Social media is maturing in many countries, and on many reports on the Media today, you start to see the trends of older folks getting on social media.
With saturation among the younger traffic, and social media being readily available on mobile applications, the older folks -- folks above the age of 50 years -- are also participating in social media.
Recently speaking to a crowd of senior Alumni at an NUS event, I realized that even in Singapore, especially among the educated crowd, more seniors are also getting on social media.
If your marketing plan assumes that only teenagers are adopting social media, you could be making a very costly mistake. Nearly half of Americans between 70 and 75 are now online, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. “Social media are giving seniors a voice, and for a generation that has sometimes felt isolated and overlooked, that’s no small feat,” said Sarah Hoit, chief executive of My Way Village, which designs online social networks for older adults.
In an article by Mashable, Baby Boomers and Seniors Are Flocking to Facebook
Trends can be seen that this group of people often forgotten when we speak about social media is actually slowly getting into Facebook and reading blogs.
With families becoming ever more spread out, using Facebook or Twitter is likely the best and cheapest way to stay in touch. In addition, these older users may be executives and using a professional social network such as LinkedIn as part of their careers as well.
The older demographics are likely the parents and grandparents of those younger users. In Singapore, it is sometimes hard to meet your children and grandchildren, and social media enables these seniors to stay in touch with what their families are doing.
With more seniors online, is it time to change your marketing strategy to include seniors in mind?
I'll be conducting a social media course at Aventis School of Management on 23 and 24 Sept, 2010.
The Social Media Marketing Workshop
-- Robin Low
