Brookdale Senior Living and Social Media: One Year Later [INTERVIEW]
Just over a year ago, I interviewed Eric Marsh over at Brookdale Senior Living for the post Nation’s Largest Senior Living Company Embraces Social Media. Because it’s one of our most popular posts, and I wanted to see how things have progressed since then, I contacted Eric to get some insights. Here’s what he had to say.
Q: How long have you guys been doing SM as a company?
We have been using social media for two years. We began with a single Facebook fan page, and have grown to what we have currently — two Facebook fan pages, a Twitter account, a LinkedIn profile and a Youtube channel.
Q: Now that you’ve been using social media for quite some time, what is your total “reach” on all of your social sites?
Her are our numbers:
13,000 e-mail subscribers
328 followers on Twitter
1,138 Facebook likes across our two fan pages
Q: Has there been any change in how your company social media accounts are managed? In other words, has your SM team grown or changed from 1 year ago? How?
Our team has grown. We added an additional person who helps us manage social media, among other things. Early in 2010 we added a Facebook page for our Ultimate Chef program. Then, during each Ultimate Chef America event we blog live with comments about the competition, photos and videos.
We also added Facebook recommend buttons to all of our pages. Doing this is just another way to get our messaging out and gives our users the ability to show their friends that they support Brookdale Senior Living.
Q: How much time is dedicated to your social media efforts now compared with 1 year ago?
It’s difficult to say exactly how much time we are spending for social media. An educated estimate would be a few hours a week. We are spending a bit more time on it this year since we are now managing the Ultimate Chef America fan page as well.
Q: Has your social strategy changed at all over the past year?
I wouldn’t say our strategy changed, we just have more to manage now, which shows growth and progression. Having the Facebook recommend buttons has been positive; we have been pleased with the results thus far.
Q: Do any of your local AL communities have their own social media accounts/blogs/etc.? If so, who manages them? Who monitors/moderates them?
Our corporate policy dictates that all social media be managed by the corporate office. We allow our communities to add content to our corporate pages, but we moderate it and control it.
We understand there is value in having separate accounts for our communities but since we are such a large corporation, we have challenges that many senior living companies don’t experience. It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for us to manage 560 social media accounts.
Q: In our last interview, you mentioned that several of your communities were implementing MyWayVillage. Have you found that product to be useful? How?
Yes, in our initial pilot communities, we have found that Connected Living at Brookdale powered by MyWay Village is a resounding success. We have more than 45 percent engagement on the portal, the classes are some of the best attended, and the ambassadors provide high tech, high touch for our residents and families to live a connected life. The ability to stay socially connected is very important in the overall health and wellness of our residents.
Q: Have you been able to capture leads using social media? If so, provide some data and examples of how it works.
Through the last six months we have data that shows users connecting to our Web site through our Facebook pages and submitting lead information. Although it’s limited at this time, we are excited to see social media functioning as a lead generator.
Q: You mentioned in the last interview that you use social media for recruiting. How’s that going?
Our recruiting team continues an active presence on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The importance of social media in recruiting and networking continues to grow and challenge perceptions and opinions. Our social media policy, use, strategy and recruiting methodology continue to evolve with our learning and experience. As we continue to cultivate our use of social media, it will become a more important tool in the recruiters’ tool box as well.
Q: Have you been able to attribute any move-ins directly to SM? Do you have any data or comments on ROI?
We have not been able to attribute any move-ins yet, but we are excited about the possibilities since we have seen leads begin to trickle in.
Q: Can you share some data on how SM has impacted your overall web presence (i.e. increased website traffic, SEO enhancements, improved reach, etc.)
We have certainly seen an improved reach through our efforts on Facebook. Our Ultimate Chef America competition has been a great way to broaden the scope of our marketing efforts. People may not be familiar with Brookdale but we have been able to reach them through local efforts. The same goes for the recommend buttons.
Q: Do you think social media enhances your more traditional marketing/PR initiatives/campaigns? If so, how?
