Five on Friday: A Profile of the Gen Z Subscriber, Facebook’s Instant Articles and More

This week’s Five on Friday explores using creating better surveys, Gen Z subscriber profiles, Facebook’s instant articles, LinkedIn’s Profinder, Spingo, and more.

As the INSIDER Guide to New Product Development (NPD), I’m constantly keeping an eye out for bite-size information that will help you develop and scale better subscription products.  Here’s my “Five on Friday” compilation for March 18, featuring the five best trends, tips, quotes or stats from my reading this week.    

Five on Friday:  A Profile of the Gen Z Subscriber

1. Better Surveys Mean Better Data, Better Decisions, Better Content

Recently, Survey Monkey offered some solid tips on creating better customer surveys.  The idea is to structure your surveys better to elicit more specific and usable information. These tips also work well for research surveys that can deliver content for your product as well as assess the satisfaction of your customers! My favorite tip:

As a general rule, limit grid questions to a maximum of 5 columns and 10 rows each-and fewer is better.

2. A Profile of the 13-to-17-Year Old, Generation Z Subscriber

According to this fact-packed post on CMO.com, Gen-Z (those born after 1995) already makes up over a quarter of the world’s population, and is growing every day.  If your target is younger subscribers, this post is worth a scan.  Some of the most interesting data points include:

Generation-Z

  • Consumers 19 and younger prefer social networks like Snapchat, Secret, and Whisper, and a quarter of 13- to 17-year-olds have left Face
    book this year.
  • Gen Z are adept researchers. Thirty-three percent watch lessons online, 20% read textbooks on tablets, and 32% work with classmates online.
  • The average Gen Zer has the attention span of about eight seconds.
  • Gen Z shares the entrepreneurial spirit of Millennial innovators: About 72% of current high-schoolers want to own their own businesses. Fifty-eight percent of Gen Zs are either somewhat or very worried about the future.

Gen Z receives $16.90 per week in allowance on average, which translates to $44 billion a year. CMO.com

What are some possible takeaways for subscription businesses?

Time-to-Impact Window Continues to Close.  The attention-span of the average subscriber has been shortening for decades.  But the 8-second span of the Gen-Z market will require not just marketing but actual content to get to the point, and quickly, even when the interaction is for pleasure.

Facebook is Okay, for Now, But . . . if you’re trying to reach the over-25 crowd, sticking with Facebook, Twitter and (in the professional world) LinkedIn works.  Younger audiences socialize online more than ever before, but they’re doing it in difference places than their parents and older sibs.  Be prepared.

Subscription Opportunities Should Increase.  The highly-specialized and periodical nature of any subscription, whether physical box or media, lends itself to this group of people with diverse interests and short attention spans.  “Little bites” of content and product are a great match for Gen Z. 

Facebook-Instant-Articles

3. Investigate Facebook’s Instant Articles in Advance of the April 12Announcement

This is a classic case of finding one very interesting nugget of information within a larger, valuable article on a broader topic. While this article on responsible republication from the Mequoda site is a good read on its own, I would recommend investigating Facebook’s media announcement regarding Facebook Instant Articles, due to go live April 12th (although many publishers are already using it).

4. Hubspot Recommends: Read Your CEO’s Blog; Hire the Work, Not the Resume

Earlier this year, Hubspot offered a list of books, TED talks and podcasts deemed “essential to your career.” It’s a solid list of new thinking and does indeed cover all career phases from new hire to executive leadership, but one of the simplest concepts represented by this list stand out: 

Read what your leadership writes. You may think you’re too busy writing to read.  However, you should make time to read, or at least scan, the blogs, podcasts and other media put out by your own CEO. Hubspot lists “Any Post on Your CEO’s Blog” as must-do reading, and I agree. Doing so will not only give you insights into how your CEO delivers your brand message, which can help guide the tone of your own work, but ensure you have something meaningful to say if you bump into said CEO in the hall.

5. Subscription Insider’s Russell Perkins Recommends Three New Products to Watch 

Russell Perkins’ Feature Article, “Three New Products to Watch,” appeared in Subscription Insider a couple days ago, and I hope you’ve taken a look at this short-but-informative piece.  No time?  On his recommendation, check out LinkedIn’s answer to the gig economy LinkedIn ProFinder and SpinGo to discover the trade shows that are right for you to attend – or market your own event. Is your field governmental lobbying?  Check out Quorum.

LinkedIn-Profinder

Happy 55th anniversary to my parents, Ruth and Jerry Harbaugh! Have a great weekend, everyone.

Diane


Diane Pierson has deep experience in product management and marketing, having delivered results to companies including Dun & Bradstreet, LexisNexis, American Lawyer Media and Copyright Clearance Center. She has built products & services that have delivered over $100 million in revenue and knows what works, and what doesn’t, when executing product plans and strategies. She is also a contributor to Subscription Insider. (Read Diane’s full Bio)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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