In a recent study done by Nielsen Wire, eight out of the top ten most popular websites visited by Baby Boomers are the same as those visited by people ages 18-34. Those websites visited by both age groups include social media sites and search engines sites, such as Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Bing, Microsoft, AOL, YouTube, and Wikipedia. In addition to those websites, Baby Boomers also visited Amazon and Ask.com.
The main focus of the marketing industry has been targeting the youth population, utilizing social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. However, companies are forgetting the 78 million Baby Boomers in the United States today, most of whom have tremendous buying power. Companies have been exclusively focusing on reaching the younger customers; according to the Nielson study, neglecting the Baby Boomers population is ignoring one third of users who are Facebook and Twitter.
“Boomers should be as desirable for marketers as Millennials and Gen-Xers for years to come; they are the largest single group of consumers, and a valuable target audience,” says Pat McDonough, Senior Vice President, Insights, Analysis and Policy at the Nielsen Company. “As the U.S. continues to age, reaching this group will continue to be critical for advertisers.”
The Baby Boomer population should be targeted by all companies. This is an opportunity for marketers to reach out to all consumers since they are also visiting the same social media and search engine sites as the rest of the population. There is potential for a strong consumer base seeing as more than half of the Baby Boomers are affluent.
Written By Valerie Y.
