While young adults 18-29 years of age dominate Social Media, it’s smart not to lose sight of the senior adult market. My 99 year old Auntie pictured here is one example of this new trend. She loves reading CNN on the iPhone.

A study from Pew Research indicates that the fastest-growing demographic of social networking is adults ages 65 and older, followed only by those in the 50 to 64 age group. In fact social media use in these groups has doubled in the past year.

Obviously there’s a long way to go. But when you consider spending habits and available time, the older market is one to tap into.

Older users are going to keep their Internet usage going well into retirement, and will likely become the demographic that makes the greatest use of all the Internet’s offerings.

Three ways your business can take advantage of this phenomenon.

1. Make your online content senior friendly.

Consider testing it out with a group and see how it performs across various age groups. Senior internet issues can include visions problems, lack of familiarity with internet jargon and unwillingness to explore what isn’t easily accessible.

2. Don’t be an agest.

Think of ways to leverage technology specifically for seniors users.

3. Remember email marketing.

While senior internet usage is exploding, they are still an email friendly group that may be more likely to subscribe to and follow your emails rather than your RSS or Twitter feeds.

Your comments are welcomed.

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When you publish website articles that end up in people’s RSS feeds, be that in GoogleReader or in emails, here are my top suggestions to keep your readers coming back:

1. Use a great title. I scan the titles in the feeds that I receive. You need to catch my eye so I’ll want to read more.

2. Get to your point immediately. If I make it past the title, I need to see what I’m looking for and what the title described right away.  I have about a 5 second attention span if I go beyond a title.

3.  Include images but be careful.  Make sure the photos work.  Check the HTML code before publishing to be sure there isn’t something wrapping around the photo like a bold statement or something that will only yield an error for your reader.

4. Don’t use 50 photos. I don’t have time for it and would rather visit your site if I want to see that many.

5. Include clever links.  Consider a link that allows people to comment on your article directly from the feed, rather than needing to visit your website.  Also consider a link to subscribe to your feed directly.  That way when someone forwards your content, a new person can subscribe on the spot.

Here are six ideas for getting the most buzz from your Social Media.

1. Put the customer first.

Use Google Analytics to see what posts and topics have the most views on your website. Survey your readers to better understand their interests. Survey Monkey is free if you stay within ten questions and have up to 100 responses (otherwise pay $20 a month).

2.  Work the plan.

How much time it will take to achieve your goals?  Who will do what?  How many blog posts, tweets and Facebook updates will it take to deliver the results you require. If you’re not sure, read our post on time commitment.

3.  Follow your industry.

What are your competitors doing, and just how successfully.  What is their website traffic compared with yours and why? What is their social media participation and following. If you’re stuck I wrote about six ways to listen.

4.  Use free public media for exposure to new customers.

Become an industry spokesperson. Help a Reporter Out (HARO) is a media pitch marketplace where mainstream reporters’ queries are distributed in e-mail to subscribers. Anyone can participate.

5.  Keep blogging.

Writing posts (frequent updates) on your website is the most organic sure-fire way to increase your relevancy (getting found) in Google.  It also helps showcase your industry expertise, and is a great place to invite others to dialogue with you via comments.  Consider it your home turf, with your Facebook fan page a distant (yet important) second.

Don’t forget these simple yet important components.

• Consistent posting!
• Short and relevant titles.
• Incorporation of your most important keywords.
• Using Google Insights to compare keywords that you and your competitors are using and see which ones are searched for most.

6.  Participate with others.

Comment on other websites, especially those with good traffic.  Use Compete or Quantcast to quantify which might be most important to you. I have some great tips on “Back to Basics: Comment Strategy” for you to read.

If you have other suggestions, or more comments on my top six strategies, please join the conversation.

The trailer for Paranormal Activity 2 caught my attention as the most recent example of just how Social Media is changing the marketing of motion pictures. This new film comes hot on the heals of its most successful predecessor which was catapulted to fame via Social Media.

