Many SMBs, entrepreneurs and start-ups are skeptical about the value and relevance of social marketing to their goals, epecially when it comes to Baby Boomers.

Contrary to popular belief from those not yet engaged in Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc., Social Marketing sites actually have a highly active baby boomer, educated demographic.

Some opinions interpreting the same demographic data below would have you believe that Twitter users are young adults. I beg to differ.

Fact is, Social sites are attracting the most savvy internet users (and buyers) on the Internet.

Demographics of Baby Boomers on Twitter:

A Baby Boomer is said to have been born between years 1946 and 1964. Today, Boomers are approximately 45 ad 63 years of age.

Recent Quantcast data from January 2009 (shown below) defines the following demographics of Twitter users:

52% of Twitter user are 35 or older (including 50+).
This datapoint is significant.  If ages 35-49 represents 31% of Twitter users with an additional 21% age 50+, why is everone thinking that Twitter is for teens and young adults?

53% Female
47% Male

Baby Boomers are most definitely on Twitter!

Let’s look at the rest of the data:

74% don’t have kids
I’m guessing they mean IN the house.
This indicates that Twitter users may have a little bit more discretionary time ( and money) on their hands to  participate in social media and become your next customer!

51% make $6oK or more per year
All the better to purchase with!

63% went to college
17% of Twitter users went to Graduate School, indicating that the Twitter user base is educated, and presumably intelligent.

Age of Twitter Users Baby Boomers

A recent Pew Internet study stated that younger, lower income adults were Tweeting.  However, the data provided indicates that  the median age of a Twitter user is 31, making the Twitter user demograhics closer to LinkedIn than Facebook.  The median age of a MySpace user is 27, Facebook user is 26 and LinkedIn user is 40.¹

Since that study in January 2009, a mere 4 months ago, Twitter traffic has surved to 10 Million unique visitors.

Comscore recenty released a Twitter Study.  The data that indicates that the majority of Twitter visitors around the world were 35 years old or older, This matches industry assessments of Facebook users.

The study by ComScore noted that 45-54 adults are 36 percent more likely to visit Twitter, followed by 25-34 yr olds, who are rank at 30 percent.

are baby boomers using Twitter and Facebook?

Bottom Line: Baby boomers are embracing Twitter!

Social marketing, although continually evolving, is a viable source of clicks from Baby Boomers, even if you are a local or regionally focused business. (a totally separate post).

Remember, whether you are targeting Baby Boomers or any other demographic:

SEO, internet and social marketing is more than on-site Optimization and Clicks. For ROI, each click should be the beginning of a user-experience…with a human being!If you are targeting Baby Boomers, you now know you have a rich audience on Twitter.

1 -The median ages of users of various social network sites can be found in “Adults and Social Networking Data Memo” January 2009, as recorded in a May 2008 Pew Internet Project survey.

Thoughts…Feedback, Comments??