Is your face on facebook?

Is your face on facebook?

By Ray Allegrezza -- Casual Living, 4/1/2010 12:00:00 AM

Spring is here, and while you’ve been ready for months, the warmer weather is just now turning the consumer’s thoughts to outside activities, her garden, her patio and her outdoor furniture.

With the economy showing signs of at least some gradual improvement, I hope you’ve been thinking about new and cost effective ways to reach that moving target we call the consumer.

From a demographics standpoint, I found it interesting that our recent Casual Living/HGTV study found a whopping 66% of consumers of outdoor products are between the ages of 45 and 64. Specifically, our study determined that consumers aged 45-54 made up 36% of our customer base. Those between the ages of 55 and 64 accounted for another 30%, making it clear that we need to pay special attention to this segment of the population.

Clearly, with costs rising for just about everything from rent and utilities to benefits and product, we need to be looking for new and cost-effective ways to reach and engage the consumer.

Unlike baseball legend Wee Willie Keeler, who developed an uncanny ability to get on base by “hitting them where they ain’t,” we need to be just as successful reaching them where they are. And according to a number of e-marketing reports, where they are may surprise you.

For example, a recent eMarketer report called Boomers and Social Media, shows the number of Boomers who now have their faces on Facebook spiked dramatically between 2008 and 2009. According to information from Deloitte, 2009 was the Year of Social Media, at least as far as Boomers are concerned. In that year, an astounding 47% of them were actively maintaining a profile on a social network, up 15% from that group’s utilization the prior year.

However, of all the social networks, Facebook is their favorite, with 73% of Boomers maintaining a profile there.

Another interesting statistic showed 36% of “matures,” consumers between the ages of 63-75, currently maintain a social networking profile.

They are out there, they are plugged in, and they are engaged and talking to each other.

If you are not already visible on the social networking scene, here’s your low-cost, high-impact opportunity to reach them where they are.