For the original Paranormal Activity, Paramount Pictures spent only a fraction of the marketing budget normal for big releases. Rob Moore, Paramount vice chairman said, “this is an old-fashioned word-of-mouth movie.” The shoe-string film was shot by writer-director Oren Peli for a reported $15,000.

Buzz is created by fans and not marketeers

Relying on the audience to create its success, the original film was a huge hit on Facebook and Twitter.  The social media hype seemed to snowball with many reviewers reporting that it was the scariest movie they had ever seen.  While that may or may not have been true (I don’t personally think so), as a result, the horror flick succeeded in the unthinkable, gaining a $7.9 million weekend while playing in just 160 theaters.

In Paranormal Activity 2, producers are relying again on Social Media to create demand.  The film, which debuts in time for Halloween on October  22, has already been liked on Facebook over 155,000 times and has been tweeted nearly 5,000 times.  The more you like it on Facebook, the more likely your city will receive a free showing. In a slightly different twist this go around, Sony has left nothing to chance and has purchased paid trending spots on Twitter rather than relying on fans.

Next up: location aware mobile integration

It is a struggle to determine just how effective social media is at translating buzz into paid attendance.  In order to help in that determination, and to positively drive people into movie house seats, marketers are starting to take advantage of location-based games. These smart phone games are designed to promote a movie with an exclusive feature only usable inside a theater on opening weekend.

The fine line between push and pull

For movie marketers, creating the buzz is a fine line between push and pull marketing.  The whole idea is to incent fans to market your product for you.  Go over the line, and fans will sense your push and likely withdraw.

Conclusion: Entrepreneurs should pay close attention.  No matter what their industry, creating buzz and word-of-mouth is key to success.

Mobile phone applications are providing a new opportunity for sellers of all travel related products and services, as well as to resellers.

Consider Priceline as one example. They just reported a two week sample of booking activity related to their new mobile phone application.

• 82% of mobile users booked hotels with one day of arrival vs. 45% of non-mobile users.
• 58% of mobile users were already at their destination (within 20 miles) when booking.

Mobile phone applications are ideal for consumer travel bookings that take place once visitors have arrived at their destinations. It’s another way to fill empty seats and offer a discount to users.

Another option is using a location aware application like Foursquare, Facebook Places and Shopkick to connect with potential customers. Your business can use these to connect with and/or provide last minute offers to people driving through your area.

If you’d like any assistance sorting through how mobile phone or location aware applications can benefit your business, we’re here to help. If you’re already using either or both, let us know how it’s working for you.

Time Magazine reported in May that Foursquare made their list of the top 50 worst inventions. I disagree and believe it hasn’t reached full potential.

Foursquare has taken the lead in showing businesses how to successfully use location-based networking. Many national companies including Starbucks, Gap and Whole Foods markets for example, use Foursquare to offer promotions while obtaining data about their locations, who is checking in, and the habits of those consumers.  Foursquare is, for the time being, free for businesses.

Adding a new spin to the mix is Shopkick. Its mobile application offers coupons to users entering member stores. Currently used by Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy and Macy’s, the difference with Shopkick is that only the store is updated of the user’s location but not his/her friends.

But is anyone buying? When you look at statistics it doesn’t appear these services have gone mainstream. Only four percent of Americans have tried one of them, and only one percent use weekly, according to Forrester Research. Eighty percent are men, and mostly between 19 and 35 years of age.

I believe the popularity of location based services is on the rise, however, because of two words: Facebook Places. While Foursquare had the initial lead in working with businesses, Facebook has all it takes to crush the competition.

Starting with their 500 million users, Facebook has the might, clout and numbers to make check-ins more relevant and interactive. Most companies already choose to socialize through their business fan page on Facebook. It’s a natural place to start conversations around checking-in.

My two issues with Facebook Places are (1) a user’s check-in will go into his/her news feed and become public; (2) one company fan page may not be able to handle check-in at every location.

Your comments are welcomed.

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