How Senior Living Facilities Can Leverage Senior Influencers (Granfluencers) for Business Growth

Boost engagement across generations

They say that age is just a state of mind. No group is putting that saying into practice more effectively than senior influencers. Also known as “granfluencers,” these individuals take to social media to strut their stuff and share their exciting lives with a massive global audience. 

Their popularity and ability to connect with people of all ages also make them a perfect opportunity for advertising partnerships for your senior living center. Here, we’ll dive into what granfluencers are, how they’ve grown in prominence and how you can leverage a partnership to boost business growth.

What are “granfluencers”?

Granfluencers are a subset of the broader social media influencer economy. While there’s no designated age range, granfluencers are typically at least 65 years old. Like other influencers, they cover a wide range of topics, like cooking, fashion or technology. These influencers lean into their age, showcasing the positive, lighter side of growing older, demolishing stereotypes in the process.

Some of the most popular granfluencers on social media include The Retirement House, a group of seniors with larger-than-life personalities who live under the same roof. This group currently boasts 5.7 million followers on TikTok and has partnered with numerous brands to advertise skincare products, pet food and more. Then there’s The Old Gays, an account following four friends living in Palm Springs that boasts over 11 million followers on TikTok.

While these are some of the more significant senior influencer accounts on social media, thousands of groups and individuals are building followings of all sizes. They all offer unique opportunities to connect your senior living facility with your desired audience and grow your business.

Collaborating with influencers of any kind is just one way to grow your business. For more ideas, read 5 Ways Walmart Business Leverages Convenience for Business Growth.

The rise of the granfluencer

The influencer market has typically been associated with young people advertising to other young people, but the recent rise of granfluencer popularity shows just how much perceptions have shifted in recent years. 

What is causing this shift? There are a few factors.

Increased ad spend on older generations

It’s long been conventional marketing wisdom that the core demographic with disposable income is people between the ages of 18 and 35, so that’s where marketers tend to focus most of their energy. 

Recent reports show that this isn’t the case anymore. One report by U.S. News found that Baby Boomers (people born between 1946 and 1964) control 70% of disposable income in the United States. Rather than treating older consumers as an afterthought, marketers are now pivoting to make advertising to seniors a core part of their marketing strategy. 

Growing acceptance of other social media platforms

This shift in marketing strategy includes meeting older people where they are—which increasingly turns out to be social media. One survey found that seniors spend almost 300 hours every year engaging with social media platforms, using them to communicate with friends and family, keep up with the news and discover new products. 

Facebook remains the core platform of choice for seniors, but many are turning to TikTok. Long deemed the domain of Gen Z and younger Millennials, TikTok has seen a 57% increase in use by Baby Boomers since 2021. The platform’s short, snackable video format makes it a unique vector for older influencers looking to engage with a growing audience.

A shift toward authenticity

Platforms like Facebook and Instagram allow people to create curated versions of themselves. However, with the rise of platforms like TikTok, audiences have sought more authentic content. 

Senior influencers have leaned into this desire for authenticity, using it as an opportunity to show off their interests and reveal their true selves. One study found that granfluencers have an overall positive influence on the perception of older people, often defying stereotypes of how people are expected to act in old age.  As people seek out this more authentic portrayal of senior life, they’re more likely to start following granfluencers, increasing the size of the audience for this content. 

Cross-generational interest

Granfluencer content isn’t just appealing to older social media users. People of all ages follow senior influencer content, looking for a glimpse into a different lifestyle and finding accounts that may look and act like their grandparents (or the grandparents they wish they had). They offer a unique opportunity to reach a broad audience with your message. 

Leveraging granfluencers for your senior living facility

Before you look for a senior influencer partnership, identify your specific growth goals. Are you looking to advertise your senior living center and boost admission rates? Or are you looking to improve awareness and use your social media platform to interact with and inform your audience?

Once you know your goals, you can seek a partnership that aligns with them. Some influencers are great at using their bold personalities to provide an unfiltered, “real world” view of what living in a senior living facility is like. Others are experts in specific fields and can bring health tips, provide cooking recipes or offer fashion advice on your social media accounts. For example, the Vitalia Senior Living Center partnered with a pair of granfluencers on TikTok to advertise a line of adaptive clothing. 

Whatever direction you choose, remember that granfluencer marketing is effective across generations, so adjust messaging to fit your audience. For older followers, consider crafting a message about how your living facility can help them live their best lives. For younger followers, positioning your facility as a friendly expert can forge an emotional connection that your audience can turn to when it's time to seek out living arrangements for their own family members.

While it may be challenging to lock down the massive influencers for your social media campaign, don’t discount microinfluencers. These influencers boast smaller followings (usually 5,000 to 30,000 followers) but often have better cost-to-engagement ratios than those with larger audiences. Plus, their smaller reach gives them a more authentic appearance to their audience, improving engagement rates in shorter time spans.

Looking for more resources?

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