TikTok exploded during the pandemic, with the 15-second videos creating a new generation of influencers who are raking in millions from lucrative ad campaigns targeted at their Gen Z audience.
While the majority are in their late teens and twenties, posting everything from dance routines to lifestyle tips, baby boomers have quickly found a fan base of their own, using the app to pass on their valuable pearls of wisdom.
The middle-age social media stars have racked up huge followings online passing on cleaning tips, advice on how to tailor a suit and even what to do if you end up in a tricky legal battle with your ex.
In turn the content creators, in their 50s and 60s, have been offered book deals and marketing contracts with brands, giving their careers – and bank accounts – a huge boost.
Ann Russell, 60, joined TikTok in the pandemic to keep an eye on her niece who had recently joined the platform with no intention of sharing her own experiences from her day-job as a cleaner.
Ann Russell, 60, joined TikTok in the pandemic to keep an eye on her niece but ended up becoming a sensation on the app sharing cleaning tips
Jeremy Beaumont, 60, runs Rhodes Wood, a traditional tailor in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, and saw a huge boost in business
Tracey Moloney – a divorce lawyer from Chippenham known as The Legal Queen on the app – gives advice on everything from getting a divorce to custody battles
But soon enough, Russell had found herself a new online community. She became the agony aunt of CleanTok, with hundreds asking for advice and tips about tidying.
One video asking Russell – who refers to herself as that ‘English Cleaner Lady’ – if there is a difference between liquid and gen laundry detergent has more than 28.8million views.
The New Forest local, dubbed the ‘TikTok Auntie’ by some, now has 2.5million followers on the app, leading her to write two books – one on how to save money and another on how to clean.
More recently Russell has been openly sharing her treatment process after being diagnosed with ovarian and endometrial cancer. She decided to document her illness to educate others, ‘as the more people know, the better’.
The advertising revenue from her TikTok has allowed her to take the time she needs off work to recover from her illness.
The influencer thinks younger generations are interested in her clips and tips as they have not had as much hands-on experience cleaning than older generations did.
‘The last couple of generations haven’t watched other people do it because our way of life has changed so drastically,’ Russell told The Times.
‘Most children of my generation and younger would have been at home with their mother. I was at home with my grandmother, and I would watch her cleaning things.
The Legal Queen now has more than half a million followers, her litigation advice videos bringing in millions of views
Russell dubbed the ‘TikTok Auntie’ by some, now has 2.5million followers on the app
In one viral video Russell explains the TikTok trend which saw users sprinkle washing powder on their carpets to make them smell better
‘It soaks in if you watch people doing things, like learning to cook.’
Russell is not the only one benefiting from the huge audience of young generations on TikTok.
Tracey Moloney – a divorce lawyer from Chippenham known as The Legal Queen on the app – has had a similar trajectory, spilling advice on everything from getting a divorce to custody battles.
With more than half a million followers, her litigation advice videos, such as whether you are allowed to know how much your ex’s new partner earns, bring in millions of views.
Other videos touch on the sensitive issues surrounding child custody, with Moloney addressing stereotypes about family courts favouring mothers, or offering advice to domestic abuse victims.
Some of Moloney’s marital advice videos are now sponsored by Zopa Bank.
Jeremy Beaumont, 60, who runs Rhodes Wood, a traditional tailor in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, has seen a huge boost in business since his son Charles, suggested he started posting on TikTok.
Revenue in their suit shop has gone up by 35 per cent and Beaumont gets stopped on the street.
He told The Times: ‘We did a video, “How to tie a Windsor knot”, which my father showed me at five years old, and it got a quarter of a million views in an hour.
‘And by the time we left work it was well over a million. In the morning it was 3 million and currently it’s at 11.4 million.’
‘It was like watching a slot machine. So we’ve not looked back. It’s been a huge impact on our business.’
Other clips that have done well their site include how to make ‘the gentlemen square’, tricks to see if jeans will fit without trying them on and how to polish your shoes.
The videos have got millions of views, including a virtual tour around the shop, that has attracted almost 500,000 followers.
Katy Howell, chief executive of social media marketing agency Immediate Future, said the success of the Boomer-aged influencers is unsurprising as they fit in with ‘the real core of TikTok’, where 52 per cent of users are over 30.
She told the paper there is a myth about TikTok ‘being for teens and tweens and under-20s’.