It certainly enhances it. We post every press release and article that our Public Relations Manager, Holly Botsford, writes for our Web site. These postings represent another avenue for reaching those who may not be familiar with us, were it not for social media. Social media also facilitates conversations and “buzz” about our company and our product offerings.
Q: What are the downsides you’ve experienced with using SM? Do you have any horror stories or crisis incidents you are able to share?
We have been fortunate that we have not had any horror stories. The only downside I would say is time and resources. Ideally, we would love to have an entire team do nothing but social media but in the current business landscape that just isn’t possible. However, I do think we do a great job with what we have.
Q: Do you have social media policies in place for your employees? For your site visitors and community members?
Our corporate policy dictates that our associates are not permitted to represent our company through their individual social media accounts. We want to make sure that all our messaging comes through our corporate office. We do this to ensure that our messaging and branding is consistent.
Q: Do you have any interesting stories to tell related social media and residents, family members, or staff?
One of our favorite uses of social media is to promote the heart-warming stories of our residents and our associates. We think it is an important message for people to see seniors making purposeful contributions and having life-changing experiences. We also firmly believe that “our people make the difference,” and enjoy having a different venue for sharing their stories and accomplishments.
Q: Which one SM tool do you think is the best and why?
I prefer Facebook. I think it’s the best way to start conversations and receive comments. I also like how when a user clicks a Recommend button, the information goes on their profile so the message provides value-added visibility for the company.
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For more interveiws like this one, read all of our Social Media Success Series posts. To learn more about how social media can help your organization, contact us.
How Emeritus Senior Living Tames the Social Media Beast: Part 1 [INTERVIEW]
This post is part of our Social Media Success Series, which features interviews with innovative and fearless socially networked senior living, home care, and LTC companies that are achieving positive business results using media and other social technologies. To have your organization included in this series, contact us.
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Most senior living, long-term care, and home care companies across the country have either started dabbling in social media, or have at least come to realize that it’s something they must start thinking about. With boomers and seniors flocking to social networks, and sites like Facebook and Twitter being adopted by every demographic, these companies are being forced to go where no senior care provider has gone before.
But how can senior care companies leverage these tools to best serve their business interests and their customers? What tools work best and what strategies are proving to be most fruitful? To answer these and other questions, we go right to the very creative people and innovative companies in the industry, like Emeritus Senior Living, who are helping to define how social technologies work in the senior care space.
Emeritus Senior Living (ESL) is currently the nation’s largest assisted living (AL) provider with over 460 AL communities in 43 states. Their services range from Alzheimer’s and memory care, to skilled nursing, retirement living, independent living, and rehabilitation services. I recently caught up with Chris Kim, ESL’s eMarketing Specialist, and asked him how Emeritus leverages social media. Due to the length of the interview, I broke it up into two parts. Here’s what Chris had to say:
Q: When did Emeritus start using social media, how did you get started, and what were your initial objectives?
We started our initial social media efforts back in June of 2009. Like many companies utilizing social media for the first time, we first had to really organize our thoughts and brainstorm some ideas on how we can best utilize social media as a tool. I came on board with Emeritus as the online marketing specialist in July of 2009 and started putting together a general strategy around social media. We knew right off the bat that social media shouldn’t be used as a marketing venue to convert leads, but rather we took on an approach to use social media to engage with our customer. The questions we asked were “what kind of content do our customers like to see? How do we engage with our viewers? How do we take the feedback provided by our viewers and leverage to our benefit in creating marketing initiatives?
It took a little while to get things rolling but soon our objectives really became clear. Our main goal is to use our social media outlets for brand reputation management, build an online presence, and build a reputation of being an authoritative figure in the industry. If you look at our website, we’ve continually been building out our resource section with a glossary, guides, various resources to not only help residents and potential customers, but to draw in those who may be simply looking for some information. By utilizing our social media outlets to really promote these new resources, we were able to build a following.
Likewise, we found that our social media profiles created a great opportunity to connect with our employees out in the field, as well as build relationships with 3rd party partners who help promote some of our great content and resources we provide on our social media sites.
