Ignoring the over 50s in your digital marketing plan could cost your business dearly.

Don't make false assumption about the over 50s. It's very lazy to assume that over 50s are all IT illiterate and don't like using the internet. In fact, in the UK, 90% of 44-54 year olds use the internet regularly (and 80% of 65-74).

The large majority of over 50s are active, affluent, and have lots of time to spend surfing the web. Also, the over 50s as a group have a lot of disposable income and have the time to spend it online.

Here are some statistics which may surprise you…

• In the UK there are 7.7 million Facebook users aged over 50
• In 2012 in the US, the fastest growing age group for iPad sales were 65+
• In the UK, approx a quarter of all Facebook users are over 45 (as of Jan 2013).
• In 2012, there was an increase of 84% in social networking activity for users aged between 50 to 64.

The over 50s is a very lucrative market, and we are all living longer than ever before so this age group is only going to expand. Bearing all of this in mind, your business would be foolish to ignore this large and affluent section of the population.