One thing that I have noticed a lot since starting Rants and Big Pants and representing women who are 45plus is how much we are underrepresented. I notice that a lot of brands simply do not feature women over a certain age.
This really does pee me off. I discuss this a lot with friends who are in social media. Here's some of the reasons why I believe we aren't shown.
Many brands believe that loyalty is a big factor to brand growth.
And it is. Get them whilst they're young and they'll remember you forevermore. Yep that's totally true. BUT as loyal as we are, it make us feel included if you occasionally included us in your content. The over 50s have money to spend, for those that have been lucky enough to have children, you'll probably find that their kids have flown the nest and so there's some income to be had. We were advertised to once, follow it through with some age diversity and we'll continue to be loyal and more importantly actually SEE what the product looks like on someone our age.
Social Media is a new-ish concept.
So people who work in that industry tend to be under 40. I know this first hand as I once worked for Benefit Cosmetics in their social media team and I was by far the eldest at 44. That said though, it taught me an awful lot. When I worked on the social team we were good at being more age inclusive. I think that was due to myself being on the team and less about hitting targets and KPI's. Now I don't see anything that includes anyone above the age 50. We can't really blame the people running the social media accounts as they most probably have hardly anything in common with someone ten years plus their age.
The older people are on Facebook.
Whilst I kind of agree with this, the Instagram 50plus community is definitely growing and will only continue to do so. We have a following of 53K on Facebook whilst Instagram is currently 15.7K and growing every day. That tells me that more and more people are educating themselves on social media platforms. Many of us don't like change, but FOMO (fear of missing out) always gets the better of us!
I honestly didn't realise how invisible the 50 plus generations were on social media and together we can all change that. Whilst we have all become more inclusive of race, disabilities, sexual orientation etc (about bloomin' time too) I feel there's more to be done with that and also when it comes to age. I love to buy beauty products but I'm sure most of us would like to see what a foundation looks like on a more mature skin as opposed to someone that's under 30.... #justsaying
Here's some who are doing amazing things for 50plus women on social media...
Sandra Sallin - 81 year old Blogger who loves a lipstick or two...
Gail McNeill - she's basically WonderWoman I bloody love her.
Caz aka Dance Yer Tits Off - A breast cancer survivor who gets you moving your body, She's adorable. You'll love her to bits.
Emma Skeates aka Menopausal Mayhem Mothers - Fabulous Menopausal disasters, rocking failure and imperfection, best selling author of Confessions of the Menopausal Mayhem Mother. SHE IS HILARIOUS!
Kate Rowe-Ham - A Menopause Coach. Peri Menopause & Menopause Wellbeing. An all round lovely woman.
There are so many fabulous women to follow on Instagram. This is just 5 that have sprung to mind in the moment. We'll add some more another day.
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Neens
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