Q: What social media tools do you currently use? I see you have a corporate blog, Facebook, and Twitter. Do you have others? Do any of your individual communities have their own? If not, why not?
We are currently using Facebook and Twitter as our main social media venues. We do have a corporate blog that we update regularly with resources, events from communities, as well as our Brain Health Blog we run in partnership with Dr. Paul Nussbaum, a leading expert in brain health.
We also have a LinkedIn profile that is closely managed and run by our human resources department. This is to really connect with employees as well as 3rd party vendors who we may work with in various ways.
Likewise, our YouTube channel is something we recently started building in. In partnership with Dr. Vicki Rackner, an expert in doctor-patient relations, we are working towards creating a resource video library that touches on topics from care giving, health, and other topics. We also work with other departments at Emeritus to promote videos for employee candidates and to provide a visual look at our company culture.
As for Facebook and Twitter for our AL communities – We currently encourage all of our communities to use our corporate Emeritus Facebook Page instead of creating their own. We found that we get great engagement from viewers when we post more localized resources and events on our corporate Facebook Page. It really provides for an online community that is not just for corporate marketing purposes, but does a great job of reaching out to the local markets as well. Likewise, we realize that Facebook and Twitter provide many ways for current or previous customers and employees to respond to occasional negative feedback on our services. We want this to be as open as possible. We feel that by having a centralized profile where anyone can write their experience, we can address these issues openly and really show that we care about the feedback. We manage our social media outlets closely to make sure all issues are addressed.
Q: There seems to be quite a bit of fan participation on your Facebook Page. How do you make that happen?
When we first started our Facebook page, our main goal was to get our fans to participate and give us feedback as often as possible. We found that something as simple as directly asking our fans to give us feedback on various topics definitely helped. On any given resource, news article, or event we post, we try to ask what their thoughts are on that topic. For example, we provide a brain health assessment test on our website that gives visitors a quick assessment on how healthy their brain is. What we’ll typically do is promote the brain health assessment test on our social media sites and end the promotional statement by asking participants to share what score they received. Our viewers are genuinely interested in what we post, our job is to get them to tell us what their thoughts are on what we post. By doing so, we’re actually able to adjust our strategy accordingly by posting topics that we’ve found are more popular.
Another thing we strive for is being current with our communities’ events and being timely with our updates. Being timely is very important as we receive great participation and engagement from our fans after an event at a community. For example, say a community hosts an Alzheimer’s related event. We’ve found that people who attend the events follow our Facebook Page and are happy to see photos and event details – and they will often engage with us.
We also run contests on our Facebook page pretty regularly. On a seasonal/quarterly basis, our marketing team creates a contest around a topic that we feel are seasonally appropriate. For example, we had a very successful contest this past Valentine’s Day by asking participants to share a story of how they or their parents met each other. We had some great stories with that one! It is such a great way to get fans to engage with us, and it also doesn’t hurt that its free! We usually get a nice kick in number of fans during these contests.
Q: Who manages your corporate social media accounts? Do you have a social media team? How much time per week do they spend on SM?
Our social media accounts are all managed by me. We do not have a specified social media team but I work very closely with our marketing team, as well as the communities to obtain the best resources, events, and news stories to post on our social media. Social Media is really only a small part of our online marketing initiative so I don’t spend too much time on it. Perhaps a few hours per week. It really helps that I have the support of our marketing team to always provide photos and fresh resources to provide!
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In Part 2 of the interview, you’ll learn about ESL’s total online reach, lead generation results, ROI, SEO, how social media enhances ESL’s traditional marketing efforts, social media downsides, and policy issues. Be sure to subscribe to our blog via RSS or email to make sure you don’t miss it.
Have you seen the CareNetworks YouTube video? Check it out and share with your friends…
BrightStar Care Shines Using Social Media Tools and Strategy [INTERVIEW]
This post is part of our Social Media Success Series, which features interviews with innovative and fearless socially networked senior living, home care, and LTC companies that are achieving positive business results using social technologies. If you would like to have your organization included in this series, contact us.
