Gen Z is the sleeping tiger of community-led organizations

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As Gen Z begins to enter the workforce, many experts are beginning to wonder what the future of work will look like for this up-and-coming generation that is reshaping many ways organizations operate. For a generation that was raised on social media and can identify with the many different methods brands use to market online, it's legitimate to wonder if Gen Z will begin to shake up the traditional status quo of online marketing.

One major area that Gen Z has the potential to disrupt is the area of ​​organizations struggling to transition to community-led growth. Community-led growth (or CLG) is about turning users into passionate followers of your brand by creating a community that brand reps and users can gather online.

Typically, this is done by "community managers" who liaise between the brand and its supporters in various settings, both in-person and online.

The community has exploded in recent years, with over 76% of internet users participating in an online community in some way, and 82% of users saying they would be open to organizations that participate in the community.

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According to the 2022 Community Leadership Report, there has been a 22% increase in the number of organizations with community teams since 2020. Along with the increase in the number of teams, there has been a 25% increase in the number of organizations with representation from community leaders.

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanion said, "By 2030, more than half of all publicly traded Fortune 500 companies will have a community manager." As the relevance of community-led growth over traditional marketing increases, Gen Z has the potential to play a major role in the transition.

This generation is the one who spent their teenage years in Discord lobbies with real-time chats, often moderating their own communities in their spare time. According to Amity, 48% of Gen Z trust communities as much as traditional news sites and way more than social media.

After the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. as many Gen Zers were about to graduate or graduate from high school, there was an 81% increase in online community engagement . This demographic has the potential to channel the time they spend in online communities into long-term careers in community management.

The important thing is to provide educational opportunities that are lacking in traditional education.

While Gen Z has the potential to capitalize on this trend, knowledge of this nascent career path is lacking. Traditional education is still heavily focused on the fundamentals of marketing, not on teaching students the skills needed to perform less complex community management tasks, such as strategy and planning.

The average starting salary for a community manager is around $75,000 per year. But knowledge about the career path is sporadic. More needs to be done to provide opportunities to enter the field outside of traditional education. Another aspect to note about Gen Z is that they are a generational group that care less about getting a four...