10 Social Media Marketing Tips For Businesses To Engage Seniors On Twitter

Seniors are the fastest growing demographic on the Internet today. Those aged 65 years and over are living longer and actively maintaining healthy lifestyles - and they want to be part of the digital world, too. They have a desire to stay connected to their grandchildren, family, friends and the businesses they love. As recent stats show, social media use among seniors is on the rise. As little as 20 percent of online seniors were using social media in 2010 - this number has more than doubled to 46 percent today. And while only 6 percent are using Twitter, they are growing quickly, and are a prime target audience for many businesses. Businesses can capitalize on the rise of seniors on the Internet, and specifically those who are social media users, by generating Twitter content that is targeted towards engaging seniors. Everything from content choice to timing matters when reaching out to this relatively new Twitter audience. Here are ten tips for engaging with seniors on Twitter: 1. When starting out, why not help them get a grasp of Twitter itself? Between tweets about your business, help seniors understand the more difficult aspects of Twitter, like hashtags and how to follow or unfollow accounts. This may coax those who are just observing into actually engaging with your tweets. 2. Establish trust with the senior demographic on Twitter by tweeting testimonials. 3. Content should be very clear, detailed, and should speak to seniors’ interests and lifestyle. Topics might include community events, seniors’ day at retail stores, nostalgic songs or pop culture references and similar. 4. Tweets should be tailored so seniors understand what product or service your business offers, and how that how the product or service will benefit the senior. Remember to keep the needs and desires of seniors top-of-mind when directing tweets to them. 5. Content should be targeted directly to the senior generation with tips for staying healthy. As active lifestyles are embraced by many seniors - especially those who take the time to learn new technology like Twitter - this will resonate. 6. Images speak volumes with this demographic, so choose to tweet meaningful images, particularly those that show human connections. They will resonate more powerfully with seniors (and with Twitter users in general!) than just text-based tweets. 7. Be sure that content is not condescending to this demographic. Just because they didn't grow up with selfies doesn't mean they're not tech-savvy! 8. Keep tweets short and concise, and tweet one clear message per tweet. 9. Use humour sparingly and focus more on just communicating the message as it is without using a joking style. 10. Be aware of any slang or terminology you use that seniors might not be familiar with, and avoid using this whenever possible. Terms like "lol" and "omg" might work in a quick text message, but they're likely to turn off many seniors. (Seniors om computer image via Shutterstock)

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10 Social Media Marketing Tips For Businesses To Engage Seniors On Twitter

Lauren Dugan

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Lauren Dugan