In this blog post, we are going to show an example of good social media marketing for Gen Z, which is The Empire State Building’s TikTok account.    

Yes, you heard that right. The Empire State Building has a TikTok, which is meant to encourage tourism, especially amongst young people. They post multiple times a day, which is a must on TikTok, as the more videos you have and trends you follow, the more likely one of your videos will go viral.    

Also, they always hop on trends at the right time. Because trends on TikTok grow old within a week or even a few days, companies have to work fast. Often, videos have to be approved by different parts of the company, or they just take too long to be ready, so by the time they are posted, they are already out of date.    

This can be solved by having a smaller team in charge of posting on social media, who are trusted enough to post without needing the approval of higher ups.    

Additionally, it helps when the creators are young, as they can understand better what young people find funny. For instance, The Empire State Building TikTok account often features its young team, who choose to follow trends that older users may not have picked up on yet. One of their recent videos shows an employee lipsyncing to a viral audio from Dance Moms. The joke is, that she is belittling another building and saying the Empire State Building is better. This is a running joke on the account, which keeps viewers engaged.    

Another good example is their use of subcultures. In one of their posts, they use a viral TikTok audio from Taylor Swift, where she sings “You said normal girls were boring” which became a trend amongst fans to post themselves doing weird and funny things. They use the audio to describe the fact the building is a mascot now, which is in line with the trend. They crucially get the trend right, which is also where a lot of companies go wrong. They use recent sounds but do them wrong, so Gen Z is less likely to engage. With this video, the Empire State Building taps into Taylor Swift’s massive fanbase, by making a video that is more “personal” to them but is also humorous to other users who may have seen the trend.    

Furthermore, some of their other videos feature the building with eyes and a mouth, lipsyncing to viral audio like it is a person. This is a funny and original idea, which also makes something like a building become relatable, because of the use of sounds that younger audiences use. It is also another running joke, which can create a community around the account as people feel included in the joke.    

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Key Takeaways                

- Make “post-approval times” as short as possible to not miss out on trends

- Have younger creators on board who understand how the trends actually work

- Create inside jokes to build a community

- Tap into subcultures such as fanbases (especially bigger ones)

- Don’t be afraid to be original!

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