This article was written for Annabel & Grace, which is now part of Rest Less.
Our advice on building an online presence – featuring four over 50s YouTubers
If you are thinking of starting a blog, running a website, starting a YouTube channel or learning more about social media, read on for some interesting info…
Our website has been going for over 9 years and during that time we have seen a huge increase in a) the use of the internet, reading blogs and general interaction by women of our age and b) an increase in other similarly aged women with blogs or social media platforms like Instagram.
We are now called social influencers rather than bloggers which is a much more attractive title. The other main difference is that other women of our age now understand what a social influencer is and that it is no longer just the domain of the young.
As brands have come to realise that the ‘grey pound’ is so valuable, the number of companies that have approached us with products and services that they would like us to review has increased dramatically. We matter to them. A recent campaign from Legal & General suggests we’re not the only ones. More on that later!
However we cannot just rely on word of mouth to increase our readership. We have had to embrace social media. This has been an even bigger learning curve as what works and is the norm for our children does not apply to our age group. Our readers tend to use just one platform, possibly two. So whilst social influencers that appeal to 20+, 30+ and 40+ readers will have large followings across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube they may easily have the same followers on each medium.
I can break down our followers into sections via the social media platforms:
Facebook: the first one that we all joined. In most cases it was to stalk our teenager/young adult kids – however they no longer use it. It was a great vehicle for finding old school friends, friends from our own youth and then catching up with them. It is still used a lot for advertising and many of the 50+ age group have remained on it so it is not to be ignored.
Twitter: it used to be a good place for conversations but now it has become a forum for a good old rant and mostly on political topics. However it is the platform to promote books so you can have cyber chats with authors which are always engaging.
Instagram: the real home of the social influencer. However without paying for an ad you cannot include links to products so our readers might not like the way it works. If they see something they like, they then have to go to the Instagrammer’s profile, then click through to the website and then find the relevant item mentioned originally. I would have forgotten what I was looking for by that stage or got distracted. Instagram is very popular and this is where social influencers have squillions of followers, but maybe not of our age group. Our demographic have only just got there and are still not quite sure about it, as scrolling through reams of pics and clicking on hearts may not engage them. My jury is out on this one but do not ignore it as it is the one that brands seem to be most interested in.
Pinterest: this platform has had a slow growth but has now caught on and I call it the ‘Inspiration Platform’. Many people go on there for a specific reason – garden design, moving to a smaller house, wedding outfits and recipes. The latter category is hugely popular with our age group. It will drive traffic to your site but it can take some time for this to happen. A picture you shared a year ago can suddenly have an uptake.
YouTube: Grace and I love this one as we find our age group comment the most on this platform. Maybe because they can see us talking, they like to talk back. Or perhaps it is because many of our subscribers on YouTube are from the U.S.A. and so are less shy at coming forward. Making a vlog for YouTube is very time consuming but for some brands it works the best as people can see a product or service and don’t just take our written word for it. However the most fun we have is just chatting about a topic. Since the invention of the smartphone, no expensive video recorder is needed. However Grace and I find lighting and sound a bit of a challenge, but we are improving. Lighting is always an issue – wasn’t it Joan Collins who said that she would like to go everywhere with photographic lights shining on her face as they do remove the wrinkles!
Podcast: Our last social media platform. We have only just begun to make podcasts so I cannot tell yet if our followers will like them when we start publishing. I think we are going to be able to be more frank as you cannot see our blushes! Our podcasts are being produced by Entale and they are the only platform that offers a fully interactive service i.e it includes pictures and links. This means that as you are listening to us chatting you can also see pictures on your mobile of the items we are mentioning; You’ll be able to click on the link to find out more without missing one word of our podcast!
Whatever social media platform you use to promote your website your followers like to get involved, so make sure you answer their queries promptly and comment on the pictures that they upload.
As you can see by the above, running a website is very time consuming and full on. When we began there was only Facebook and Twitter but it wasn’t long before new platforms were added and we had to work out how to use them.
I have not even mentioned the time involved in keeping the website running and looking good. In our case Grace does all of this and that keeps her very busy. It has also improved her techie skills which she is, understandably, very proud of.
The most important part of a website is keeping it fresh with new articles. We produce 10 new original posts each week and that in itself involves a lot of work. As most of our growth is organic it is very important that the SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) works hard for us on each article. We need to make sure the topic is relevant to our readership. Finally our integrity is our most important asset, so the reviews must be truthful otherwise readers will drift away.
Grace and I have a group of contributors who like to write occasionally and this also keeps the website fresh as readers could get bored of hearing from us all the time. Each one brings a different style.
A recent campaign from Legal & General suggests Grace and I aren’t the only ones from our generation really embracing the opportunities available through the internet and social media. As part of their campaign on living well in later life, Legal & General spoke to four over 50s YouTubers to find out why they love the platform, what benefits it brings to their lives and top tips for those looking to give YouTube a go.
The featured YouTubers reported a wide range of benefits from creating videos for the platform including sparking creativity and feeling a sense of purpose to helping them to combat loneliness and come to terms with ageing. In true YouTuber style, they’ve recorded their top tips in a video:
To conclude my top tip to any would be blogger/social influencer is to start with a friend. The companionship is invaluable even though you may work from different homes. It also means you can discuss ideas and challenges together. Learning together is also vital as there will be different areas that you will each be good at.
Most importantly enjoy doing it as once that goes there is no point in carrying on. It should be fun!
For more articles from our team of contributors click HERE.