How to Make Money as a Grandfluencer…or…
“Is That Grandma on TikTok??”

Senior citizens are often looking for ways to supplement their income, both online and off. Many feel intimidated at the thought of starting an entire business as an entrepreneur, whether it’s as an affiliate marketer or an info product developer.

But there’s one thing seniors are feeling more and more comfortable with, and in fact, have been using for years now – social media. This has ignited a new career path for this age group where people are getting paid thousands of dollars for every post they make.

They’re known as Grandfluencers – influencers of grandparent age. There’s been an influx of senior individuals creating profiles on social media sites and apps and developing a huge following based on what they share.

This results in a monetization opportunity that is also a fun way for them to bring in an income. Older generations have knowledge that younger ones either never heard or have forgotten, and it’s become in-demand online.

What Is Social Media Influence?

Social media influence can be described in many ways – and to each individual audience, it might mean something a bit different. But in general terms, it means people listen to these individuals and often take their advice because they come across as genuine and trustworthy.

They might purchase something based on the influencer recommendation or learn how to do something. It might be how to cook, how to clean something, a tip about relationships and more.

The influence of a person grows as their account gains followers. But it’s not just about the numbers, either. The engagement they get can contribute to higher earnings. If someone watches a video to the end or watches it multiple times, that means more money.

There are ways you can allow people to share and interact with your original content creation, which means your audience will grow as the content goes viral and becomes known for the value or entertainment it holds.

Influencers can put out many different types of content – including short and long-form videos, podcasts, text images and more. Their content is often personal and relatable, not just someone delivering a bunch of educational facts.

People can have influence that spans across different social media platforms and they may have more of a following on one platform over another, or have a completely different audience based, depending on where they publish their content.

Who Is Making Money as a Social Media Influencer?

Originally, social media influencers were often likened to dancers and lip synching. But then it grew to include people like fitness enthusiasts, weight loss coaches, relationship experts and more.

If you were to simply take a quick glance online, you’d still think that most influencers were in the prime of their youth – and you’d be correct! But the Internet is vast and the audience is hungry.

They want more than just a few people to get information from. The same person being influenced by a 20-something fitness instructor to get in shape might be watching an elderly influencer to learn how to grow their own food, or tips on how to make a marriage work.

They might even tune in just to hear one of your stories about a time you did something funny or recovered from heartbreak. They love to learn about life experiences and how they affected people.

Where Are Seniors Making Money as Grandfluencers?

You want to be comfortable with where you’re operating as a senior social media influencer or “Grandfluencer.” Not only do you want to enjoy the process, but you have to make sure there’s be an interested audience there, too/

Right now, you’ll find Grandfluencers on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok to name a few. These three platforms are most known for the “influencer” appeal. You might start off slow with a few people following you but this is something that can build rapidly and before you know it, you have millions of people looking for your content on a daily or regular basis.

A few notable Grandfluencers include people like Lynn Yamada Davis. She’s a 79 year old influencer who gives unconventional cooking tips. One of her TikTok videos about making a 10-foot hot dog or making popcorn with a hair straightener got 17 million views.

If you’re a brand who sells hair straighteners or a food brand company, you’ll want Lynn sharing it with her 17.5 million followers, and you’ll be willing to pay for it. Most of her videos aren’t that crazy sounding, but people still tune in numbering over a million per upload.

One Grandfluencer who shares a myriad of advice – from how to unstick a zipper to how to how to clean properly or pack a cooler is Babs, age 74 from the Brunch With Babs TikTok channel.

Men are doing it, too! Stephen Austin, aged 85, is everyone’s Grandpa on his channel. He has over 1.7 million followers and nicknamed himself Old Man Steve. Know how he makes his money from his assisted living kitchen?

By sitting there on camera with a cup of coffee and some cookies, just chatting about things like reminding them to be kind to themselves (and others). He also cooks his meals and sometimes just makes a video to tell everyone good morning or talk about the past, the future and pop culture.

It’s not just individuals, either. An account called Retirementhouse has a group of six people who entertain their audiences by doing funny social media trends and challenges and sharing funny advice.

Lindy Moore, at 76, is an influencer who shares her travels and van life with her dog. One thing all of these Grandfluencers have in common is that they have multiple accounts across all three of those platforms (and sometimes more).

What Are Some Ideas for Becoming a Grandfluencer Online?

What you decide to do as a senior influencer will often depend on things like your personality, your hobbies, interests and experience. You might be a senior who loves telling funny stories about the past.

Sit down with a cup of hot coffee or tea (or a glass of sweet tea if you’re from the South) and share your tales as a quick, short video that gets uploaded to TikTok. You have gone through things younger people are just now experiences.

It may be in regards to dating, getting married, losing a loved one or a pet, learning a skill, learning something about yourself or others, and more. Your wisdom is enough to catapult you to the top of the influencer pile if you’re consistent with your uploads.

You can expect to earn if you’re rarely making updates. With short form videos, it’s great because they can even be 60 seconds or less and still earn money for you. You don’t have to develop an entire episode of a show to make money.

You can share how you cook family recipes. People love to watch things about using cast iron pans and baking bread, making gravy and more. Many young people have had zero influence in this area and they watch and learn from TikTok.

How about gardening? Nutrition and wellness is a big issue for many, and they don’t know how to grow their own organic food. If you can teach them tips about this on your channel, they’ll love it.

Your audience may not always be younger, either. Sometimes, Grandfluencers will have an audience who is also seniors, and you’ll be speaking to the same demographic as you about things like health and wellness, finances, and more.

Maybe you can show them how to sew or do some other craft. You might have some beauty tips or anti aging tips to share. There are seniors who share travel adventures and those who review books or movies.

Also, remember – you’re a Grandfluencer who may have kids, and younger parents need advice on raising their kids, too. They may be estranged from their own parents or have lost them and they’re turning to you for support and insight.

Things often change from generation to generation – and not always for the better. We need older individuals to remind us of how things used to work, so that we can find new joy in things based on your recommendations.

One TikTok senior (Torchy Swinson) make frequent little videos about her past memories with her husband or about what she did recently that she found interesting  – and it’s nothing more than her sitting in a chair starting each video with, “I was gonna tell you something…” just like she’s chatting with a dear friend – the viewer, who feels comforted.

Tips for Monetizing Your Influence as a Senior Citizen

Some of the Grandfluencers are making as much as $150,00 per post. That sounds incomprehensible, but when you have influence over millions of individuals, companies sit up and take notice.

They’d often rather pay a Grandfluencer for a product mention that pay a TV network, especially if they’re targeting younger people who no longer watch TV but instead are on social media all of the time – and they’ll be your audience.

It’s been estimated that the influencer industry is over $21 billion. Not every senior is going to pull in that kind of money. But what if you even earned an extra $500 or $2,000 a month to supplement your retirement or Social Security?

You can earn from being a content creator if you’re consistently uploading and watching trends and seeing what works. But as your channel grows, you’ll get to collaborate with brands and companies who pay you to mention their products or channel.

You can also put a link (using LinkTree) in your profile’s bio area that opens up to an Amazon shop where you earn commissions on products that you recommend. Or, if you write your own book or create a product, you can link to it there and sell it to people.

Becoming a Grandfluencer requires you to be your authentic self and to regularly upload content. It doesn’t have to be daily, although that works great for many people. Don’t be intimidated about being an older person on a young social platform, because they’re waiting for you with open arms.

The bottom line? Being a Grandinfluencer can be a grand way to boost your retirement income AND be fun!!