Meet the mature influencers showing the TikTok generation how it’s done

The Gen X, Boomer and post-war generations are taking over social media, producing wildly popular content to compete with their Gen-Z peers.

There’s The Northern Boys, a viral UK hip hop group consisting of men in their 70s producing vulgar raps; TikToks’ grandfathers the Old Gays, a group of four men in their 60s, 70s and 80s who dance around their “Retirement House”, often wearing funny costumes; and the late fashion designer Iris Apfel whose bright, iconic looks drew in 3.1 million Instagram followers.

While some influencers do it for fame or to make money, others do it simply for the fun of it.

Robert, 80, and May, 68, with the help of their son Terence, have amassed tens of thousands of Instagram followers by jumping on trends to create niche comedy.Credit: Wolter Peeters

Lip-synching superstars

Robert and May Leong and their son Terence run the robandmay social media account with nearly 75,000 followers.

The couple moved to Australia to retire 25 years ago after running a successful general store in Vanuatu with their three children.

Now, they make comedic videos centred around pop culture references and Australian throwbacks, including mimicking the kids in Qantas’ iconic 1998 “I Still Call Australia Home” ad, and canvassing “the emotional damage of a Calvin Klein Ad,” after The Bear actor Jeremy Allen White went viral for his underwear shoot.

Taylor Swift has liked one of their lip-synching videos, and actor Jennifer Garner has tagged them as inspiration for one of her videos.

Terence, 35, is the brains behind the videos but Rob, 80, and May, 68, are the stars – though they often need the pop culture references explained to them, and only recently learnt who Swift is.

However, their Qantas parody holds a special place in their heart: the advertisement was constantly on TV in the lead-up to the 2000 Olympics during their first year in Australia.

Rob and May have become “quite professional” at their lip-synching side hustle, Terence said. Once a month, the trio will film three videos from their home in Cherrybook in Sydney, which takes under half an hour.

But the trio never set out to be famous. They started sharing videos with family on Terence’s account but soon set up a dedicated one as family members shared the videos with more and more people.

“We wanted something fun to do together at home during COVID-19 and I would share it with family and friends to make them laugh,” Terence said. “It was supposed to be just for family.”

Terence works on digital promotions for a supermarket and had limited experience growing a social media following, but the popularity of the account grew quickly.

Rob and May have now even made sponsored content for brands and say it’s not uncommon to get stopped on the street with Rob “always happy” to stop for a selfie.

Full-time content creator

Mother-of-two Barbara Bryan runs the “Let’s Go Mum” social media pages with 113,000 Instagram followers, creating content focusing on single parenting and travel.

Her videos and blog, launched 15 years ago when her children were just one and three, started making money almost immediately, with sponsored holidays and trips through Australia.

Samantha, Barbara and Brooke Bryan travel the world for Barbara’s blog and social media accounts, Let’s Go Mum.

Content creation has been her full-time job, and source of income, since then. She still travels with her girls, Brooke, 18, and Samantha, 16.

The girls are homeschooled from their property in country NSW.

Bryan runs more than 50 Facebook pages, a website, a blog and an online shopfront, and creates YouTube videos, Instagram Reels and TikToks, and recently partnered with Jetstar as a sponsor.

She makes money through paid partnerships, affiliate links and sponsored posts.

Bryan said she has had to stay alert to trends and changes on social media to stay relevant.

“Instagram used to just be about pretty pictures, but now it’s about reels which take a lot more time. You constantly have to be adapting,” she said.

Being a full-time content creator can be exhausting. Bryan focuses on the intricacies of travel for parents, such as how to buy train tickets in Japan or how long lines are at Disneyland, so her posts are detailed.

“Sponsored trips can sound like a prize, but you do work your butt off,” she said, though added she loved content creation so much, she’d likely still be doing it even if it did not earn her an income.

Spreading happiness

Megan Castran, 57, has more than 20,000 followers on her Instagram account, Jewelchic, where she – often wearing rainbow clothes and bright beads – shares daily happiness videos.

She’s been making content since YouTube launched in 2005, creating positivity videos, behind-the-scenes videos of theatre productions, and going viral for a run-in with Oprah. She’s since been appointed as “Oprah Correspondent” for the Today Show.

Castran is best known for her happiness videos, which saw her social media channels take off during COVID-19. She initially intended to make 50 videos for 50 days but she has not skipped a day in the nearly four years since.

She said negative comments affected her early in her career, but now she simply blocks them out and focuses on the good messages.

“I never comment on politics or stuff that’s divisive – my stuff is mainly about happiness and keeping it light, and being authentic,” she said.

Castran, who lives in Melbourne, said she’s been recognised across Australia and in London and New York.

“I love it when people come up and say my videos make them happy or that it’s got them through bad times or given them the courage to wear colour,” she said.

“We all need self-expression.”

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