Baby Boomers Not Interested in Social Media

According to a survey of 1800 people in the baby boomer generation (born in 1946 through 1964) by ThirdAge/JWT Boom, people over age 40 participate heavily in word-of-mouth and value personal recommendations and expert opinions, but they have not embraced social networking or blogs despite being heavy users of other online services. Given that this generation is 78 million strong, controls more than 83% of consumer spending and that spending will increase $800 billion to over $4.6 trillion by 2015, I think this survey would be of interest to most marketers.

Being a boomer myself, I have to say I don’t resemble that remark! I’ve always liked being a bit different than the rest – having majored in computer science long before computers were in vogue. And in the social media space, I’m definitely ahead of most of my colleagues and friends. Did I ever mention how much I just love iTunes? 

But the information in this survey comes as no surprise based on my anecdotal observations. Most of them look at me funny when I bring up social media topics, how it relates to marketing and whether they use Twitter, have a Facebook page or do they blog. Actually I never talk about this stuff with with my friends, but my 15 year old niece though her aunt was pretty cool having a Facebook page!

The major findings of the study indicate that Boomers:

Connect and interact with others in their communities around shared interests and common issues, but they use more traditional web communications tools, such as email, to keep in touch.

Participate in trusted online communities and share opinions about brands. They’re also open to traditional marketing and e-marketing, as long as the message is coming from a source or brand they know and trust.

Were most likely to trust a Web site’s content if the site corresponded to a trusted brand or featured credible expertise.

Participate in viral or word-of-mouth marketing as much as or more than younger age groups.

The following chart indicates where the Boomers have no interest in spending their time:

The good news is that this generation can be reached online using the more traditional Internet marketing activities. What this says to me as a marketer is that you need to continue to mix traditional and new media marketing into your marketing plans. Unless your ideal client is firmly entrenched into the 45 year+ crowd (and there are definitely businesses targeting that demographic), your plan must include a multi-channel marketing mix across all traditional and new media. This online marketing mix will guarantee the broadest reach to your set of ideal clients.