How To Target Seniors In Digital Marketing-7 Absolute Hacks
So you are running a digital marketing campaign and probably missing out on great opportunities to engage seniors online. Thus, we have come up with this post on how to target seniors in digital marketing.
Let’s dive into our tried and tested 7 absolute hacks on how to target seniors in digital marketing.
Many times digital marketing tactics and campaigns tend to neglect their senior audiences. This missed onboarding of boomers in the campaign can very well result in missing key opportunities to increase audience and engagement in the brand.
Therefore, the older adults market can remain untapped in more than one way.
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The number of seniors using social media platforms ever increasing globally. I really feel happy to see my granny on social media such as Facebook and Instagram.
Pinterest is one of very popular social media platforms to expand the brand’s audience and engagement.
According to datareportal the platform has 431 million active users worldwide as of January 2022.
Though there has been a slight decline in the number of active users since April 2021, the number of seniors using Pinterest to shop online has shown an interesting growth in recent times.
In the following sections, we will get insight into some best practices and ways on how to reach out to seniors and engage them in digital marketing campaigns. The older adults really matter.
Now you are ready with your strategy on how to target seniors in digital marketing. You also started your campaign as well. Which social media platforms your current campaigns are running?
The answer to this question is pretty easy. Isn’t it? Because I can run my digital marketing campaigns on more than one social media platform.
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It is not a very important question on how many platforms your current campaigns are active. What is more important is are your campaigns really reaching your target audiences. In our case the older audiences.
Be it Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or any other social media platform, the objective here is to check and ensure we are reaching our target audiences. The senior ones.
If somehow you are missing reaching your target audience, this is a very important area you should focus on.
There is a significant demography of the older population that falls under the age bracket of 50 and older. Interestingly, this generation makes up over 51% of consumer spending and includes 5% of all adults.
In fact, they spend more than the younger generation, and marketing strategies need to reflect these statistics.
2. Targeting Seniors In Digital Marketing is More Than Influencer Targeting
Indeed, many influencer opportunities (family, expert acquaintances, local news, offline ideological leaders) represent additional marketing potential when it comes to producing results from senior citizen campaigns.
The problem, however, is that we need to strengthen and support that focus through strengthening, rather than excluding and removing the age group over 60 that was intended for attention.
According to the latest findings by Ofcom in “Adults’ Media Use and Attitudes Report 2020/21”, We can note 86% adults in the age group of 55-64 use smartphone, while use of internet at home for the same group people goes up to 94%. This is a significant number.
Interestingly 73% senior adults with the age group of 55-64 have social media profile. And the same group can correctly identify advertising on Google.
There is yet another group of elderly which belongs to the age bracket of 65 and above. The data shows 55% of this group use smartphone and 77% use internet at home.
At the same time 58% of them correctly identify advertising on Google, while 59% of them have a social media profile.
What we are telling us as a marketer is that we have direct access to seniors through mobile, SMS and smartphone marketing.
Older viewers are also growing in YouTube marketing and social media marketing.
Dependence on mobile technology decreases with the age of the target audience (mainly 65 years old and over), but technologies such as mobile phones, tablets, and computers are still high and are growing year after year.
As a marketer, this makes direct marketing to consumers (and end-person priorities over influencers) more important.
In fact, this means that AMP content alternatives, mobile-first content thinking, traditional mobile optimization, and related tools are as effective for senior marketing as any other demographic.
3. Seniors Are Willing To Be More Loyal And Learn More About Brands
The report published by Ofcom says that:
“Although internet users aged 55+ were the least likely to have a social media profile, or to use messaging sites or apps, a majority were using both, and more than three in four were using either.”
For marketers, this increases the need to first convey and present brands, content, and insights to seniors.
An additional incentive is to keep you as a digital “Goto”, provided that 90% of the elderly support their information needs first.
Elderly people are actively educating themselves about brands so they are always on the lookout for new and important trends.
As you can imagine, there are many ways to reach this goal, but some of the most effective ones I’ve seen over the years are:
- Community resources and lifestyle hub.
- Location-based and locally targeted content.
- Free tools, tips, and advice.
- Improved seamless offline and online user journeys.
- Digital simplification and better linking of marketing channels.
- Added discount focus and subpoena (CTA).
