I have always been captivated by social media and recently had the opportunity to facilitate a workshop on the topic at JVA Consulting. For nonprofits, social media is a modern, cutting edge way to spread awareness about your cause and gain supporters.

I often run into skeptics, however, who say that social media is not effective in reaching older generations. In the beginning, this may have been true, but I no longer believe it since social media sites such as Facebook have gone public and reached into the business realm. Now, I’ve discovered a solid article from Mashable.com to back me up.

This article reports that there was 15 percent growth in social media use for the baby boom generation from 2008 to 2009. Forty-seven percent of the population has some kind of profile in social media and, of these sites Facebook is the favorite with 73 percent of those with a profile maintaining one on Facebook.

Here are a couple of facts that will surprise you: 36 percent of seniors ages 63–75 use social media. Of that group, 17 percent use Twitter while 90 percent use Facebook.

Read the entire article here.

Think that older adults aren’t going to jump on the social media train? Think again. They’re already on it. With social media, you can really tap into a brand new group of potential donors in an exciting new way. If you’re having difficulties with social media and aren’t seeing much of a return on investment, don’t blame it on your target population. Take a look at your tactics and strategies behind this marketing effort—there should be as much time and thought put into social marketing as you would put into traditional marketing campaign styles.

If you are interested in learning more about engaging donors through social media, join JVA on March 11 for a workshop called How to Use Social Media to Raise Visibility and Money. Attendees will have the opportunity to get started and create a social media site for their organization or make improvements to their existing sites. Click here for more information and to register.