Gen Z’s Social Validation

Let’s dive into what we call in marketing social validation.

Social validation is essentially looking at someone or a brand on social media to kind of validate who that person is or what that brand is / what they stand for. And you see this is really common in the world of gen z, frankly, because of how we grew up.

Our digital profiles are not simply external auxiliary platforms that we post content to, but they’re extensions of who we are. You know, when I go out to the bar and meet a girl, the first thing I’m doing after that is I’m checking out her Instagram page, I’m checking out their Tiktok and I’m not doing so to stalk them or to, you know, try to learn everything about them, but I’m doing so because part of my subconscious kind of wants me to use that digital content to determine you know, who they are, what their personality is and what they’re into.

And when it comes to dating, for example, people aren’t just exchanging phone numbers, they’re exchanging their Instagram, there’s Snapchat, their other social media platforms and that’s how you determine what someone’s about. And a lot of people see this as a negative because we immediately turn to, and tune into someone’s digital profile as opposed to just, you know, getting to know that person at a physical level.

But I see this as a positive: you’re able to gather more information about someone and there’s nothing I love more than when I’m walking into a coffee shop and someone says they know me from LinkedIn and while we’ve never met before, they already know so much about me because of all the content I put out, because of how much I talk about my life and what’s going on there and I see that as a benefit. I’m able to build a relationship with someone a lot quicker because I have content online that people can see and gather about me.

I think a lot of brands need to understand that this social validation also works for popular brands. I was doing some research into some fashion brands, and some QSR brands and we’re talking about billion-dollar companies that have Instagram and Tiktok and Facebook and Twitter pages with fewer followers than really close friends of mine. You know, we’re talking about less than 10,000 followers. And what they need to realize is not only is social media and content an incredible avenue to gain and acquire new customers, but it’s also an avenue that will lose you customers.

If a young kid is trying to learn more about your restaurant, your fashion brand your CPG brands. Oftentimes they’re not just looking at your website, they’re more often than not looking at your social media profiles and so when a potential or prospective customer or client goes to look at that, what are they inferring based on the content that you’re posting?

And I think more and more brands, particularly those that aren’t as active on social media, need to realize that, again it’s not just a platform to reach people, it’s also a platform that will make or break your business because this is how young people are making decisions about whether or not they should buy a product.

If you’re a fashion brand, you have a ton of different, diverse people in all of your content that shows the function and fashionability of the product.

If you’re a restaurant, are you not only showing off a lot of the incredible menu items but are you also showing that it’s a popular space to be? You should be able to show that influencers and creators alike go there too.

These are some of the things in the world of social validation that are dictating customer decisions and it is vital that every brand realizes social media is not just an avenue to potentially gain new customers.

Social validation makes it so that you need to be actively posting content that would entice and get people to want to buy from you.