Women over fifty – The silent majority?
Where are all the over fifty women on major Australian brands’ social media pages — platforms like Instagram? If your experience is like mine and you look for them, you will rarely see them, unless they are created as brand content (e.g. a grandmother for Mother’s Day) not user generated content (UGC).
So, who is making the decisions about which UGC is shown and what impact is it having on women over fifty?
The plight of women over age fifty
I am a personal stylist. My clients’ age ranges from forties to eighties, and the number one thing my clients share is their lack of confidence as they age. The feeling of invisibility as their body, hair, and skin changes. They look for inspiration in stores and on social media, they want to look and feel great, are motivated and prepared to spend, yet they don't see themselves reflected back in brand's social media platforms.
At best, this cohort create their own content to share with their networks – myself included.
Why does User Generated Content (UGC) matter?
Because brands believe you are more likely to listen to someone else’s views of the brand, than the brand itself. Plus, if you are trying to grow your own social media account, being shared by a large brand’s social media can generate the kind of exposure you could never create yourself – hundreds of thousands of views from hundreds of thousands of accounts.
I put this to the test myself. I created content featuring myself and my mother (that's us in the image) in mainstream brands and posted it on Instagram. It gathered hundreds of thousands of views. I sent it to some major retailers and heard nothing. Yet they are posting UGC for younger creators with much smaller followings and much smaller views. Are we too old and wrinkled, are we that off brand when I dare to say, we are probably their largest consumer?
Over fifties use more than just Facebook to post holiday snaps
So, is there any assumption that women over fifty are not using social media. Since I started my account as a 53-year-old and showing my 81-year-old mother, my account has grown from 1,000 to 5,000, to over 30,000 followers in under 12 months. Thirty-one percent of my followers are over the age of fifty-five. Eighteen percent are over sixty-five. This is rapid growth.
Who is spending?
Perhaps considering the economic impact of ignoring women over fifties in their UGC might be a more compelling reason for brands to take notice.
February 2024 data from the Commonwealth Bank on household spending makes it clear.
The spending by age tells the story:
Those aged 20-34 are bearing the brunt of the pressure. This is probably the rental crisis rather than higher interest rates because home ownership in this cohort (and particularly in ages 20-24) would be low.
Those over fifty-five are spending more and saving more. And those over sixty-five are flush with cash.
We are all getting older
And let us consider the ageing demographic.
Older female consumers also represent a valuable, untapped, and rapidly expanding market. (Globally, the number of over-fifty women is expected to grow by 70 percent by 2050, according to AARP).
So, my hypothesis:
Brands do not portray women over fifty in their advertising, unless its specifically an anti-ageing focus.
We have seen the growth in inclusivity, however, when I look at the social media around who brands feature on their pages and invite to events, like launches (i.e. the people they value and expect UGC from the event), there is barely a grey hair in the room.
Women over fifty are looking for the evidence to know if something is worth considering. A 30-year-old selling skin care is a lot less relatable than an older woman who can demonstrate long term results.
The tide is turning
According to the Washington Post, “while the advertising industry remains fixated on the 18-to-35 age group as a prime target, over-fifty influencers like Glover have recently garnered thousands and sometimes more than one million followers, both within their demographic and far beyond. And brands are beginning to take notice, with more and more companies reaching out to older influencers to form lucrative partnerships. “The content [from older female influencers] is doing really well,” said James Nord, CEO of Fohr, an influencer marketing company. “Not only is the engagement strong, but they’re buying.”
Australia needs to catch up
We are making slow progress. Country Road's recent 50-year anniversary campaign that featured women aged from 60 to 90 years was incredibly well received. Do the marketing and the social media teams need to get on the same page that older women are a lucrative demographic and need to be featured in the big campaigns and the day to day socials and UGC? I’m watching with interest.
