When we hear the word “influencer,” we often picture a young person who creates content constantly, follows the latest trends, and has thousands or even millions of followers.

But what if one of the biggest marketing opportunities lies with a generation that hasn’t traditionally been seen that way?

An article in The Guardian explores the rise of Generation X on social media. Now roughly between 46 and 61 years old, this generation may not be the most closely associated with influencer culture, but it has something businesses value enormously: significant purchasing power and experience that can build trust and genuinely influence consumer decisions.

That got me thinking about a different question: Are follower count and age really what determine an influencer’s value to a business? Or is the more important question who can influence a purchasing decision?

A generation that could be more than just an audience

According to the article, citing the World Economic Forum, if Generation X were an independent country, it would be the world’s second-largest consumer market. Even more strikingly, women in this generation influence around 70% to 80% of consumer spending.

These figures change how we think about this generation.

For businesses, the question isn’t just which demographic spends more time on TikTok or Instagram, but which one has both the ability and the willingness to spend.

Content aimed at a younger audience may get more views, but views alone don’t show up on the income statement.

What ultimately matters to a business is: How much of that attention turned into sales?

When experience itself becomes the product

The article offers an intriguing example: Kathryn Turner, Director of Product Development at M&S Food, who has worked at the company since 1995.

She started her TikTok account in May, and within a short time some of her videos were getting up to two million views, while her follower count reached nearly 250,000.

But the number isn’t what I find most interesting.

Turner isn’t trying to fit the traditional image of an influencer. Her appeal comes from something simpler: she seems like someone who knows her work well and talks about it with confidence and composure.

That’s where a different kind of influence comes in.

Customers may trust someone not because they’re famous, but because they believe that person has real expertise in the product they’re talking about.

For a brand, that trust has economic value.

Is every view worth the same?

It’s easy for a business to measure a campaign’s success by views, likes, and followers.

But from a business perspective, that’s not the whole story.

Imagine a business has two options: a campaign that gets five million views but generates limited sales, and another that gets only one million views but reaches an audience with greater purchasing power and generates more sales.

Which campaign was more successful?

This is where evaluating marketing starts to look more like an investment decision.

The business spent resources to get a result, so it shouldn’t just ask: How many people saw the content? It should also ask: What did those views achieve for the business?

The evaluation could include metrics such as campaign cost, sales generated, conversion rate, average purchase value, and even the likelihood that a customer will buy again.

That means an influencer with a smaller but more purchase-ready audience can, in some cases, be more valuable than an account that gets millions of views.

Purchasing power changes the marketing equation

A large part of digital marketing is about capturing attention, so it’s natural for brands to gravitate toward the groups that are most active on social platforms.

But Generation X presents a different case.

The article notes that many members of this generation are well established in their careers and are more likely to own homes than younger generations. At the same time, their consumer needs span a range of categories, from food and travel to health, beauty, and home.

This means a business that overlooks them may not simply be ignoring an age group; it may be overlooking a significant share of actual market demand.

I believe that choosing a target audience shouldn’t depend only on who makes the biggest splash, but on who can ultimately create the greatest economic value for the business.

But reach doesn’t guarantee sales

At the same time, a generation’s purchasing power doesn’t mean that every campaign targeting it will succeed.

A personality may reach a wide audience because they’re popular or distinctive, but a business can’t book “likes” as revenue.

That’s why it’s important to distinguish between reach and financial value.

Reach can be the starting point: it raises brand awareness and attracts attention. But if it doesn’t eventually lead to purchases, loyalty, or increased customer value, it will be hard to call the campaign a success from a financial perspective.

What does an accountant see?

The marketing team may see 250,000 followers or two million views and consider them a sign of success.

An accountant, on the other hand, will ask different questions:

How much did the campaign cost us? How much revenue was associated with it? What was the customer acquisition cost? Did average spending increase? And will customers reached through this content buy just once or come back again?

In my view, this is where the connection between marketing and accounting matters.

Marketing creates interest, but the numbers show whether that interest turned into value.

The rise of Generation X as influencers also reminds us that a business can go wrong by judging an audience’s value based only on its age or follower count.

Sometimes the most valuable audience isn’t the loudest online, but the one most capable of turning influence into a purchasing decision.

So perhaps the question businesses should be asking isn’t: Who is the most famous influencer?

Instead, it’s:

Who can genuinely influence the customer we want to reach?