WTF is “skibidi Ohio rizz”?

Each year, new vocabulary hits the scene. We’ve had “cheugy,” “highkey,” “mid,” “no cap” and countless others. I would venture a guess that we’ve had an inkling of what these words mean in context. Whether you pick it up from pop culture, social media or the younger individuals around you, it hasn’t been too challenging to stay relevant.

Enter Gen Alpha. 

Words such as “skibidi,” “sigma” and “Ohio” are suddenly being commented on social posts, leaving millennials like me scratching our heads and googling meanings. Even Gen Z has taken to TikTok to figure out these new phrases (which, admittedly, has made me feel better). 

So, what are marketers to do with this new generation and their vernacular?

Relevancy vs. Professionalism

Do we need to hide that comment? Should we be using “rizz” in our captions? Is this our chance to poke fun at THE Ohio State even more?

Higher education marketers have long had to walk the line of relevancy and professionalism. We want to connect with our target audience, but appropriateness must win the day. We also need to stay true to our brand … and whatever legal says. In an environment where time is absolutely of the essence, how do we make snap decisions on what to post?

Here’s my unofficial method to evaluate trends, and in true higher education fashion, there’s an acronym: RATE. RATE stands for relevancy, appropriateness, timeliness and execution. 

Let’s run down the list of questions to ask yourself or your team. 

1. Relevancy: Is this content relevant to our audience and our brand?
2. Appropriateness: Is this content appropriate for our channel?
3. Timeliness: Is this content timely?
4. Execution: Can we authentically execute the trend?

This is a simple checklist that can save you time in the moment. Let’s hit some examples.

Trend 1: Very Demure

This is an easy one to gauge. With a low barrier (no heavy lifting for content), the team executed this quickly. At the time, there were no copyright issues to tie it down with legal or other offices, so it was timely. Given the right context, you can make it fit just about any audience and channel. So look at that, this trend is “very demure, very mindful, very cutesy.”

 

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Trend 2: Anything Chapell Roan

This one is more difficult. Chapell Roan was having a moment, and it’s easy to jump on the “Hot to Go!” bandwagon. But let’s look at appropriateness in particular. Who your audience is matters a great deal here. For example, overseeing an admissions account whose primary audience is under 18, parents might object to our use of the lyrics. And given that parents are a secondary audience, we want to tread carefully. It’s probably best to sit this one out.

Trend 3: Skibidi

Here we land in uncharted territory. Although we’re seeing Gen Alpha use this word in a generally negative context (skibidi toilet, anyone?), I’m still not sure what it means. Even Gen Alpha seems confused, with a high schooler sharing it’s positive when he uses it, but it depends on the context. For example, my spouse’s shirt was deemed, “pretty skibidi” which, when clarified, meant it was cool. So while students have started using it in our comments (uh-oh?), I don’t think we have a strong enough grasp on it to deem it appropriate to use ourselves.

So what can you do with it? Well, my team embraced the fact that we don’t know what these words mean and turned it into a Reel with our counselors expressing their complete confusion with “skibidi,” “Ohio” and “rizz.”

 

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This was an authentic approach that was easy to execute. We didn’t try to appear like we were in the know but embraced the awkward reality we face as new generations and their eccentricities emerge. We were honest about our confusion, and if the comments were any indication, the audience loved us for it.

And there you have it. This is a simple rundown of evaluating content for our younger generations. One last recommendation if you’re still struggling with whether or not to hop on a trend or use new slang: would you say it to a student on your campus? And what would their reaction be?

There’s no way I’ll tell anyone they have “skibidi Ohio rizz” any time soon; that would be delulu. But you do you, besties.