Scotty Kilmer, a 70-year-old car aficionado, has found new success and a significant source of income in social media. Kilmer has joined the wave of “granfluencers,” seniors who are using social media to rise to fame and cash in on brand deals.
After finding initial success on YouTube, Kilmer has raked in millions and has no plans to retire anytime soon. His channel, where he shares his 56 years of mechanic experience to teach people about buying and repairing cars, has nearly 6 million subscribers and has earned him almost $24 million.
“I control it all,” Kilmer said. “I do my own scripts in my head, film it, edit it. I do what I want when I want, and I don’t have to be at somebody’s beck and call.”
Kilmer is not the only “granfluencer” finding success. Retired engineer Lynn Davis, known as “Lynja,” has gained over 17 million TikTok followers by sharing cooking videos, including one where she cuts a watermelon with an ax.
Ryan Detert, CEO of Influential, a marketing agency that works with “granfluencers,” explained that older content creators have a wide appeal that is enticing to brands, as “they are like unicorns in the social media world, and they touch all generations.”
Kilmer believes that age is not a barrier to success on social media as long as one has something valuable to offer: “If somebody has got some kind of a skill and they’re good at it and they want to give it a try, it costs nothing to make YouTube videos. If you have knowledge that other people want and you could share it with people, that’s basically what the internet started out for.”
With the rise of “granfluencers” like Kilmer and Davis, it seems that social media fame and income opportunities are not just for the young and tech-savvy, but for anyone with a passion, knowledge, and willingness to share it with others.