How do you enhance perceptions of your brand and build a connection with a generation that is well known for its skepticism?
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 help them see themselves in AARP? Our solution: Develop an engaging presence on TikTok and Instagram with entertaining and relatable content that resonates with Gen Xers and makes them feel seen.
Our objectives are straightforward:
Build an engaged Gen X community through entertaining, relatable content that resonates with their life experiences.
Enhance perceptions of AARP and increase brand affinity among this key demographic.
On TikTok: AARP’s account is personality-driven, featuring our resident Gen Xer and “AARP TikTok guy” Craig Moorhead and tapping into relatable experiences of aging with a heavy dose of both humor and nostalgia. Putting aside what works for AARP on other social channels and leaning into what makes TikTok unique, we have established a brand voice that is witty, a little irreverent, and genuinely Gen X – steeped in ’80s and ’90s pop culture.
Our voice is:
Unexpected: Our voice and presence deliver surprise and delight
Authentic: Cultivating a relatable persona, both in what we post and how we engage, allows us to build a community that genuinely enjoys connecting with AARP
Connected: By developing relationships with other Gen X TikTokers, we’ve been able to build credibility within this tight-knit community that thrives on shared memories and life experiences, and a mutual understanding of who Gen Xers are today
On Instagram: We refreshed our strategy to integrate more of the relatable and entertaining content and active audience engagement that has helped build our Gen X community on TikTok. Many of our most popular TikTok series have found a second home on Instagram, allowing us to reach and engage new audience segments on this platform.
More than ever before, we know that a brand’s personality on social media plays a critical role in how they are perceived – and accepted – by the community. Active community management is key to creating authentic connections, building brand affinity, and growing an audience of fans who enthusiastically consume and share our content.
We lean into major cultural touchstones and pop culture anniversaries, which have driven some of our highest rates of engagement as audiences see that AARP is truly tapped in. Examples this year have included a Rex Manning Day video to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Empire Records, and a Breakfast Club re-enactment marking the 40th anniversary of the movie’s release.
We are quick to engage, and we speak the language of the platform and our audience. Replies are always genuine and responsive, never canned.
We invite the community to participate and make use of platform tools like video responses to show that we are listening and acting on what they want to see and hear.
We regularly comment on other creators’ content to reach new audiences and to take advantage of opportunities to be in on the inevitable jokes about aging and AARP. These interactions not only lead to new followers, but creators often reply with videos highlighting our comments – and this is how we see perceptions changing in real time.
We bring new faces and fresh perspectives to our channel by partnering with other Gen X creators, who in turn help increase our credibility within the Gen X community.
Our approach on TikTok and Instagram delivers surprise and delight for our audience and measurable success for AARP, and our community engagement efforts on these platforms have paid off. In 2025, we:
Grew our community to nearly 900,000 followers
Published 300+ videos, including 104 viral posts (1M+ views)
Overall, our content generated:
161.5M views
8M engagements
342,000 shares
124,000 comments
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:
These videos have made me feel so much better about getting older ... I’m doing it with the coolest group! Pleeeeeease keep these coming!! 🙏😂
The AARP social media team is 🔥. Talk about audience awareness
Love this!! 😍🙌🔥 Makes getting older so much better!!
I LOVED THIS. AARP has gotten SO COOL! 🤣😂🤣❤️
I don't know WHAT is in the water at AARP headquarters, but the recent content has had me HOWLING. Maybe because Xers are at the wheel? Brilliant.
If this isn't a way to get me to follow a brand on social media, I don't know what is. 😂
