How 'Granfluencers' Are Living Their Lives To The Fullest and Impacting The Creator Economy

Helen Polise,62, has no plans to retire, and why would she when she is rocking as a TikTok star? Polise's handle, "The Muthership", has nearly 1 million followers. She started the account during the pandemic to escape reality, but it turned out to be a fantastic second profession for her. 

"Some people would ask me. how did you do that transition? How did you figure that out? So I said, I'll make a tutorial for you. And that was the turning point in social media for me," Polise told CNN Business.

Polise's brilliant idea of helping others to use TikTok efficiently started making her a whole lot of money. She now hopes to begin phasing out her other job as a TV commercial director so that she can focus on her TikTok career more.

Polise said that she was able to get a grasp of the social media platform because of her current job in the field of commercials. She also said that she is good at technology, "probably a lot better than many young people". 

"I want to highlight that it’s OK to get older. I feel more authentic. I’m not afraid to be myself," she added.

Like Kendrick Lamar says, the world has grown "sick and tired of Photoshop" and demands authenticity. "Granfluencers", as they are affectionately called in the community, are here to meet those demands.

The "Creator" Economy 

As per a report by Goldman Sachs, the creator economy is worth $250 billion and is expected to double in size by 2027. While most Americans who are on social media are between the ages of 18 and 29, the 65+ group is increasing in numbers consistently. 

As per a report by Pew Research, in 2014, 21% in that age group were reported to be on social media, a figure that more than doubled to 45% by 2021.

“We think of older people in a certain way, and the more older people that put themselves out there authentically on social media, we can change what aging looks like and it can be more positive,” Polise told CNN.

But The Marketing Budgets Are Shrinking

In 2023, the whole industry is indeed experiencing a dichotomy. On one hand, the economy is still breathing fresh air, however, there were also many coming to the surface. Like companies cutting their marketing budgets, venture capitalists are exercising caution when it comes to investing in this area. But it would be wrong to say that the market is slowing down.

"The creator economy continues to grow exponentially, and over the past 12 months, creators have been identifying and understanding the playbook for building sustainable businesses. In 2023, creators will continue to diversify their businesses and revenue streams and we will see more technologies like AI emerge as a critical resource for creators to improve their creativity and streamline workflows. The community will play a significant role with creators in 2023." said Aaron DeBevoise, founder and CEO of Spotter, as per Antler. 

Is AI The Future of the Creator Economy?

"The power of generative AI will energize the Creator Economy, with AI-based tools and platforms accelerating a creator's ability to unlock their full potential," said Zeev Farbman, CEO and Co-Founder of Lightricks, as per CISION.

A YouGov report, The Creator Economy: Building Business Through Technology and Brand Deals, found a few interesting things. 

Creators and AI: Creators reported that AI helped them produce stronger content for brands using generative AI with 71% of creators in the survey saying that the brands responded positively to AI-generated content.

Creators Care Less About Influencing: The survey found that 57% of the creators didn't care about influencing anymore and only wanted to create content that they feel creates an impact.