“There are still notable differences by generation in online activities, but the dominance of the Millennial generation that we documented in our first “generations” report in 2009 has slipped in many activities.” -Pew Research
The revolution of social networking is exploding on a global scale with new technologies allowing us to connect on a scale never seen before in history. Zuckerberg, Brin, Page, Stone, Dorsey, Williams, Mullenweg, and many more young lions are the architects of the social revolution. And with the daily onslaught of news about new social networking IPOs, new technological breakthroughs, new start-up successes, and millions of online adults adopting social networking there remains one demographic that continues to drive marketer’s: Millennials. Yet, there is a surge in online adoption, participation, and advocacy coming from older demographic groups which is important data not to be ignored.
Millennial Online Habits
According to the Pew survey (chart at bottom), Millennials are “more likely to access the internet wirelessly with a laptop or mobile phone.” In addition, they still clearly surpass their elders online when it comes to:
- Reading blogs
- Use of instant messaging
- Use of social networking sites
- Using online classifieds
- Playing online games
- Participating in virtual worlds
- Listening to music
Shared Online Interests Across Demographic Age Groups
Yet there is a continuing change taking place as both Millennials and their elders are beginning to share some of the same interests in a way never seen in the past. The following are online activities that are becoming “uniformly” popular across all age groups:
- Search engine usage
- Searching for health related information
- Getting news, breaking news
- Travel reservations, purchases
- Buying products, services
- Performing online banking
- Seeking religious information
- Giving to charities
- Rating products, people, services
- Downloading podcasts
5 Reasons Marketers Must Attention to Older Generations
Older adults’ participation in online communication and entertainment activities represents some of the areas with the fastest rate of growth for online usage. The Pew survey reveals some very compelling statistics for marketers to take into consideration before launching a one size fits all social network marketing campaign:
- Internet users 74 and older are the fastest growing users group of social networks. Since 2008, usage increased from 4% to 16%
- Online video viewership jumped 14% from 52% in 2008 to 66% in 2010
- 51% of all online adults listen to music online compared with 34% in 2004
- 53% of online adults have used a classified ads website (Craig’s List) compared to 32% in 2007
- Searching for health information is the 3rd most popular online activity for adults 18 and older
Marketing Opportunities
Companies should be considering the implications of these statistics as they continue, or begin, their social networking marketing efforts to consumers. The changing habits across older demographic groups signals the need for a segmented marketing plan that takes into consideration the age variables of their online audience. In addition to segmentation, direct marketing principles like testing are critical to finding the best methods to communicate with this age variable audience. Without segmentation or testing, firms invariably will miss opportunities to connect with older segments of the online population that are utilizing the same social media channels as their far younger counterparts.
Pew Survey Chart
