I just spent a few days at South-by-Southwest, the annual new media gathering in Austin. I was there as a tech entrepreneur curious whether SXSW attendees are thinking about the fast-growing and desirable market of 50+ women.
The short answer: no. The show was full of social media prodigies who don’t seem to think about consumers as anything but themselves: geeky, nonstop laptop/iPhone users who tweet constantly with others like them.
I have nothing against Twitter or the dozens of other digital tools I learned more about at SXSW. They are great ways to find and engage early adopters, even Boomer women. VibrantNation.com itself has several thousand followers on Twitter.
But I was most interested by a panel conversation of social media marketers who described their successes in reaching men and women consumers of all ages – including women 50+ – not by using social media as a one-size-fits-all proposition, but by letting it connect a brand with its natural audience in a natural way.
The brands were H&R Block, JC Penney, and Carnival Cruise Lines. Each is using the standard tools of the social media toolbox – Facebook, MySpace, Youtube and Twitter – without very noteworthy results. But each has also found a special fit in at least one special place:
- H&R Block has deployed 18 of its 100,000 tax professionals to answer tax questions at Yahoo Answers, where they have answered more than 5,000 questions.
- JC Penney worked with DeBeers to produce a video, Put Him in the Doghouse, hosted on a microsite that was shared by millions.
- Carnival Cruise Lines found an unexpected celebrity in its own ranks, a popular cruise director named John Healds. In addition to its member-driven forms, Carnival’s John Heald’s Blog has become one of Carnival’s most popular marketing tools.
What do these case studies teach us? Successful social media marketing doesn’t mean simply inserting content on Facebook, Twitter or any other site. It means finding the right fit between content, medium and audience. And as with other forms of marketing that really work, I couldn’t help notice that the campaigns also resonate with Boomer women (who use Yahoo Answers, share funny videos, and read John Heald’s blog too).
Whatever those who attend SXSW think, social media marketing for mainstream brands means using tools that work for real people, including women 50+. The lessons I learned:
- While no brand can ignore new media, don’t waste time on sites or tools that don’t enable you to deliver real benefits to consumers (does JC Penney really belong on Facebook?)
- When you find a social media tool that connects with your market, work it to the exclusion of others.
- Don’t ignore Baby Boomers and women 50+ as an important audience in your social media marketing plan. As we all know by now, women 55+ are the fastest-growing demographic on Facebook. If the message and medium work for them, it will likely work for others – including the hipsters who visit Austin every year for SXSW.
The interesting thing about the hipsters who have created SXSW to showcase their cool new music, videos and lifestyle is that most of them have BOOMER mothers—Where do you think all that wildly creative, out-of-the-box, resourceful to the core thinking came from! They should consider the source!
Dear Screams:
Even though our site is based on the idea that Vibrant women are under-recognized for their eye-opening, out-of-the-box ideas, even I am delighted to get this eye-opening, out-of-the box comment – one of the best in a while! Many thanks for keeping me (us) on track!
Cheers – Stephen