In this exclusive interview, we talk to Steve Campus, Co-Founder of Boomster.com.
Boomster.com is an information and social network website for dynamic and experienced baby boomers interested in pursuing a full life. It is a venue where members can meet like-minded people with whom they are able to explore ideas, exchange advice, and develop relationships and friendships.
PromotionWorld: Tell us a few words about yourself and your professional background? What were you engaged with before starting the Boomster project?
Steve Campus: I have been producing corporate meetings, satellite videoconferences and Webcasts for over 25 years. During that part of my career I had the opportunity to produce programs in the health field and worked for many of the larger advertising agencies and Fortune 100 companies. My Co- founder Dr. Gail Ross is a Harvard Ph.D. psychologist, who has done extensive research on the psychology of the baby boomer generation.
PromotionWorld: How did you come up with the idea to launch social networking site geared exclusively toward the baby boomer generation?
Steve Campus: We came up with the idea of launching Boomster.com because we saw a growing desire from baby boomers to be able to meet, interact and find the latest information regarding their interests online. Surprisingly to us, when we looked for information about what we wanted to do in the next phase of our life – be it a new career path, a philanthropic mission, or new adventures we wanted to embark on – we could not find a Web site that gave concise and specific information on how to accomplish these goals, and enabled us to interact with other people with similar interests.
As baby boomers ourselves, both Gail and I understood what this group wanted and so we conceived the idea for Boomster.com to be the ultimate destination to provide in-depth information regarding this community’s interest, and allow them to connect with each other.
PromotionWorld: Presently social networking is one of the most popular activities online. What makes Boomster.com distinguishable amongst the other social networks? What kind of strategy do you use to separate yourself from your competitors?
Steve Campus: Boomster.com has several significant distinguishing features that are attractive to our members, as well as to our advertising and marketing partners.
First, we are a focused community – Boomster.com is specifically designed for an audience of baby boomers who are interested in pursuing their life’s next (business) venture, adventure or interest. So if this describes you, you will find a community of like-minded individuals on our social network, along with wide range of detailed interactive features and discussion forums tailored to your interests. You will not find teenagers discussing the next Britney Spears concert. This is also attractive to marketers, since we offer a very targeted audience for appropriate products and services.
Second, Boomster.com offers some of the most extensive original content available to the baby boom generation on the Web today. Recent studies show that as a group, baby boomers are less likely to generate their own content online, and more likely to consume and critique content others have created. To facilitate online interaction within the Boomster online community, we offer original content for members to consume, as well as a ways for members to interact around this content.
For example, we have a library of original articles which are full of links to other sites that provide detailed information about topics of interest. We integrate a rich media platform to our site, which includes videos about career transitions, travel, and food and wine, among others. We provide our community with audio podcasts on subjects that boomers are interested in such as resume building and networking.
We also place a focus on facilitating real-world interaction between our members. While the younger generation often has “Facebook Friends” that they only communicate with, or even plan to communicate with, within their online social network, Baby Boomers still value real world-interactions. Boomster helps baby boomers to form offline relationships and partnerships with like-minded people in addition to online relationships.,
Finally, the newest feature on the content side is what has everyone in our community most excited – Boomster Live! This is a brand new original content platform that will launch next month. The Boomster Live! programs will be produced and broadcast in a completely live interactive auditorium where Boomster members can see and hear the guests and hosts, as well as ask questions in real-time. We already have a wide range of content and well-known baby boomer guests that will be appearing on the platform once it launches.
PromotionWorld: What kind of online marketing strategies and tactics do you utilize to attract more users within the baby boomer generation?
Steve Campus: Our articles, audio podcasts and Boomster Live! content includes information that relates to possible purchases of goods and services.
At Boomster, the key strategy we implement is listening to our members and providing a wide scope of information to everyone in the community. This enables them to share opinions with other members on products, promotions, etc., and ultimately, make purchases decisions based on the information they exchanged. We also remain engaged with our members at all times, which is something we weren’t finding on a lot of other social networking sites. We invite new members to join the site, we give special member discounts, and we always offer low cost 24/7 computer help desk service to the community.
PromotionWorld: What are your plans and ambitions for Boomster.com? How do you see it evolving over the next couple of years?
Steve Campus: Our goal is to grow the member base to 250,000 by the end of the year.
At that time we will begin to expand our Boomster Live! platform, and continue to provide our users with more content and brand new features. All of the research that our team has completed leading up to the launch of Boomster.com is proving to be successful, and has enabled Boomster to develop into one of the most extensive online communities for this generation. As these new features get added to the site, we anticipate our community continuing to grow and gain momentum as the premier online community for baby boomers.
PromotionWorld: What do you think are the biggest myths about social networks?
Steve Campus: The biggest myth about social networks is that all networks are created equal. At Boomster we believe that many great ideas for social network online communities get diluted as they move from start-up mode to growth mode. Often the sites are not practical, and their business models aren’t realistic with regard to their plans to grow the site and become more profitable after launch. Many social networks spend too much money too fast, without focusing on how they’re going to grow the site after that initial community is built. We’ve found that social networking sites are easy to create, but the challenge is to sustain them over the long run.
PromotionWorld: You’ve been very successful in promoting your web site to targeted audience. Could you share with PromotionWorld’s readers some tips on what they should take into consideration when planning an online marketing campaign?
Steve Campus: We believe that a successful online marketing strategy should focus on targeted opportunities where you are able to address a very specific market, which we think is part of the marketing appeal of targeted social networks such as Boomster. In an online community of like-minded members, individual users are more likely to seek input and opinions on the product from members of the social network. If the opinion is favorable, information on the product is much more likely to spread virally among a community of users with similar interests.
Targeted online environments also allow you to focus a very targeted message to a specific community, instead of a less effective broader message that you might use on a less-focused site. In this way you really increase the chances that your advertisement will be relevant to the viewer.