In one of Jenny Krupa’s TikTok videos, her neighbor is injured. Are you worried about Mr. Krupa? She wants to know “if the paramedics are fine.” In another video, she told the man who ghosted her that she was famous on TikTok, but the man “really screwed up.”
Yet another silly scenario (including an argument with a best friend and an “arrest”) turned out to be a sponsored post for the Paramount Pictures movie 80 for Brady. TikTok influencer Krupa, in partnership with the studio. But she’s not your typical social media personality. She is 91 years old, lives in a nursing home, and has amassed two million followers (she enlisted the help of her grandson Skyler Krupa, 23, with whom she makes videos). ing).
Krupa, a Canadian living in Alberta and known to her fans as J-Dog, has this many fans, but she’s not the only older creator making ads on TikTok. . Companies that sell clothing, beauty products and more are finding retirement-age content creators they want to work with.
Brands are chasing TikTok because of its popularity among older users, founder May Karlowski said. clearlyis an influencer marketing agency that connects businesses with content creators. Her agency works with Amazon and others to find TikTok influencers over the age of 55.
These creators thrive by sharing life lessons, fashion tips, cooking, hanging out with their grandchildren, or just having fun while promoting their products.
“Older influencers have skyrocketed in popularity lately,” Karwowski said. “It’s really accelerated,” she added, over the past year to 18 months.
For the majority of influencers, the income from these gigs may not be enough to retire, but it could help fuel their finances later in life and even give them additional investment capital. .
JimtanThe 62-year-old San Francisco resident, who previously served as president of DKNY Jeans International and most recently worked as a consultant, has struggled to find executive positions in the fashion industry. About 18 months ago, her daughter Maia Miller, 23, asked Tan to share her outfit of the day (OOTD in social media parlance) on TikTok to connect with the fashion industry in another way. Proposed.
Tan has amassed 10,000 followers in three months wearing simple, stylish and timeless clothing from both traditional and emerging brands. Half a year later, I got a call from the company. Today, she has her TikTok followers surpassing her 200,000 mark, has a talent agency and modeling career outside of the platform, and most recently she has also starred in Clairol’s global ad campaign. .
The job is lucrative and he has no plans to quit anytime soon, he said.
“I was completely financially unprepared for retirement,” she said. Besides saving for her old age, Ms Tan said she also paid for her mortgage and her young children’s college tuition.
Tan’s success is the exception rather than the rule. Still, there are opportunities for older brand representatives as fewer creators can compete in that age category, co-CEO Kevin Crucy said. upfluencemaintains a repository of 4.5 million social media creators that advertisers can search to find partners. As of mid-April, he said, the list had only about 2,700 entries over the age of 60, of which only 174 had TikTok accounts. The group was also overwhelmingly female and white, “suggesting that other groups may be underrepresented overall,” he said.
Brands often look for creators with around 5,000 followers. The reason is that so-called nano-influencers are more likely to engage with people in the comments section and give the account an authentic feel, Crucy said. These accounts can also be a cheap marketing tool, as creators may showcase their products simply because they received a free sample. About half of the partnerships formed on Upfluence offer free products as rewards, but no rewards.
Paid creators can earn hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars by producing content that promotes their brand. The reward rate is based on several factors, including how much effort it takes to create a post, how many times the post is made on which platform, whether the image can be used elsewhere by the company, and how many followers the creator has. It depends on the factors.
But that income is not enough to live on for most people, regardless of the creator’s age. Clousey said the average payout for a sponsored post on Upfluence was $348, up 44% from the average payout in the final quarter of 2022.
Krupa’s grandson, who manages the TikTok account, said the money Krupa made from a few sponsored videos included only “fun” items such as plants, lottery tickets and clothing. Krupa declined to be interviewed.
Clousey said TikTok is the easiest platform for seniors to build an audience for, with users’ feeds not only including accounts they follow, but also what they might be interested in and what they’ve viewed. That’s because content is shown based on accounts that are similar to your account.
“This removes the barrier between creators and viewers,” Crucy said.
He said teens may not want to follow someone who looks very different from them, but they may be shown a video they like and start following the creator. “It’s the content that counts, not the people,” he says.
That’s what Lynn Yamada Davis, 66, of Holmdel, New Jersey, discovered.she started her creation cooking with rinja Her son, who is a videographer, provided the video to help her maintain her cinematography skills during the 2020 pandemic lockdown. Within six months, about a million people followed her quirky content and her first sponsor contacted her.
“I got a free air fryer sent to me,” said Yamada Davis. “We were so excited!”
She and her son contacted brands that wanted to work with them, and a few responded.
“I was really happy when I got paid $5,000 for video production,” said Yamada Davis. She receives retirement benefits from her pension and Social Security, and shares her earnings on TikTok with her son.
Yamada Davis, who now has more than 15 million followers and an agent willing to negotiate, said she and her son were paid as much as $50,000 to make one video.
“I’ve been very nerdy all my life,” said Yamada Davis, a former software engineer. “Sometimes I get recognized as being in Starbucks.”
There are potential pitfalls for creators looking to build a product promotion business. Creator mentor Margaret Vaughn said scammers could pose as brand representatives and ask creators to pay for shipping samples or ask for personal information.she said Fraud is often Messages with exaggerated, unprofessional language or misspellings, usually from unknown brands or companies.
Users also don’t want to watch a string of commercials, so creators need to balance sponsored content with their own, said Lisa Peddes, 59, a comedian and actor in San Diego. He started making content as a creative outlet during the pandemic. and how to connect with your audience. Her followers now exceed 750,000. Pedez is employed by various brands, including Amazon Prime and Valentino.
“When a brand approaches me, I see if I can incorporate it into a comedy skit because that’s what people expect,” she said.
of pair eyewear videothe base frame of the magnetic glasses that come with a variety of top frame styles, and Ms. Pedez swapped out different frames to play different characters.
Pedez said he doesn’t plan to retire anytime soon, but is putting his growing TikTok income into savings. “Funding is good and keeps getting better,” she said.
As TikTok continues to grow, it is likely that it will continue to attract older users and attract sponsored posts that target them.
“It’s a boom time for seniors to be content creators,” Karwowski said.
Tips for Influencing All Ages on TikTok
-
Make friends with other creators of all ages and make your presence known through the TikTok community and trends. You can introduce your audience to each other by commenting on each other’s videos, collaborating, stitching, duetting, and posting together.
-
Post about your favorite products and tag your company name to attract sponsors. You may be contacted by a brand that is looking to your fans. You can also email or message the brand and offer to become an ambassador. Mention your age and other attributes that help you stand out.
-
If you do enter into a partnership, whether you receive free product or money, make sure your initial partnership is well executed with a clear message and compelling visuals. Businesses will look at your previous Sponsored Content when evaluating you.
