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Move over millennials. As a recent survey showed, social media is no longer the exclusive preserve of the young. Sprightly Geoffrey Walker and his wife Pauline, 88 – known as @geoffreywalk online – have gathered a worldwide fan base with a gentle commentary on their drama-free, everyday lives.
They are in the top 10 of Britain’s socalled granfluencers – older people, aged from 50 to over 90 – whose posts on Instagram, TikTok and other social media platforms have struck a chord with followers across continents, earning them huge online followings and, in some cases, even lucrative sponsorship.
Some are all about elderly fashion, others document their travels, or their fitness regimes, or their homes, and a younger global audience is lapping up the warm, wholesome content.
Like other successful granfluencers, Geoffrey and Pauline offer authenticity. They tell it how it is, and that honesty is trusted.
So when they appeal for causes or mention products, followers take notice to a degree that young influencers yearn for.
They’ve also become part of a wider community that supports them when they go through rough times.
“We’ve got 317,000 followers on Instagram from all over the world and some of them come to visit us,” says Geoffrey.
“We’ve often mentioned our wonderful village fish and chip shop – Ruby’s – on Instagram. A few months ago three of our followers from America called into Ruby’s and we got a call from them.”
“We went down to meet them and then we invited them back for a cup of tea. We had a lovely time. It’s always good to meet up with your followers for a chat.”
“They were delighted to see our home as they’d seen all the pictures on social media. We’re just amazed there is all this interest in our lives. We still can’t understand it.”
Another place they like to mention is St Joseph’s Tea Room at Abbey Grange in nearby Coalville, some 12 miles from Leicester.
Many of their followers have also popped in there, just in case the couple might be enjoying a nice cuppa and a cream scone.
With 1,428 posts under their belts, the couple are among the country’s most popular granfluencers and have certainly put their small village on the world map.
Whenever the Walkers see a poster for a local event, such as Ruddington Open Gardens last month, they take a picture and post it on Instagram to help drive up the numbers attending.
In June they proudly posted an advert for the play Beside The Seaside, showing at the Charles Booth Centre in the village, a place close to their hearts.
With the help of Instagram followers, they raised £13,000 to help pay for a lift for the community centre, so disabled people like Pauline could easily get up to the auditorium to enjoy a show.
Even the Queen recognised their effort to drum up donations and sent them Maundy money in 2021, although sadly it had to be posted due to the pandemic. “I was just gobsmacked,” confesses Geoffrey on coming to royal attention. “These things – you don’t expect them to happen to you.”
They became granfluencers quite by accident after originally starting using social media to keep in contact with their three children, five grandchildren and 10 grandchildren.
While they are happy to support local businesses and causes, they do not accept payment themselves.
In May 2017 someone in the village posted a screenshot of their Instagram account and suddenly they had 150,000 likes and 50,000 retweets.
“We were gaining 1,000 followers a week,” Geoffrey says. Their fans seemed to particularly like videos he shot of his wife in the garden, reading a book or in the kitchen.
After seven decades of marriage, people admire the way they support each other, particularly when things go wrong.
When Pauline made a tearful plea for help after her purse was taken, they were overwhelmed by the warmth of messages from their followers.
Geoffrey is undergoing surgery to replace a heart valve and is keeping followers up to speed with his progress and recovery in his usual upbeat way.
For many young social media followers, the granfluencers perhaps remind them of their own grandparents, and there is a nos- talgia for the simple, old-fashioned lives they live.
Some American granfluencers reportedly earn a fortune. Ohio’s Pauline “Granny” Kana, 95, is estimated to make £15,000 per sponsored post on Instagram.
‘We’ve 317,000 followers over the still
And while British granddad Joe Allington (@grandadjoe1933) has some way to go to equal that level of success, he has become a TikTok sensation aged 89, amassing a understand following of more than five million people internationally.
Joe has teamed up with Walkers crisps, National Rail and Lipton Ice Tea for posts, in deals arranged by daughter Wendy, who acts as his manager.
“I’m not prepared to say how much they were worth but let’s just say we won’t be getting rich,” says Wendy, who has worked in marketing. Joe’s income has been estimated at £134,000 by one website but he is not interested in reaping riches from his viral fame. For him it’s just a bit of fun.
“This all started way back in the early days of lockdown when I felt we needed to do something together as a family,” Wendy ins Lichfield explains from the family home in Lichfield, Staffordshire. “In January 2020 we were all at home.
We started it for fun and it just sort of escalated. I was amazed by how many people started following Dad.
“Nothing we do is that complicated. We went to a shop and did a video of Dad looking at empty shelves and that sort of thing. It hit a nerve because a lot of people were in the same boat.”
“There was no real formula. I usually come with an idea for a video and then he picks it up very quickly.”
As the pandemic eased, the videos became more humorous. They are currently working on one where Joe lip syncs to a pop song.
“I leave all that to Wendy,” he says. “I just do what she tells me to do. It’s given me a new lease of life. I’m happy people seem to like them. It’s only meant as a bit of fun. We didn’t set out to make money or anything.”
Nor did retired actress Georgia Zaris (@georgia_goes_grey). The lockdown in the spring of 2020 simply gave her the perfect opportunity to unleash her shades of grey on the social media world.
Georgia, who has appeared in The Bill, New Tricks and several films, including Mr Right, had been dyeing her grey locks brunette for years, but with her favourite salon shut she embraced the idea of going back to her natural colour.
Her decision proved to be a massive winner on Instagram, where she now has an audience of 119,000.At the age of 53, she found kinship with thousands of other women keen to embrace ageing with flair but no fear.
“When the grey started coming through at the roots I decided it was time to stop all the dyeing and I couldn’t be happier,” says Georgia.
“I shared the photos on Instagram and was amazed by the response. So many women felt the same way, from all over the world. I think people liked the fact I was being honest and out there.”
Greek-born Georgia, who lives in Cobham, Surrey, with her husband and daughter, says keeping the grey at bay was expensive. But her social media posts attracted companies that showered her with gifts, hoping for a mention.
At first she was happy to go along with that, but over time she changed her view and is now far more selective about what she promotes as a young granfluencer.
Now she only has two “deals” and donates money from each to charities close to her heart. One is with the vitamin firm Lumity and the other is with Rumi Cosmetiques, which she would use anyway.
“I take the vitamins and I use the cosmetics, so I am staying authentic,” she says. “I didn’t feel comfortable promoting products I wasn’t using so I stopped.”
She gives money from her “sponsorships” to the NSPCC and a cancer charity because she has suffered a rare cancer herself – pecoma – and is now in remission.
What Georgia likes most about being a granfluencer is the relationship she has developed with her followers.
“I am part of what is called the Silver Sisterhood, women from around the world who are happy to let their hair go grey and get the most out of every single day,” she says.
“You realise you are not alone. We are all in this together and we will face whatever life throws at us.”
“Most of the feedback has been positive but some people have posted some nasty comments.”
“At first I used to ignore them, but now I have a private conversation with them. Once you get chatting, you find they are just lashing out because of something else which has happened in their life and they become apologetic.”
“As an actress I have had a lot of rejection over the years and you sort of get used to that, so I don’t take it personally.
“I have developed really good friendships with many of my followers. I went to Glastonbury with a group of them and we had a great time. I am a very open person and I share everything with my followers. I really value those friendships.”
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