How do you enhance perceptions of your brand and establish a connection with a generation that has often been overlooked?
Once dubbed “America’s neglected middle child,” Generation X has quietly aged into AARP’s 50-plus community. Our challenge: How do we capture the attention of Generation X and establish AARP as a destination for them? Our solution: Develop an engaging presence on TikTok with entertaining and relatable content that resonates with Gen Xers and makes them feel seen. Suprise, surprise!
Our objectives are straightforward:
Engage Gen X through entertaining, relatable content that resonates with their life experiences.
Enhance perceptions of AARP and increase brand affinity among this key demographic.
With a personality-driven account that taps into relatable experiences of aging, plus heavy doses of humor and nostalgia, our presence on this platform genuinely surprises viewers and has sparked a seismic shift in the way Gen X sees AARP.
We have established a brand voice that is witty, a little irreverent, and genuinely Gen X – steeped in ’80s and ’90s culture. It’s unexpected, authentic and engaging, allowing us to build credibility within a tight-knit community of Gen X TikTokers who genuinely enjoy connecting with AARP. This community thrives on shared memories and life experiences, and a mutual understanding of who Gen Xers are today.
Our content strategy reflects that, embracing TikTok’s authentic style, leveraging trends and meeting our audience where they are.
We create content specifically for Gen X, using humor, nostalgia and life experiences to connect with our audience and fellow creators through the very things that make this generation unique.
We develop serialized content to keep our audience engaged. Some of our most successful series, Gen X ASMR, Craig Explains the 80s, and My 80s Childhood Fears, are driven by requests crowdsourced from the comments.
We bring new faces and fresh perspectives to our channel by partnering with other Gen X creators.
More than any other social platform, we know that a brand’s personality on TikTok plays a critical role in how they are perceived – and accepted – by the community. Our active community engagement strategy is key to creating authentic connections, building brand affinity, and growing an engaged audience of fans who enthusiastically consume and share our content.
Overall, TikTok delivers surprise and delight for our audience and measurable success for AARP. In 2023, we:
Grew our community to nearly 350,000 followers
Posted 80+ videos, including 15 viral videos (1M+ views)
Overall, our content generated:
50M views
1.1M likes
35.7K comments
75K shares
AARP is now one of the top nonprofits on TikTok when it comes to both likes and followers.
We're also achieving our goal of enhancing perceptions and building brand affinity among Gen Xers. The proof is in the comments, which show an overwhelmingly positive sentiment as users discover a new, unexpected side of AARP:
“Now the AARP TikTok is my Roman Empire 😅”
“WE ARE IN OUR AARP ERA YALL 🥰”
“This isn’t our grandparents’ AARP”
“I’m so mad that these are so entertaining that I now have to follow @aarp!”
“These videos have made me feel so much better about getting older ... I’m doing it with the coolest group! Pleeeeeease keep these coming!! 🙏😂”
“It’s genius bc we’re all gonna be following this page by the time we need them “
“I applaud the vision of AARP to do this instead of like talking abt coupons or whatever🏆”
“Do you want me to follow the AARP at 44? Because this is how you make that happen”
“If this isn’t a way to get me to follow a company on social media, I don’t know what is 😂”
“I would like you to tell your bosses that I signed up for AARP at 47yo solely because of this TikTok account”
“Did not expect this to be my new fave TikTok account, but here we are”
“If AARP is the only one who really sees Gen X … I’m here for it”
“I’ve been bamboozled!! How is @aarp this cool?!?!? 😂”
“Wow! We’re finally seen 😂 I mean it’s AARP and they are on point but 😂😂”