For this interview, Jennifer Hill connected with Erin Schmidt, Marketing and Communications Coordinator for one of our favorite socially savvy companies, BrightStar Care. BrightStar was just featured in our new Social Media Video, which you can view here.
Interview
Q: What is your company’s primary goal of using social media?
A: Our primary goal for social media is two-pronged: we seek to “get found” by and add value for individuals, families and organizations who/that may need us (providing helpful content, serving as a resource), and then earn the trust of qualified leads that will convert into client business for our 150+ locations nationwide.
Q: What types of social media tools do you use and why did you choose them?
A: We maintain an active presence in Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and publish our videos to YouTube.
Twitter: Twitter serves as a great engagement platform as well as a river of information to stay on the pulse of what is being talked about in our industry.
Facebook: For starters, one of our target audiences (women aged 55+) is the fastest growing demographic on Facebook, but beyond that the platform allows for a lot more interactivity, better means of identifying where key audiences may be engaging and the ability to share multiple forms of content.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn has been important to our staffing and recruiting efforts, in both identifying qualified candidates to fill more skilled positions as well as key referral sources. But overall, the ability to serve as a resource in the Q & A forums is a value not to be ignored, as we view this type of activity as spreading seeds throughout the Web to help those in need to find us.
Q: Are you planning to expand your social media reach?
A: Yes, everything we do, both online and offline, is geared toward increasing our overall reach. In fact, we have seen significant incremental growth over the past six months and, with new features and functionality rolling out over the next six months, we predict that this will continue to grow.
Q: How much time do you invest in social media per week?
A: At the Corporate level, we invest no more than five to ten hours each week, but this does not include the time we’ve taken to create a series of “Inbound Marketing” webinars we’ve created to train our franchisees on how to leverage social media, online listening, link building, etc. to ramp up their online presence.
Q: Have you seen a return on your investment?
A: While it’s difficult to monetize the value of “reach,” having a captive audience of qualified leads with which to create multiple touch points has had a significant value in and of itself. In addition, a growing portion of our Website traffic comes from the various social media platforms and we’ve recently added some additional means to track these visits through the sales funnel on the back-end to calculate ROI from a dollar standpoint. Here are some interesting statistics:
Worth noting: we endured a Website re-design in February, so these numbers may be the result of a number of factors and not just social media.
- Reach. Our current reach is over four times what it was six months ago – equating to an average of just over 500 contacts per month.
- Website traffic. Site traffic is up by just over 20% in the past six months (potentially due in part to our other new Website changes), but the number of social media referrals to our site has quadrupled in the past year.
- Lead base. We’re still evaluating the impact of social media on our lead generation.
- Marketing costs. Aside from our time, social media is free, so the improved Web traffic and significant growth of our reach has cost us very little compared to other marketing initiatives.
Q: How do you measure the success of your social media strategy?
A: Primarily, the number of Website visits (and, soon, the number and quality of leads) and reach (number of blog subscribers, Twitter followers, LinkdeIn connections, Facebook fans, YouTube subscribers).
Q: What are your biggest challenges?
A: One of the biggest challenges has been conveying the benefits of leveraging social media to our franchisees and, again, the issue of “monetizing” reach.
Q: Who manages your social media initiatives?
A: At the Corporate level, our social media strategy is devised and executed upon by the marketing department.
Q: In regards to content, what do you think is a good strategy?
A: We’ve experimented with a few different things, but we love the idea of recruiting guest authors and tapping other industry experts to contribute. We’ve also set up an online listening station to gather content ideas in addition to taking common questions individuals, families and organizations have to inspire our content.
Q: Do you think that companies are apprehensive about using social media because of HIPAA restrictions?
A: Yes, absolutely.
Q: Does HIPAA effect the way that you use social media?
A: The privacy of the individuals, families and organizations we care for is of the utmost importance to us. We are certain never to provide any information that may be remotely sensitive and/or confidential. This methodology is woven into the fabric of all that we do at BrightStar, both online and offline.
