside look at the event? Here’s our video of the day:
As for learning what was discussed in the talks, you’ll find the learnings of the events in our Fanbytes LIVE Event Guide instalments. Alternatively, if you want to make sure you’re on the email list to find out about our future events, sign up for the newsletter here.
Step 3. Influence
The third phase of the event featured three talks that were deep dives into how different kinds of unlikely brands can use social media to influence Gen Z opinion, prompt them to behave differently, and even convince them to make healthy long-term lifestyle changes.
We heard from Fanbytes CEO and Co-Founder, Timothy Armoo on how Fanbytes leveraged known Gen Z behaviours to influence them to spread important and beneficial messages during the pandemic.
Fanbytes’ Joe Saw sat down with ACCA’s Karen Smith to talk about how Fanbytes helped change Gen Z’s perceptions around accounting; transforming the opinion that it was a career choice for “white, middle class men” into an exciting opportunity for young people from all backgrounds – resulting in the most signups ever for a Guardian event.
Lastly, Fanbytes Head of Campaigns, Natalie Sagnaro talked with Lelo Paid Content Specialist, Valentina Holjevac, about how the intimate lifestyle brand was able to build a convincing presence on TikTok around sexual wellness and empowerment – even despite TikTok’s stringent community guidelines that ban mentions of sex.
If you’d like to read more about their discussions, you’ll find more info in the guide. Alternatively, you can read more about Fanbytes’ work with Lelo in our case study here.
Step 4. Measure
The final phase of the event saw us hear from Fanbytes’ Tom Sweeney on how social media managers and marketing professionals can contextualise their measurements to inform a social media strategy that can even give them more power over the direction of their company.
The talk not only covered what success on TikTok and other social media platforms looks like – and how to drive conversions and engagements into customers – but also how to structure measurements and KPIs into wider company goals; and how this, in turn, can help marketers discover opportunities and clearly link their activities more effectively to their wider business.
The full write-up is in our guide; alternatively, to read more about Tom Sweeney and the Fanbytes Creative Strategy team, check out our article here.
Fanbytes live event 2022: making a splash on social media
Whether it’s encouraging footballer Rio Ferdinand to create exclusive content for your TikTok channel, or convincing suited-up accountants to make fun of themselves, the latest Fanbytes event covered a vast array of Gen Z interests – and the full spectrum of marketers’ questions when it comes to winning on social media.
As an exclusive in-real-life event, we kept our talks unrecorded to amplify the power of connecting in person. But you’ll find plenty to inform you in our event guide series – and we encourage our network to sign up to find out about our future events via our newsletter. Next up, we’ll be sharing a webinar event on how to grow your TikTok account within the next 6 months. We hope to see you there!
In the meantime, if you have any questions about how we can make your brand shine on social media, get in touch. We’d love to talk through how to win over the hearts of Gen Z – and turn your TikTok and social presence into your greatest asset.
Want more information on how to make a splash on social? Check out the links below:
