Meet the 'silver influencers' taking TikTok and Instagram by storm

Eighty-one-year-old Viv Truran is very particular about how she takes her photos.

"We do it in portrait for social," she says, matter-of-factly.

Viv is embracing life as an online fashion content creator who regularly goes viral and is part of a growing number of women in later life turning to Instagram and TikTok to express themselves.

"I don't mind being called a 'silver surfer' or a 'silver influencer'. I'll take that," she said.

"Can you believe over five million people have seen me? I just can't get over it."

With almost 300,000 followers on Instagram, the content creator, who was born and raised in Cardiff, shares daily videos of her outfits and styling tips.

Her followers are from across the globe and she said they varied in age from people in their 20s to over-65s.

"I love the youngsters because they want me to be their grandma."

Viv said it was only when she got comments on her posts asking where her outfits were from that she became "for the want of a better word, an influencer".

After a career involving stints in the civil service and British Telecom, Viv became "Del Boy on legs" as a "wheeling and dealing" antique dealer in her late 40s.

But what does she think is at the heart of her success in her "third career"?

"I think people want authenticity and I think, I hope, I'm authentic. What you see is what you get."

Sherry Grossi, 81, from North Carolina in the US, tries to "give a lot of encouragement" to her almost 130,000 followers on Instagram and 30,000 on TikTok.

"I find that women, as they age, get booked into a certain category and you're supposed to slow down and you're not supposed to do this or that and, to me, that's totally wrong."

The businesswoman, mother and grandmother is pleased to see social media embracing people in later life and is determined to prove to older people that they shouldn't allow anyone to put them into categories.

"I see a lot more older influencers. People are thinking that 80 is the new 60, and 60 is the new 40.

"If I can do it at 80 years old, anybody can do it."

The Office for National Statistics estimates the number of people aged 65 and over increased across the whole of the UK, in the year to mid-2024.

Prof Eleri Rosier from Cardiff University Business School said it was no surprise to see the changing demographics reflected on social media, adding that there had been a "massively noticeable shift" of the age of the people shaping fashion and beauty content online.

"For a long time, social media has been dominated by younger creators but now, a lot more, we're seeing older influencers," she said.

She added that they were popular because they created content they know their followers enjoy.

Rhian Davies, 58, from Cwmbran, Torfaen, said she was once told of the idea that when many women hit middle age they become "invisible" and admits she "felt that".

But when the mum-of-two started sharing her outfits on TikTok, she racked up more than 170,000 followers.

"It is really important to me to show other women my age that it's still OK to take up space, it's still OK to want to look after yourself and do the best that you can."

Her most successful videos are when she's "showing the reality" of life and recording herself with no make up and natural hair.

"From very early on I realised that most women wanted to see themselves represented, not this perfectly groomed woman with the Aga in the background and the kitchen island.

"They wanted to see somebody that looked like them.

"When you're in your 50s, you don't always want to watch the ones in their 20s doing their makeup, because what works for them doesn't work for my age group."

Sali Hughes, beauty columnist for The Guardian, isn't surprised to see the rise of "silver influencers" as brands have spent years "marketing aggressively at young people who don't have any money" to buy their products.

But now they are waking up to the fact that age diversity is essential for success as older people, generally, have more money than young consumers.

"If you obsess so much on youth that will bite you on the bum, unfortunately."

When Valerie Mackay, 62, joined Instagram, she found it tricky to find fashion content creators who looked like her so she "just started posting my outfits."

Eight years on and with more than one million followers under her belt, the mother-of-two from the Highlands of Scotland is regularly invited to work with high-end brands such as Armani and L'Oréal.

She said: "With social media, it doesn't matter how old you are, where you live, the opportunity's there if you want to go for it."