In one of Jenny Krupa’s TikTok videos, her neighbor was injured. Mrs. Krupa’s concern? She wants to see “if the paramedics are hot”. In another video, she lets a guy who ghosted her know that she’s TikTok famous — and he “really screwed it up.”
A wacky screenplay in yet another – featuring an argument with her best friend and an “arrest” – turns out to be a sponsored post for the Paramount Pictures movie “80 for Brady.” Ms. Krupa, an influencer on TikTok, has a partnership with the studio. But she’s not your typical social media personality. She’s 91, lives in a retirement home, and has two million followers (helped by her grandson Skylar Krupa, 23, who shoots her videos with her).
While Ms. Krupa, a Canadian living in Alberta known to her fans as J-Dog, is in a rarefied company with such a large following, she’s not the only older creator making ads on TikTok. Businesses selling apparel, beauty products, and more are discovering other retirement-age content creators they want to work with.
TikTok is gaining popularity with older users, so brands are following them there, says Mae Karwowski, founder of Clear, 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 have found success sharing life lessons and fashion tips, cooking, hanging out with grandkids, or just being funny – while also promoting products.
“Older influencers have exploded in popularity recently,” Ms. Karwowski said. In the last year to 18 months, she added, “it’s really accelerating.”
For the vast majority of influencers, the income from these gigs may not be enough to retire, but it can boost their finances in the later year and even give them extra money to invest.
Gym Tan, 62, of San Francisco, who previously served as president of DKNY Jeans International and more recently as a consultant, struggled to find a leadership position in the fashion industry. About 18 months ago, her daughter, Mya Miller, 23, suggested that Ms Tan share her outfit of the day – OOTD in social media usage – on TikTok to engage with the fashion industry in a different way.
Dressed in simple, stylish, timeless clothes from both old and up and coming brands, Ms. Tan amassed 10,000 followers in three months. After half a year, companies came knocking. Now she has over 200,000 TikTok followers, a talent agent and off-platform modeling career, and appeared in a recent global ad campaign for Clairol.
The work is lucrative, Ms. Tan said, and she has no intention of stopping any time soon.
“I certainly wasn’t quite ready for retirement financially,” she said. In addition to saving for her later years, Ms. Tan said, she is paying a mortgage and college tuition for a younger child.
Ms. Tan’s success is more the exception than the rule. Still, there are opportunities for older brand reps because there are fewer creators in that age range to compete with, says Kevin Creusy, a co-chief executive of Upfluence, which manages a repository of 4.5 million social media creators for advertisers to find. partners. In mid-April, the list only had about 2,700 entries for people age 60 or older, he said, and only 174 of them had a TikTok account. The group is also predominantly female and white, he said, “an indication that other groups in general may be underrepresented.”
Brands often look for creators with just 5,000 followers because those so-called nano-influencers are more likely to engage with people in their comment sections, giving the account an authentic feel, said Mr. Creusy. Those accounts can also be a cheap marketing tool, as makers sometimes offer a product just because they received a free sample. About half of the partnerships formed on Upfluence offer free products as compensation, but no reward.
Creators who are paid can earn from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars producing content that promotes a brand. The pay depends on several factors: how much effort it takes to create the post, how often it is posted and on which platforms, whether the images can be used elsewhere by the company, and how many followers the creator has.
However, for the vast majority, regardless of the age of the maker, the income is not enough to live on. The average pay for a sponsored post on Upfluence is $348, up 44 percent from the average pay in Q4 2022, Mr. Creusy said.
The money Ms. Krupa has made for her handful of sponsored videos only covers “fun” items like plants, raffle tickets and clothes, according to her grandson, who manages her TikTok account. Ms. Krupa refused to be interviewed.
TikTok is an easy platform for older people to build an audience, Mr Creusy said, because users’ feeds contain content based on what they might be interested in and accounts similar to those they viewed, rather than just from accounts they follow.
“It removed a barrier between creators and viewers,” he said.
A teen might not think of following someone who looks very different from themselves, he said, but they might see a video they like and start following that creator. “It’s about the content, not the person,” he said.
That’s what Lynn Yamada Davis, 66, of Holmdel, NJ, discovered. She started making Cooking With Lynja videos to help her son, a videographer, keep his cinematography skills up during the 2020 pandemic lockdown. Within six months, about a million people followed her quirky content, and her first sponsor contacted her.
“We got a free air fryer,” said Ms. Yamada Davis. “We were so excited!”
She and her son reached out to brands they wanted to work with, and a few responded.
“We were thrilled when we got $5,000 to make a video,” said Ms. Yamada Davis, who receives retirement income from a pension and Social Security, and shares her TikTok earnings with her son.
Now, with more than 15 million followers and an agent negotiating for her, Ms. Yamada Davis said she and her son were paid a whopping $50,000 to make one video.
“I was such a geek all my life,” says Ms. Yamada Davis, a retired software engineer. “Now I sometimes get recognized when I’m at a Starbucks.”
There are potential pitfalls for creators trying to build a product promotion business. Scammers can pose as brand representatives asking the maker to pay to send a sample, or ask for their personal information, said Margaret Bourne, who coaches makers. She said fraud often includes exuberant, unprofessionally worded or misspelled messages and usually comes from an unknown brand or company.
Creators also need to strike a balance between sponsored content and their own because users don’t want to tune into a stream of commercials, said Lisa Pedace, 59, a comedian and actor in San Diego who started creating content as a creative during the pandemic. outlet. and a way to connect with an audience. She now has more than 750,000 followers. Ms. Pedace has been hired by several brands, including Amazon Prime and Valentino.
“When a brand approaches me, I think about whether I can turn it into a comedy skit because that’s what people expect,” she said.
In a video for Pair Eyewear, a magnetic base frame for eyewear that comes with different types of top frames, Ms. Pedace swapped different frames to play different characters.
Ms Pedace said she had no plans to retire any time soon but put her growing TikTok income into savings. “The money is good and it keeps getting better,” she said.
With growth continuing, TikTok will likely continue to add older users and attract the sponsored posts aimed at them.
“It’s high time to be an older content creator,” said Ms. Karwowski.
Tips for TikTok influence at any age
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Build your presence by befriending other creators of all ages to help you tap into TikTok communities and trends. Comment on each other’s videos, collaborate, bond, duet, or post together to introduce your audience to each other.
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Attract sponsors by posting about products you love and tagging the company name. Brands that monitor fans may contact you. You can also email or message a brand and offer to become an ambassador. Mention your age and other characteristics that can help you stand out.
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If you’re going into a partnership, make sure your first one, whether you receive a free product or money, is well executed with clear messages and attractive visuals. Companies will review previous sponsored content when they evaluate you.
