It seems like every day there’s a new think piece about millennials. (We recently contributed to this phenomenon ourselves.) It’s worth taking a step back, however, to remember that there are other people in the world buying products and consuming content. The success of your company may largely depend on how well you can connect with these demographics.
Take the Baby Boomers, for instance—still very much a commercial force to be reckoned with. But unlike millennials, Boomers came to content marketing and social media later in life, which means their responses can be a little different. Today, we’re going to offer just a few practical considerations for connecting with Boomers through digital content.
Using Content Marketing to Reach Baby Boomers
- Use the right formatting.
It’s always important to format content in a way that’s easy to read, from any browser or device type. That’s doubly important when you’re marketing to Boomers. We don’t mean to be insensitive in the least, but candidly, Boomers may not quite have the same ocular health as you younger readers, so short paragraphs, large fonts, and plenty of white space can all help with clarity.
- Don’t go hog wild with abbreviations.
The tl;dr version: Your Boomer customers know an awful lot, but they may not know all the latest Internet short-hands. Use full words.
- Develop catchy headlines.
By catchy, we don’t mean clickbait. What we mean is headlines that convey an immediate value: 7 tips for better estate planning, or 5 foods to increase digestive health, or 4 home renovations that enhance your home’s worth. Make it clear to the reader how your content will benefit them; show them that it’s worth their time to consume it.
- Don’t make Boomers feel old.
By all means, talk about the issues that are close to Boomer hearts, but do so in a way that makes it clear they are still spry and they still have plenty left to give. Avoid the one-foot-in-the-grave attitude that mars so much Boomer-centric content.
- Choose the right platforms.
Studies show that some Boomers are active on Twitter and Instagram, but these are relatively small populations. Facebook remains the platform of choice among Boomers.
- Focus on blogs and video content.
Finally, make sure you’re focused on the kinds of content that Boomers tend to like—and, according to most studies, that means concise, to-the-point blog posts and brief, informative videos.
Read More: Baby Boomers & Their Spending