The ‘silver influencers’ taking TikTok and Instagram by storm

Eighty-one-year-old Viv Truran is meticulous about how she takes her photographs.

“We do this in social portraiture,” he says matter-of-factly.

Viv is embracing life as an online fashion content creator, who regularly goes viral and is part of a growing number of women turning to Instagram and TikTok to express themselves moving forward in life.

“I don’t mind being called a ‘silver surfer’ or a ‘silver influencer.’ I’ll take that,” he said.

“Can you believe over five million people saw me? I can’t forget that.”

With nearly 300,000 followers on Instagram, the Cardiff-born and raised content creator shares daily videos of her outfits and style tips.

His followers come from all over the world and range in age from people in their 20s to people over 65, he said.

“I love young people because they want me to be their grandmother.”

Viv said she became an “influencer, to put it better” when she received comments on her posts asking where her clothes came from.

After a career that included roles in the civil service and British Telecom, Viv became a “Del Boy on wheels” in his late 40s as an antiques dealer who “wheeled and traded”.

So what does he think is the basis for his success in his “third career”?

“I think people want originality, and I hope I’m original. What you see is what you get.”

Sherry Grossi, 81, from North Carolina, US, is trying to “give plenty of encouragement” to her nearly 130,000 followers on Instagram and 30,000 on TikTok.

“I feel like women get lumped into a certain category as they get older and you have to slow down and not do this or that, and to me that’s just wrong.”

The businesswoman, mother and grandmother is pleased to see social media embrace older people and is determined to prove to older people that they shouldn’t let anyone categorize them.

“I see a lot of older influencers. People think 80 is the new 60 and 60 is the new 40.

“If I can do it at 80, anyone can do it.”

Office for National Statistics The number of people aged 65 and over is forecast to increase across the UK by mid-2024.

Prof Eleri Rosier, from Cardiff University Business School, said it was no surprise to see changing demographics reflected on social media, adding that there had been a “hugely noticeable shift” in the ages of people shaping online fashion and beauty content.

“For a long time, social media was dominated by younger creators, but now we are seeing a lot more older influencers,” he said.

He added that they are popular because they produce content that they know their followers enjoy.

Rhian Davies, 58, of Cwmbran, Torfaen, said she was once told of the idea that many women become “invisible” as they reach middle age, and admitted she had “felt it” herself.

But when the mother of two started sharing her outfits on TikTok, she reached more than 170,000 followers.

“It’s really important for me to show other women my age that it’s still okay to take up space, that it’s okay to take care of yourself and do your best.”

Her most successful videos are those where she “shows the reality” of life and records herself without make-up and with natural hair.

“I realized from a very early age that most women wanted to see themselves represented, not this perfectly groomed woman with the Aga and the kitchen island in the background.

“They wanted to see someone who looked like them.

“When you’re in your 50s, you don’t always want to watch 20-somethings put on makeup because what works for them doesn’t work for my age group.”

Sali Hughes, The Guardian’s beauty columnist, is not surprised to see the rise of “silver influencers” as brands spend years “aggressively marketing to young people who don’t have the money” to buy their products.

But they are now waking up to the fact that age diversity is essential for success, as older people often have more money than younger consumers.

“If you get too hung up on youth, unfortunately it will bite you in the ass.”

When Valerie Mackay, 62, joined Instagram, she found it difficult to find fashion content creators who looked like her and “started sharing my clothes.”

With over a million followers for eight years, the mother-of-two from Scotland’s Highlands is regularly invited to work with high-end brands such as Armani and L’Oréal.

“When it comes to social media, it doesn’t matter how old you are, where you live, it’s there if you want to take advantage of it,” he said.