Research analyze

Demographics:

2016

Saanich total population 2016: 42 800 
Saanich male population 2016: 19 595
Saanich female population 2016: 22 200
People between 50 - 64: 25 150 
People between 65-79: 16 650

2011

Saanich total population 2011: 38 745 
Saanich male population 2011: 18 110
Saanich female population 2011: 20 635 
People between 50-64: 25 125
People between 65-79: 13 620
42 800/38 755 = 1,104. The population has increased by approximately 10 %.
Individual median income in Saanich: $40,000 to $44,999.
Total number of people in Saanich with a postsecondary certificate, diploma or degree: 57,365. 
The total population of Saanich is 114,148. That means that approximately 50 % of the population has post secondary education of some sort, according to statistics Canada.
Females with postsecondary certificate, diploma or degree: 29,915
Males with postsecondary certificate, diploma or degree: 27,450

Media usage 

News papers in Victoria: 
  • Real estate Victoria 
  • Lookout newspaper 
  • James Bay beacon
  • Oak bay news 
  • Monday magazine 
  • Victoria Vancouver island newspaper guild 
  • Saanich news 
  • Times colonist 
  • Victoria news 
Radio stations in Victoria: 
  • 100.3 The Q! · The Island's Rock
  • 107.3 FM Virgin Radio
  • CFAX 1070
  • KiSS 103.1
  • Ocean 98.5
  • The Zone @ 91-3
  • CBC
  • CFUV 101.9 FM
  • Radio Victoria
  • CHBE-FM/CHBE-HD (107.3 Virgin Radio) Transmitter Site
Television stations in Victoria: 
  • CHEK News
  • Shaw Community Channel 4
  • CTV Vancouver Island
The following research is made on the population in the US but is applicable for this research assignment since the Saanich population due to their similarities in standard of living can be compared to the US population. 
The amount of people in the US over the age of 65 who use the internet and social media increases with every passing year according to a research made by Pew research institute in 2014. Approximately 59% of older people (+65) uses the internet and 40% use social media, where Facebook and Youtube stands for the most popular ones. 
Source: “Older Adults and Technology Use”
Even though the internet and social media usage is reaching an older generation, there are still some obstacles in the way for older people when it comes to technology. The report “Older Adults and Technology Use” sums the difficulties up as following: 
  • Physical challenges to using technology: such a decreased vision, or other health related issues that makes reading on a screen or understanding programmes or systems difficult.
  • Skeptical attitudes about the benefits of technology: since this generation was not raised in a technological era they are not as psychologically open minded as the younger generation is who have been exposed to technology since a younger age. 
  • Difficulties learning to use new technologies: since younger generations have been more exposed to technology, for example through school or work. This is not the case for a lot of older people, understanding and learning how new technology works often takes a longer amount of time. Sometimes resulting in resistance towards using it at all, in America 41 percent of the older population don’t use the internet at all. 
A pattern shows that people's frequency online have a connection with higher education and higher income. People with at least post secondary education, which is the case for most Saanich people, are more likely to use and post on social media. And the younger people are in our target group (50-79 year olds) the more likely they are to have a higher education. 

Fitness industry 

Victoria offers around 20 private gyms and 3 gyms runned by public operators.
Most gyms have a basic membership for about 30-35 CAD where they offer access to the gym area with the machines and weights. If you want access to classes such as dancing, body pump, cardio, pilates etc, the membership costs about 40-50 CAD. For a more expensive fee some gyms offer areas with relaxing activities such as massage. 
  1. Most web pages for the “ordinary” gyms focus on attracting customers who want to build muscles, become the best/strongest/biggest person in the room. According to the Saanich recreation report the most popular work out activity for older adults is to walk due to its convenience and to not have to handle machines that could be difficult to understand and harmful to their aging bodies. 
  1. Another important aspect for the older adult according to the report is the social part of working out and staying healthy, since “ordinary” gyms have a much younger target group that in many cases have social connections through their family, school or work, they do not offer the social part of working out in the extent that older adults wish for.
  2. Several gyms do most of their advertisement and processes such as register new memberships online since that is most convenient for younger people, also known as digital natives. For older adults on the other hand, processes and information online could be difficult to understand due to physical conditions such as eye problems, but also psychological issues such as mistrust towards the internet and unfamiliarity with technical systems and programs.
  3. Many retired people claim to have a restricted budget and a membership for 30-50 CAD could be too expensive for a lot of people.
  4. Many gyms and their web pages have pictures and commercials of young, trained bodies which signals to older adults that this is not for them. As one OAS survey participant put it: “The recreation centres are great but the exercise facilities are busy with younger people and they make me uncomfortable because I don’t exercise the way they do.” 

Recommendations on which media to use: 

The key is to always be where the customer is. In this case, the target group is varied with a large age span, where the younger ones (50-64) are pretty used to the internet and social media, the older people (65-79) are not that up to date with the technology. 
You do not want the younger adults to feel like we as senders categorize them as old and untechnical by addressing them through old school-communication such as newspapers and postal mail - at the same time as you do not want to exclude the older older adults by mainly communicating online and through social media. In the Saanich recreation report older adults claim that they “defy efforts to be categorized” and the reports states: “Most OAS participants did not identify themselves as a ‘senior.’ However we discovered at approximately 75 years of age there was a shift where many were then comfortable being identified as an older adult or senior.” 
My recommendation, considering the size and variety of this target group, is to divide the communication between the younger and older adults. 
Guidelines for 50-64 year olds: 
According to statistics Facebook is the most commonly used social media among our target group which makes it a suitable place online to advertise our gym. Since a lot of people in this group still work, a general opinion is to desire to not be disturbed and to receive and process information on their conditions, for example by clicking on ads that catch their attention while scrolling through Facebook in their free time. 
Guidelines for 65-79 year olds: 
The Saanich recreation report informs where and how they reached out to the participants in their report by telling us : “To reach a diverse range of community members, we went to places where older adults congregate – in seniors housing, in recreation centres, at events and libraries.” For the older ages, communication options such as flyers and information on bulletins, oral communication, postal mail etc is a trustworthy option. 
By dividing the communication between the ages in this way, we can ensure that we get through to as many people in our target group as possible. 

Sources:
Older Adults and Technology Use: 
Social media usage 2005-2015:
Social media fact sheet: 


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