How to Reach Older Consumers
It turns out that it’s fairly easy to find older consumers online. But "reaching" them is a different thing.
Welcome to Longevity Gains, the newsletter for marketers and entrepreneurs who want to succeed in the longevity economy, the largest and fastest-growing market in the world. It’s the $22 trillion opportunity you can’t afford to ignore.
When I started Longevity Gains nearly a year ago, I had three primary things I wanted to cover:
The Older Consumer Opportunity
First and foremost, I wanted to educate people on the massive demographic shift toward an older population that’s already underway, combined with the massive spending power that 50+ people collectively have – especially compared with struggling younger generations who get outsized marketing attention due to the legacy of youth culture.
A year in, and I’m amazed at how many people still have no idea what’s happening, even among professional marketers. But the bigger sin would be those who know what’s happening but shrug their shoulders at the massive amount of wealth and desire to spend simply because “old people aren't cool.”
How to Connect With Older Consumers
The second area is the most vital, especially given the huge collection of ageist stereotypes and misconceptions. Combine that with a lack of winning examples in advertising for reference, plus the handful of truly terrible lessons we have from direct marketers, and it’s easy to see why messaging is the most crucial element.
Importantly, and despite the longevity economy involving a massive demographic shift, demographics are the least useful metric you can rely on. Beyond a handful of traits that are unique to older people, the over 50 crowd is likely more diverse than any other. That’s why the Empowerment Marketing Framework focuses on helping you discover the worldviews, values, and attitudes that will spark connection with older consumers.
Where to Find Older Consumers
Too often when people hear about the opportunities in the longevity economy, they immediately jump to “where to find” older consumers. So it’s not surprising that I used “reach” in the headline, because just because you can find older people doesn’t mean you know how to reach them psychologically and emotionally – that’s why step two is crucial.
It also turns out that it’s fairly easy to find older consumers online. Any notion that older people don’t use social media or subscribe to email newsletters has been repeatedly refuted over the last decade plus. And it’s become an even sillier idea given that much of the foundation of the current internet and tech scene – including Amazon, Google, YouTube, Netflix, Apple, and Microsoft – is founded or run by Gen Xers and Baby Boomers.
That said, let’s dive into where older consumers hang out, and how to actually “reach” them there.
The stereotype is that only “old” people use Facebook anymore. And while that’s not technically true, you will definitely find older consumers on the platform. Over 387 million of Facebook’s 3 billion users are 55 and up. According to Pew Research, 69% of U.S. adults age 50 to 64 use Facebook along with 58% of those over the age of 65.
The more interesting stat, also according to Pew, is that social media use for users 55+ continues to grow, while other age groups have peaked. So while it’s not true that “no one” other than older people use Facebook, it’s a safe bet that the most active and growing group are those we’re trying to reach.
One plus… if you’re looking to find older people to help you spread the word about your content, product, or service, Facebook may be the ideal location. Older users tend to share content related to their interests rather than creating content themselves, so your message can spread quickly if it resonates.
YouTube
Pew reports that YouTube is more popular than all social platforms, and that includes older consumers. 83% of U.S. adults age 50 to 64 use YourTube along with 60% of those over the age of 65.
YouTube is a video platform, but it also has social properties. It’s also the second largest search engine and second-most-visited website in the world. Put it all together, and the trend toward short-form video content makes a lot of sense in general, but especially when it comes to reaching older consumers.
According to Google, one in three Baby Boomers say they use YouTube to learn about a product or service. Further, Boomers are 1.3X more likely to prefer watching a YouTube tutorial video than reading instructions. Educational videos may be just the ticket to establishing an initial strong connection.
TikTok, X, and Other Platforms
TikTok may be known as a young person’s addiction, but a surprisingly large number of older people use the platform as well. 5.2% of TikTok’s massive monthly active user base in the U.S. are 55-64, and 1.8% of TikTok’s monthly active users in the U.S. are 65 or over.
TikTok is also home to several so-called “grandfluencers” such as Brunch with Babs, Retirement House, Old Gays, and Grandad Joe. These accounts are mainly designed as entertainment rather than content marketing, and I’m still skeptical as to whether the TikTok audience isn’t laughing at, rather than with, these older performers. And we also don’t know what’s going to happen with TikTok in general.
In my experience, the platform formerly known as Twitter had a strong Gen X presence until recently. Since the change in management, many in my age group have left – ironically just as it was rebranded to X. Unless you’re targeting a very specific worldview, X is unlikely to mark the spot with most older people.
Here's the breakdown by age group for the major platforms:
Whether a future generation is able to kill off email or not, it’s certainly not happening anytime soon. And without doubt, the internet’s original killer app is still fully embraced by Baby Boomers and Generation X. Given that email remains the best medium for sales, it should be at the center of your marketing efforts.
As the longevity economy progresses, there should be a wider ecosystem of email publications to choose from for sponsorships, guest appearances, and co-marketing arrangements. It makes more sense to move people from one email list to another rather than from other platforms when possible.
Organic or Paid?
Back at the beginning of social media, it was an amazing distribution method for content marketers. You created stuff that your intended audience found useful and interesting, and turned it loose on the socials to drive people back to your site. There you converted them to an email list, or for a brief period of time for certain people, an RSS feed.
Those days are long gone. Once the big social platforms added in advertising options, they worked to stifle offsite links. In the 2020s, the algorithms are so strict that “social media marketing” has been reduced to attracting followers on platforms. And yet you’re still left trying to get them over to your site and onto an email list in order to make significant sales.
That leaves us with paid advertising as the most efficient and effective way to reach older consumers. And this is why step two – connecting with older audiences – is more important to get right as soon as possible. Back in the day you could refine your content and messaging on the fly given the audience reach that early social media provided.
Now, you have to act like the direct response advertisers of old (no pun intended). You first understand who your audience is intimately, nail the positioning, language, and angles, and then invest in advertising with a model that provides a positive return on that investment.
Social media advertising tools are highly sophisticated, allowing for targeting based on age, geography, interests, and stage of life. This precision, combined with ads and content that is perfectly dialed in to your specific audience, can generate fantastic results.
As I mentioned above, email sponsorships may be the best vehicle of all. The problem I’ve faced thus far with Further is that there aren’t other substantial email publications focusing on my audience. That’s changing, and one of the reasons I started Longevity Gains was to expand the ecosystem so all boats rise together.
We’re soon moving beyond Substack with a dedicated Longevity Gains community that will be an arena for that mutual support. Existing Premium members get immediate access, and you can join us by upgrading to Premium now:
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