How many times have we heard the negative remarks surrounding social media marketing sound something like this:
“I don’t feel like I need to invest our time and resources into social media. I don’t think our Baby Boomer demographic will relate to that type of technology.”
At Brandswag we hear this all the time. It is a concept that has been etched into the mind of small business owners who cater to the baby boomer generation. They have a hard time connecting the importance of social media to their niche clientele. This is because of the overwhelming MYTH that social media is only for my generation, the millenials.
The shift has slowly started to take form. The paradigm shift between social media being a “bright shiny object” and it actually become a viable marketing tool. The time is not to stop ignoring and start implementing into your marketing strategy.
ReadWriteWeb’s Sarah Perez has a great post entitled, How to Reach Baby Boomers with Social Media. In the post I found the following image below… which gives an inside look into the social technolographics of the Baby Boomer generation:
Here are some stats to show you the potential of using social media marketing with the baby boomer demographic.
In 2007, the percentage of Boomers consuming social media was 46% for younger Boomers (ages 43 to 52) and 39% for older Boomers (ages 53 to 63). By 2008, those number increased to 67% and 62%, respectively.
This is some huge growth! The potential of using a blog, wiki, podcast, or social networking site to reach the baby boomer generation is something that cannot be ignored by YOUR business.
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Claiming that social media is only for young people is about as foolish as saying babyboomers will never buy hybrid cars. The terminology might sound strange the technology might be immature, but as the adage asserts: “Nothing can stop an idea whose time has come.”
My generation is finally getting it. Maybe it took us awhile, but we boomers are on line, we have laptops and iphones, profiles on facebook and even use Twitter
And although we aren’t always at ease in this strange new world, every now and then we find something we do before our kids on line, and we enjoy the feeling.
So if you are going to market to us boomers, look for us on line. We are there!
Amen, Lorraine!
I am one of the ‘older boomers’. My kids laughed when the found out we are active on facebook, Twitter and many other sites. They quit laughing when they heard about the successes achieved through our ‘friends’ and ‘followers’.
Thanks, Kyle, for letting others know we are active in the Social Media community DOING business. We aren’t home, in our rocking chairs with a blanket wrapped around our shoulders. That happens only at night when Wheel of Fortune comes on! LOL
My interest in social media grew out of my profession as a freelance writer. I created my own website and several blogs to generate multiple streams of income. Social media is essential for promoting any business or online efforts these days, whether you’re a boomer or not. The fact that I happen to be just shy of 60 myself doesn’t really matter in the online world.
I believe the boomers are a growing target market for advertisers as well, they’ve just been forgotten and overlooked by younger advertisers. Who better to market to baby boomers than other baby boomers who know what they want and why they want it?
I find boomers to be very discerning as to products. They do their homework and they are loyal customers once they discover something they like.
Social media helps boomers not only market their businesses but stay connected in an increasingly impersonal world.
Kyle:
This is a great article. Would you consent to allowing me to re-syndicate it on Social Computing Magazine? All links and attributions will remain intact, of course; it will also go out via Google News.
You can email me directly at alora@socialcomputingmagazine.com
(Apologies for the comment; I didn’t see an email address. Please feel free to delete this comment.)
Alora Chistiakoff
Managing Editor, Social Computing Magazine
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