As I have said in my earlier blog postings, I am fascinated by technology and how it affects marketing and how businesses interact with consumers. One of the biggest influences of today is social networking sites, namely Facebook. There is an amazing trend in the Facebook community right now that could shift the way some companies view the site’s uses.

Facebook is not just for college kids anymore. While college-age users are still among the largest group, they are nowhere near the fastest growing demographic. Over the past year, the 35-54 age group increased by over 267%, and the 55+ group grew by over 194%. Now I know a lot of people are thinking, “Ok, great… Now, what do I care?”

These statistics mean that there is a new opportunity for businesses targeting these older groups. The same cheap and effective marketing techniques that have been used to successfully target younger generations via or in conjunction with Facebook can now be tweaked to cater to these new, growing markets. That being said, businesses with offerings such as professional services, luxury goods, and so on need to immediately start thinking about using the many great tools that Facebook has to offer to start marketing themselves. Those who are the first to act and effectively use these tools will be the most successful because initially these new, growing groups will appreciate the content catered to them. However, once thousands of other companies start targeting them, they will stop listening and remain loyal to those companies who thought of them first. With any new marketing trend, it is best to “start the bandwagon before it becomes white noise.”