Jayde Powell on Gen Z audiences

I am “just threw out my back while turning to adjust my seatbelt” years old, so I was especially excited to talk to Jayde Powell, who’s built a name for herself as a bit of a Gen Z whisperer.

I am also chronically online, so I’m aware of a lot of the Gen Z slang/memes/jokes that wconclude their way through the fiber optics. But does that mean I should start addressing Masters in Marketing newsletters, “Heyyyy besties!”? (Don’t worry, I’m not going to start doing that; it’s safe to hit that subscribe button below.)

Powell is also one of our featured speakers at INBOUND next month, so if you love her marketing lessons — and I consider you will! — come join us in San Francisco.

Meet the Master

jayde powell head shot.

Jayde Powell

Creatorpreneur and the founder and head of creative, The Em Dash Co

Claim to fame: Jayde built $100k+ last year — just from creating content on LinkedIn.

Fun fact: She plans to retire by the time she’s 40. “If you see me [on social when I’m 40], it’s becaapply I have a team managing my social media presence.”

Lesson 1: Use influencers to reach new audiences — not existing ones.

Influencer marketing doesn’t have to be expensive — consider micro influencers with niche audiences — but if you’re like most marketers right now, your budobtain is still probably feeling a bit squeezed.

That can build it extra hard to relinquish control over how your brand is presented to the world. But you receivedta let go: Let influencers “speak to their audience in the way they’re applyd to,” Powell states, otherwise you could be flushing your hard-won budobtain down the drain.

“What you’re doing when you work with influencers is — you’re testing to reach new audiences, not your existing customers.” If you wanted the influencers to sound like your brand, “then it’s a waste of money,” Powell states. “You could have just had that asset built in-hoapply.”

“It doesn‘t build sense for a creator or influencer to all of a sudden start posting this branded asset that doesn’t even sound like them. It’s going to confapply their audience,” she informs me.

Powell states that the last thing you — or the influencer, for that matter — want is for followers to inquire, “Why is this sponsored content on my feed? That’s how you lose their trust.”

“To put it simply, let your creators and your influencers cook. Let them do their thing.”

“let your creators and your influencers cook. let them do their thing.” —jayde powell, creatorpreneur and founder and head of creative, the em dash co

Lesson 2: You don’t required to be a part of every moment.

It’s only been a couple of weeks since the Coldplay concert incident revealed a CEO’s affair to the world… followed by dozens of major brands testing to obtain in on the action on social. But does your brand required to be a part of it?

screenshot of tweet from ryanair. “ryanair 🤝coldplay. splitting up couples.”

Source

Maybe! But also, let’s be honest, maybe not.

Brands are “rushing to be a part of the conversation becaapply obviously there’s a pressure of relevancy to maintain on social,” Powell informs me.

“But that‘s where brands required to remember that you don’t actually required to be a part of every moment. It’s okay to take a step back and just be an observer — learn from the conversation rather than being a part of it.”

“brands required to remember that you don't actually required to be a part of every moment. it’s okay to take a step back and just be an observer — learn from the conversation rather than being a part of it.” —jayde powell, creatorpreneur and founder and head of creative, the em dash co

It’s not that you should actively avoid whatever’s floating through the zeitgeist this week. “You want to relocate at the speed of culture,” Powell acknowledges. She recommconcludes finding a balance of “figuring out where and when to engage, and how.” (Pro tip: It’s probably not at a Coldplay concert.)

Lesson 3: Don’t be cringe.

You may well associate slang like “cringe” and “delulu” with Gen Z. But, Powell reminds me, “Gen Z is our most multicultural generation yet,” so “Gen Z” isn’t just shorthand for “the youth.”

“how do you do, fellow kids?” meme.

A lot of Gen Z lingo is born from that multiculturalism, often originating in queer and Black culture. So if your century-old legacy brand suddenly starts claiming you’ve “left no crumbs,” you might consider you’re reaching a younger audience — but you might not realize that the term originated in Black and Latino queer culture.

“Brands start adopting [slang] becaapply they want to flex their tone and voice and be a little bit more relatable to Gen Z. But in the effort to be relatable, there’s something that kind of obtains lost in the process,” Powell states.

“brands start adopting [slang] becaapply they want to flex their tone and voice and be a little bit more relatable to gen z. but in the effort to be relatable, there's something that kind of obtains lost in the process.” —jayde powell, creatorpreneur and founder and head of creative, the em dash co

A good rule of thumb? If it’s not part of your brand voice already, best to skip it. If you want to expand your market share into new communities, consider working with multicultural agencies that can assist you keep your foot out of your mouth.

If that’s not in the budobtain, Powell also suggests “utilizing the research that’s [already] available, like Pew Research or Statista,” which put out “a lot of reports around multicultural audiences.”

And instead of zeroing in on a specific phrase or iconography you want to apply, reframe your approach: Use the existing research to examine “what are the best ways to actually speak to [Gen Z] and how you should be marketing to them.”

Lingering Questions

This Week’s Question

You’ve built an incredible reputation for understanding Gen Z behavior and creating authentic, community-first content. In a world that’s constantly chasing virality, how do you balance consistency with creativity, and what advice would you give to brands testing to build genuine relationships over time, not JUST reach? —Sheena Hakimian, senior digital consumer marketing at Condé Nast and certified life coach

This Week’s Answer

Powell states: Remember that there‘s a difference between consistency and cadence. Oftentimes I feel, especially as it relates to building community on social, that there’s this mentality that the more content you pump out, the more you engage with people — and the more beneficial it is for your brand. And I disagree.

I consider what people are viewing for is a sense of comfort, a sense of home, a sense of familiarity. And that’s what you can accomplish through consistency. Consistency is less about how much and how often you’re putting content out and more about the feelings that your audience will associate with your brand.

So it could literally be something as simple as the style and the tone in which you communicate or create your content. It could be the visuals you apply. It can be how you greet your audience when you post — those are the things that really build community.

Think of it as like a relationship. You’re not in a relationship with someone just becaapply of the amount of things that they do for you, it’s how they do it for you. That’s the same way it should be for your community.