Q: What new features do you see your company using to help expand you social media outreach in the coming months?
A: We’ll be rolling out the ability for our franchisees to add up to five pages to their local Websites in addition to the ability to blog, which will undoubtedly ramp up their local social media efforts and, thus, contribute to our national strategy.
Q: do you view social media as a PR tool in addition to a marketing tool?
A: Absolutely! In addition to being able to publish content and interact with our target audiences, social media is a great means of highlighting key happenings via a public facing platform.
Q: Do you have any PR examples?
A: From time to time, our franchisees will get some media coverage and we’ll use our blog to feature these stories and publish them to our social media profiles as a means of giving them some additional “push” (and, of course, kudos).
Q: Finally, Do any of your C-level executives use social media? Why or why not?
A: Many of our executive team members maintain an active presence on LinkedIn and some on Facebook and our CEO is on Twitter. But LinkedIn makes the most sense from a networking and business perspective. In fact, our executive team’s collective presence on LinkedIn has generated just over 1,000 Website visits in the past six months.
Like this post? Read more like it here:
- Social Media Success Series
- Seven Things Every Senior Living, Home Care, and LTC Provider Wants to Know About Social Media
- 7 Best Social Media Tools for Senior Living and Long-Term Care
For more insights into emerging media and social technologies, subcribe to our blog, follow me on Twitter, visit us on Facebook, or contact us here on our site.
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How Social Media Can Empower Senior Living Companies [Case Study]
I write a lot about senior living and social media here at CareNetworks and I love how social technologies are transforming the industry for the better. Case in point:
I recently discovered Senior Living Residences (SLR) via Twitter and I wanted to share what they are up to because they have a pretty advanced presence on the social web and we can learn a lot from them about how senior living companies can leverage social media for the good of the company – and their constituents. First, their website homepage (shown below) is very well designed with a good mix of relevant information, nice placement, and opportunity to connect with the company via Facebook, Linkedin, blogs, and YouTube. It also provides ample opportunity for visitors to easily share content from the page with their friends using Add This.
I love the “Unscripted Videos” section which demonstrates both the utility of YouTube and the power of “word-of-mouth” marketing. With a flip camera and a little creativity, senior living companies can produce an unlimited stream of entertaining, helpful, and informative, videos to share with the world. Done right, these videos can provide proof that you, as a company, are who you say you are.
The SLR Facebook Page is very well done. The landing page highlights their various senior living communities with contact information and links to each community. They also showcase the SLR CEU Program and list employment opportunities using separate tabs for each. Content from their various blogs is posted automatically to their Facebook Page along with videos from YouTube and calendar events from across the entire company.
But my favorite aspect of the site is the Alzheimer’s Care Blog. This is a fantastic resource for members of the SLR community (residents, family members, staff, prospects, etc.) and the general community who are caring for people with dementia. Content for the blog is produced by staff from across the company’s ecosystem – which is a fantastic example of how to leverage champions from within your organization to create great content for your various social sites.
Social media empowers senior living and other senior care organizations by giving them tools to connect, communicate, and share in ways never before possible. These tools provide an opportunity for companies to engage their audience, build trust and credibility, and be part of the conversations that are taking place both on and off the Web.
There are many more examples of senior living, LTC, homecare, and hospice providers who are pioneering the use of social media on my blog. If your organization is using social media successfully and you would like to be featured on this blog, contact us. Is your company using social media? If not, why not?
The Web Has Evolved. Are Senior Living Companies Keeping Pace? [VIDEO]
Check out these staggering statistics in this cool video produced by Jesse Thomas. Is your company leveraging the social web to connect with customers and prospects?
JESS3 / The State of The Internet from Jesse Thomas on Vimeo.
