Micro Influencer: Marketing to Boomers

Hello there, my name is Faith and I am the founder of XYUandBEYOND: Feasting on Culture travel blog and website. I am a young (58) boomer on the tail end of the boomer revolution. We have changed society dramatically and as a niche group we are now changing the face of travel and experiences for people our age. I am the target audience – I am a micro influencer who specializes in marketing to boomers, and my main audience is boomer women.

We are not stuck at home watching TV we are actively engaged in our communities, and the rest of the world. We boomers travel because we want to experience other cultures, different foods, see historic sites and all the things we saw on television growing up. We are active, we have money and we want to experience the world through the lens of experience. We are the product of music from the Beatles to the Sex Pistols. We have purple hair, dress accordingly to our own personal style and don’t fit into any traditional “old people” moulds. WE are not our parents and we won’t exist like our parents did – we want more.

Right now, hubs and I are journeying through Ireland and planning on working our way through the EU. We like to say our kids wouldn’t run away from home, so we did.

Since the birth of this website in 2016 when it was started as a way to keep in touch with friends and family in Canada. XYUandBEYOND has grown from around 12 viewers to over 10,000 visitors a month. Being new to the whole business of blogging I didn’t even have Google Analytics installed properly for months.

In my previous life I specialised in helping new and creative entrepreneurs build their businesses. I acted as a mentor and adviser to dominantly food and creative based operations helping create new and exciting locally based businesses. From there I began to work with not for profit groups helping them to generate new revenue streams. I have worked with artists, creators, makers, restauranteurs, caterers, Chefs, writers, hotels, travelers and entrepreneurs dreaming of creating sustainable social enterprises.

My audience, much like myself, are young boomers, early retirees, empty nesters or those adopting a minimalist lifestyle. We are seeking new adventures and spending money on experiences, great food and the occasional splurge. XYUandBEYOND appeals to the boomer traveler who may not be able to afford luxury all the time but are looking for moments of beauty, new places to explore, new foods to try and being able to look back on their journey with a sense of accomplishment.

Media Post says this about Boomer Women:

“When we divided respondents by age, we saw that the qualities that differentiate Gen-X and Boomer women from Millennials continue to change as they age.

Two examples: humor and education increase in value (and influence) as women age.

If you are trying to influence Boomers, make sure that the influencers you engage can make them laugh. Life teaches many women to laugh at themselves, and they are more likely to follow bloggers who do so themselves (even on campaigns about serious topics). 

Similarly, their own experiences in life mean that women value experience more — and trust each other more – as they age. As a result, they are looking for and they are more likely to follow bloggers who offer specific tutorials and lessons based on their own experience.

Younger women are simply more willing to be influenced by messages that do not come from the direct experience of other people they trust. Women aged 35 – 45, for example, are more likely to make a purchase decision based on an on-air product feature (like a “Today” show segment) and even on celebrity endorsements than women aged 45 – 65.

Simply stated, as women age, the value of experience grows, while the value of “marketing” declines.

Baby Boomers make great influencers and great influencees (if that is a word) because they really like listening to and influencing each other — perhaps more than any other demographic segment. If you’re ready to work with them on influencer marketing campaigns, just remember to pick bloggers and influencers who reflect the qualities of trust that Boomers look for in others. “

Web Statistics and Audience Demographics

Age group: 40-65                                        Gender: 73% female, 27% male

Newsletter Subscribers: 600                       Total Social Media Followers: 15.000        Monthly Unique Visitors: 10000

Monthly Page Views: 150,000                    Audience Locations: USA, Canada, Ireland, UK

Pinterest Views: 110,000 views per month