If I ask you to picture a typical UGC creator, your mind probably goes straight to the stereotype. That is, 18-24, female, American and most likely conventionally attractive.
While a lot of UGC creators fit somewhere close to that bracket, from a brands perspective, a lot of the magic lies outwith the norm UGC creator. Specifically, creators who are over 50.
In 2023, brands are crying out for creators that can really drive the message home to their Gen X target consumers, and who better to do so than Gen X creators themselves? If you’re not an oldie, here’s why you need to get your mom in the mix.
Why Do Brands Need Gen X Content Creators?
In our youth-obsessed culture, industry buzz tends to center around the cutting-edge trends embraced by the youngest consumers. We like to talk about how to target Gen Z, or millennials, and often, our Gen X’ers are an afterthought.
But they shouldn’t be.
The Gen X population make up 19.3% of U.S. residents, that’s 65.1 million people — people primed to spend. Most Gen Xers are in their prime spending years, with purchasing influence over their own households as well as their boomer parents.
Gen X are holding all the cards, and yet, brands are having a hard time picking them up. Eighty-five percent of Gen X says authenticity is important when deciding what brands they like and support — what’s more authentic than a Gen X UGC creator
How Can Older Creators Make Bank
If you are 50+, you are special. And I’ll say it louder for the people in the back.
The older a target audience, the harder it becomes to find a creator that fits the picture of the ideal customer profile. If you fit the bill, you should be wearing your age and your generation as a badge.
👵🏽In your profile, we’re saying ‘Gen X UGC Creator’ or ‘54 Year Old UGC Creator’
👴🏽We’re poking fun at our age with a tongue and cheek tagline ‘Targeting the consumers the twenty year olds can’t’
🧶 We’re specifically targeting brands we know need an older face of the brand: collagen supplements, menopause products, joint care, insurance, retirement funds.
Now, I don’t want this to come across as ageist. There is absolutely no reason an older creator should have to advertise products around menopause. By all means, pitch to any brand that floats your boat. But, there are certain products that need older creators. And in that breath, you can carve out an entire niche with very low competition. A 20-year old creator can’t work on a ugc job with products serving menopausal women. At least, not well.
Eileen Munoz is a Gen X UGC creator and her portfolio is the perfect example of this: her ads speak about brain fog, her ‘son’ heading off to college, hot flashes, and not having taken care of her skin when she was younger. These are not problems that a millennial creator can speak about in a convincing way.
She’s a unicorn, and brands need her — she can charge what she wants. Her pricing? $350 for one video and two hook variations.
What If I’m Not Over 50?
Tough luck, is the short answer. You can keep your fingers crossed that in 20 years time UGC is still a viable business model (I think we all know that’s a long shot), or you can have a think about whether or not there is anyone in you life that would be keen to start a side-hustle that is almost guaranteed to work.
If your mom would be interested in working on UGC with you, consider creating a brand around a mom and me duo. Hear me out here. Imagine being able to offer brands two different voices, demographics and the ability to interact with each other. We know how well ad content from a boyfriend POV works. In the run up to Q4, imagine being able to sell from the perspective of a mom, or a daughter, with the recipient also in the video or b-roll. It’s not something you see in the world of UGC, so you’ll stand out without a doubt.
That’s my two cents, you’ll be glad to know that UGC is still a very viable business model for those of us millennials or Gen Z’ers, we’ve just got to work that little bit harder to get our names out there. Challenge accepted.
