AUSTIN, Texas (May 26, 2021) — Khoros, award-winning leader in digital-first customer engagement software and services, partnered with Talkwalker, the leading enterprise listening platform, to publish the Smart Social^® Report, Volume 3, revealing how brands should engage with and market to the Gen Z audience. The Smart Social Report is a series by Khoros that unpacks the latest social media marketing trends to help inform social media managers and marketers’ digital strategies.

Leveraging data and insights from Khoros and Talkwalker’s technologies, the Smart Social Report, Volume 3, focuses on the growing importance of Gen Z as an influential force driving economic impact. Discover how Gen Z, those people born between 1997 – 2012, engage online and what matters most to them to deliver the digital customer experience they expect.

Key learnings and trends highlighted in the report include:

• Gen Z has the power: As true digital natives and buying power that ranges from $29 billion to $143 billion per year, Gen Z’s have a high influence over brands and other generations — where to go, how to spend money, and the latest trends.

• Buy now, pay later — The pandemic changed the way consumers shop, and for Gen Z, convenience and affordability are key. Online shopping experiences continue to trend upward, and new payment methods have grown in popularity like the “buy now, pay later” model. In fact, Khoros and Talkwalker’s analysis showed that the past three months made up 36% of the total “buy now, pay later” conversation occurring within the past year.

• Gen Z cares, and so should brands: Gen Z is a sociopolitical-conscious group, so it’s important to understand issues they care about to create impactful marketing that resonates with them. Top of mind for this group includes environmental sustainability and purpose-driven brands that reflect their individual values and beliefs.

• Take action with Gen Z: Learn best practices to stay relevant and on-trend across the digital landscape.

“Today’s consumers expect brands to give them personalized experiences throughout their entire journey, knowing exactly who they are, what they want, and what they value. This is especially true for Gen Z, a generation that’s shaping how other generations engage with brands and spend their money. Social and digital engagement solutions are key to knowing what will resonate with this audience to build more profitable campaigns, long-lasting relationships, and create customers for life," said Katherine Calvert, CMO at Khoros.

"It's vital that brands act on the real-time trends that matter most to consumers, especially when it comes to Gen Z, whose buying power has multiplied over the last year," said Talkwalker CMO Elena Melnikova. "Our report, in partnership with Khoros, reveals the trends that will enable forward thinking marketers to adapt and improve their strategy for 2021, and beyond."

The release of the Smart Social Report, Volume 3, follows the announcement of Khoros and Talkwalker’s new deep listening partnership, included in Khoros’ Spring Innovation Release. The partnership enables customers to leverage Talkwalker’s powerful software platform to uncover, understand, and derive the most valuable insights from social, online, and conversational data.

To learn how to reach Gen Z and ensure your brand is staying on-trend, download the Smart Social Report, Volume 3 here. For more information about Khoros’ digital-first customer engagement platform, including its social media marketing and listening solutions, visit khoros.com. Additional information about Talkwalker can be found at talkwalker.com.

About Khoros

Over 2,000 global brands, including one-third of the Fortune 100 companies, leverage the power of Khoros’ award-winning customer engagement platform to create customers for life. Our innovative enterprise solutions ensure success across digital customer service, messaging, chat, online brand communities, and social media management. Combined with our industry-leading services, Khoros enables brands to connect with customers throughout their entire digital journey. Khoros powers more than 500 million daily digital interactions and leverages AI to turn these interactions into insights and action.

Recognized nationally and locally as one of the Best Places to Work, Khoros has 10 offices globally and Vista Equity Partners is its lead investor. For more information, visit khoros.com.

About Talkwalker

Talkwalker is an enterprise listening company helping the world’s largest brands to drive revenue by activating the voice of their customers. Through our AI-powered platform, we gather data from the conversations that happen around your brand - online, in the media, and within your company - to uncover, understand, and action consumer insights.

Over 2,000 companies worldwide already use this conversational intelligence to protect their brands, measure their campaign impact, and identify what drives purchase decisions. Building consumer connections, and helping to make them globally loved brands. Talkwalker has offices in Luxembourg, New York, San Francisco, Frankfurt, Singapore, Paris, Tokyo, London & Milan, with 400+ employees across the globe. It is also the home of Talkwalker Alerts, a free alerting service used by over 500,000 communications and marketing professionals worldwide.

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Media Contacts

Mandy Mayekawa

Khoros

pr@khoros.com

Milena Schmidt

Talkwalker

m.schmidt@talkwalker.com