Baby Boomers- An Imerging Demographic
I was at a doctor's appointment the other day and while sitting in the waiting area, I overheard a conversation between 2 elderly gentlemen. They were Vietnam veterans, as noted by the caps they wore, probably early 70's. They seemed to know each other well and may have been friends. The 1st man spoke about his new Facebook page and how he's now connected to his family and finding friends he hasn't seen since the war. The 2nd man shared how he likes to surf the internet to find WWII memorabilia to add to his collection and the great deals he found recently. It was refreshing to see that seniors are NOT intimidated by all this technology. If anything, they have ADAPTED to it.
My mother is 81 years old and she has a Facebook page! She loves to take pictures and selfies to post on her page. She's such a DIVA! Here are some facts about seniors online:
The 50+ age group is the fastest growing demographic online.(Pew 2012)
Baby Boomers are the fastest growing group on Facebook with an 80% surge in users between 2010 and 2014.(iStrategy Labs)
82% of Boomer/Seniors use search engines to gather information on a topic of interest.(Google/lpsos, 2013)
Boomers CONTRIBUTE THE MOST to product reviews online.(BazaarVoice 2012)
82% of the 65 million online Boomers/Seniors use the internet to research health and wellness information.
So if you're planning to market your products or services to seniors, it may be well worth your while to research sites dedicated to effective strategies to do so. Here's one I found today:
IMMERSION ACTIVE.com - A Digital Agency for the Mature Markets
I subscribed to their newsletter- Silver Tsunami - The largest weekly newsletter in the mature over 50 market space. It delivers the latest news and trends for marketers about the Baby Boomer and Senior markets.
Recent Comments
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Good post, and nice take! I thought I had seen more sites geared towards an older audience cropping up. I wouldn't say they have completed the adaptation process, but they are getting there! Just compared to the mind of a millennial that grew up with it, it's hard to learn all of that so late in life!
Hi Dre! With computers being made boomer-friendly, more seniors are finding it easier to use them. Wireless keyboards and mouse, touch screens, audio readers, magnifiers, not as hard as you might think. When I go to the library now, all I see are seniors on the computers, it used to be teenagers playing online games! Computer classes are offered at community senior centers and retirement communities, that's where my Mom got her skills. I want to focus on 50+ women like myself.
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Hi Alethia, great post thanks. I'm also a Baby Boomer. I went to take a look at Immersion Active & before I knew it a couple of hours went by. So many interesting articles.
I know, right?! Glad it was helpful to you. Thanks for stopping by too.