- Increased remarketing of educational and informative content.
4. Customer Experience Matter The Most In Senior Marketing Campaign
There are quite a few latest search trends that have great potentials to impact older audiences. Some of these trends include content personalisation, bespoke user journeys, customised user experience and so on.
It is by now clear that when you know and understand what the targeted audience is looking for, it is comfortable to reach and impact those audiences.
For older audiences effective customer service, personal contact, traditional and decent communication play a major role. They consider these traits in high esteem.
To take them on board and engage you must make the feel they are heard and valued. This helps you to motivate them and share their experience with other and also repeat it.
While there are many ways that you can use in your marketing campaign, I listed the most effective ones below:
- Bridging the gap between offline and online user journeys. Clear steps keep your marketing message consistent and easy to understand.
- Use CTA for single-click actions offer giveaways to call and message as incentives.
- Collecting and sharing feedback from customers who are loyal to and love your brand to help build trust among your audiences.
- Clearly speak of the benefits and messages being delivered, and specific actions being taken.
5. Targeting Seniors in Digital Marketing Needs Added Investment To Educate Them
On-site and off-site through content and ad placement, older viewers need additional explanation, clarity, and general guidance throughout the information gathering and purchasing process.
There are many time-saving concepts (such as online banking) that can actively support and influence the population over the age of 60 than other age groups.
However, additional barriers such as resistance to change, misunderstandings about the security of the Internet, desire for an offline conversation experience, conservative mindset often prevent older audiences from taking action.
The integration of online and offline user journeys can help solve this problem. For example, the additional presence of traditional offline printing:
- Printing on local daily or weekly news paper.
- Printing household information brochures or flyers.
- Displaying offline CTAs that can drive online and phone action.
6. Videos and YouTube Are Great Methods To Target Seniors in Digital Marketing
Coming to targeting the senior audiences through audio visuals, the most effective approach is to display videos or make use of YouTube.
Again I will give example of granny. She is 74 and watch a quite a few number of videos on social media platform to keep herself informed about new trends.
She also learn modern ways of cooking and prepare new dishes.
Therefore, videos and YouTube are excellent methods to reach senior audience in your digital marketing campaign.
I did google this to expand my research and gather more information on this and found what Google states:
- 1 in 3 boomers say they use YouTube to learn about a product or service.
- Like other generations, baby boomers turn to YouTube for TV reviews, highlights, and favorite shows to stay up-to-date.
- 68% of boomers say they watch YouTube videos for entertainment.
So, what does this tell the marketing team anyway?
Video can go a long way when it comes to marketing efforts by top management.
Using video content to explain concepts, understand technology, and drive perceived change in user experience should be a priority.
With video, brands can build trust among older people, encourage group thinking, and bridge the gap between offline and online user journeys.
7. Understanding Generational Values Plays Important Role To Target Seniors
Now more than ever it’s important to understand the values and interests of the people you advertise.
Marketers taking the time to think about what resonates most with consumers helps build trust and engagement with the brand.
In your marketing strategy, it’s important to reach all generations and change the message for each audience based on the social media platform you choose and the target audience for each campaign.
Although it may seem daunting at first, there are several commonalities that brands need to focus on their marketing strategy.
Older people, like other adults, have values such as honesty, authenticity, relationships, and hard work.
These are universally recognized values that brands can realize and thus reach a wider audience.
Conclusion
Senior generations are using the Internet more than ever. And the also represent huge and relatively untapped marketing opportunities.
However, the marketing team must maximize the previous visual permissions.
More than half of adults over 65 years of age over the Internet has a profile for social networks, and three-dimensional abnormalities generate numerous marketing opportunities by actively using the Internet at home.
Social Networks and YouTube are a great opportunity to potentially connect the customers of the elderly on your brand.
A simple possibility is waiting for a marketing representative, as to maximize marketing calendars.
August 25, for example, this is the rosé day of senior citizens. Perfect time to reach and engage old audience.
You must have understood the old audience is great potentials and yet remained untapped and not used to it potentials in your digital marketing campaign.
They can be converted into your loyal customers that can yield a huge growth year on year in your business.
All you need is to extend your hands and make a little more effort to understand how to connect to them and customise their experience to meet their needs. This actually means to understand what they want.
