Why my mother's absence from Facebook should concern you

Let's backtrack and talk demographics for a moment. Let's take a look at Ar...Jenny. She

• is college educated and has a master's degree
• is upper-class
• actively volunteers in the community, including mission trips to Africa where she helps children infected with HIV
• travels to exotic destinations like New Zealand (where she enjoys hiking up to 17 miles a day) or Costa Rica (where she enjoys zip-lining in the jungle)
• drives a Prius
• owns an iPhone
• reads books on her iPad (and is completely addicted to online Scrabble)
• shops online

You're probably thinking that Jenny must be your typical social media savvy consumer. She is the ideal person you want to reach through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkedIn and other social media outlets. If you were thinking this, you'd be wrong. Jenny is my mother, and she will never use Facebook.

My mother's name isn't Jenny, but all the rest is true. My mother is 72, bright, and incredibly active -- she's even with-it when it comes to some technological advances in this century.

"Jenny" won't be found on Facebook, Twitter or other social networking sites. While she enjoys and uses some Internet-based technologies, she doesn't like appreciate social interaction online. She prefers her communication face-to-face and is too busy with all she has going on to spend much time sitting behind a computer. While demographics are helpful, they can also be misleading when you've used them to make assumptions about your customers like my mother.

There's also another interesting thing about "Jenny." She reads newspapers. She tears out coupons and sets aside any additional offers she finds in the mail. Whenever I visit, she's frantically rummaging around on the counter asking me if I need the latest coupon to Kohl's, Stein Mart or Bed, Bath and Beyond.

It's been tempting for companies to replace traditional advertising and marketing with forms of social media, as they are much more cost-effective. Social media will reach additional people and reach your customers in new and engaging ways. More exposure never hurts. However, if your boss or your client is suggesting that social media is the new marketing going forward, please tell them about "Jenny." Those of us who use social media channels on a daily basis often make the mistake of presuming everyone else shares our same habits.

My mother will never be reached via Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest, but feel free to reach out to her five (broke) teenage and young adult grandkids through social media. If you want to reach "Jenny," a demographically perfect consumer with her comfortable retirement nest egg at her disposal, you're still going to have to use traditional marketing and advertising in print.