Silver influencers: why the 50+ consumer trusts peers, not advertising

A silver influencer is an online creator over 50 who speaks mainly to their peers. It works because people aged 50+ are today the largest group on Polish social media, and they trust advertising less than people they know. According to Gemius, in 2025 an average of 6.96 million people aged 55–75 used social media each month in Poland, more than in any younger group.

Who rules Polish social media today?

Not teenagers.

Not students.

Not thirty-somethings from an open-plan office.

Us.

Gemius calculated that in 2025 social media was used by an average of 6.96 million people aged 55 to 75. The next group in line, people over thirty-five, does not even reach six million. We spend an hour and forty-one minutes a day there. As long as a football match with stoppage time, only nobody blows the whistle.

aged 55–756.96 million

aged 35–445.71 million

aged 25–344.66 million

Source: Gemius and PBI, “Social Media 2026” report, Mediapanel data. The three largest groups are shown.

Why does a peer sell better than an ad?

Because advertising does not see us. According to an AARP study cited by wirtualnemedia.pl, two thirds of women over fifty rarely or never see themselves in ads.

So when a woman my age appears on screen, with my wrinkles and my sense of humour, I listen. Not because she is an influencer. Because she is one of us and does not have to pretend she knows what it is like.

You can see it in the numbers. Vision & People, again via wirtualnemedia.pl, puts the average engagement rate of the largest silver profiles at 3.18 percent. For younger creators it is 2.27 percent. We simply like to comment. We have the time, we have opinions and we are not afraid to write them under a post.

What do brands look for in silver influencers, and what won't they find?

The largest silver profiles are mainly about fashion, beauty and lifestyle. So brands turn up with a face cream and a dress. Very good.

It gets worse when they turn up with a script in which granny is supposed to be funny because she is a granny. A TikTok dance, pink hair, a skateboard. The first time it is funny. The second time the viewer feels they are being laughed at, not laughed with.

A silver influencer is not a campaign prop. They are a broker of trust. Their audience came for them, not for the product, and will leave the very second it feels someone is selling it.

How do you start working with a 50+ creator?

By looking at their profile. Comments first, statistics later. The comments show whether people talk to them or just scroll on.

Then by asking whether the product fits their life, not your brief. A creator handed a script written by a twenty-five-year-old sounds like a train announcement at a station.

And with patience, because trust grows more slowly than reach.

As Mądra Babcia (“Wise Grandma”), I have been sitting on this side of the screen for years, so let me tell you marketers one thing. Viewers will forgive a wrinkle. They will never forgive a cue card.