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For more on how your company can benefit from social media and online community, contact us. You can also join our free Online Marketing Community for marketing professionals in senior living, homecare, LTC, and hospice. Just click the image blow:
Senior Living, LTC, And Social Media: What To Expect In 2010 [Part 2]
In Part 1
of this series, we reviewed some of the important lessons we learned in 2009 from the world of social media as they apply to the senior living and long-term care industries. In this segment, we will look at lessons learned from interviews I did with real people within senior living and LTC companies who are actually using social media applications to drive business and improve the customer/prospect experience; and we look ahead to 2010 – the year that companies will “go social.” To read all of the interviews in the Social Media Success Series, click here.
2009: What We Learned From The People Doing It
- The vast majority of senior living and LTC companies are not currently using social media. However, we are seeing a lot of evidence that this will change in 2010. Everyday, new blogs, Twitter accounts, Facebook Pages, and online communities are being launched by companies across the country in every segment of our industry.
- Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn seem to be the tools of choice right now in the industry. Blogs and branded online community sites are close behind.
- Most companies are attempting to dip their toes in the social media ocean by using internal resources. A few have hired professionals to launch their social media campaigns, or to take existing campaigns to the next level.
- Senior living and LTC companies are very interested in using social media tools to listen to what customers and prospects are saying, as well as to join in on the conversations.
- Social tools are helping companies build relationships with customers, prospects, partners and referrals sources.
- Several companies are using social media tools for recruiting and employer branding purposes.
- It often takes a team of people within each organization to manage the social media work load.
- Keeping up with advances in social technology is one of the biggest challenges companies face.
- Many senior living and LTC companies are hesitant to get into social media because they fear the things people may say about them online. They also worry about privacy and HIPAA issues.
- None of the companies we interviewed had formal social media policies or procedures in place.
- Companies are using social media to position themselves as online resources where customers and prospects can obtain helpful information about the challenges they are facing.
- Content creation and community management are two major challenges for companies in our industry.
- None of the companies we interviewed are particularly focused on ROI. They tend to be more interested in building relationships and brand awareness at this point and looking at social media as a long-term investment.
- Several companies are going all out and allowing residents, family members, and staff to post to their sites.
What To Expect In 2010
Based on trends in our industry and others, we can expect 2010 to be the year that senior living, homecare, LTC, and other eldercare providers begin adopting social media on a large scale. ALFA is dedicating resources to it, AARP has a major social media presence – including an online community, heck, even the Pope is getting in on the action!
The bottom line is that websites alone are no longer enough. The new social Web demands that companies use social tools to listen, communicate, engage, dialog, publish, support, respond, and, most importantly, build trusting relationships with customers. Here’s a bonus SlideShare presentation from my favorite new media analyst, Jeremiah Owyang. Enjoy.
To learn more about using social media and online community for business, contact us. You can also join our free online marketing community specifically for senior living, home health, LTC, and hospice providers.
JOIN OUR FREE MARKETING COMMUNITY
Senior Living, LTC, And Social Media: What We Learned In 2009 [Part 1]
This was the year that senior living, long-term care, homecare, and hospice providers began experimenting with social media. Social tools like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn; blogging/publishing platforms like WordPress; and white-label social/group networking platforms like Ning and Groupsite have started to penetrate these industry segments and are slowly beginning to change the way these companies are doing business. Even ALFA, the Assisted Living Federation of America, launched a social media initiative this year and is active on multiple social sites.
Since August when I launched this blog, I have posted many articles about companies in our industry, both small and large, that are beginning to use social technologies to derive business benefits. Some posts feature interviews with industry insiders who share their experiences and offer great insights into what’s working, and what’s not. Other articles provide information, tips, and resources designed to help your company navigate the social media landscape. In case you missed any, here is a list of my Top 10 Most Popular Posts for 2009:
- California’s Largest Retirement Community Kicks Butt Using Social Media [Interview]
- Home Care Company Uses Twitter To Build Brand Awareness And More [Interview]
- 7 Best Social Media Tools For Senior Living And Long-Term Care
- Social Media And HIPAA: What You Need To Know
- Nation’s Largest Senior Living Company Embraces Social Media [Interview]
- How Senior Living And Eldercare Companies Can Build A Winning Social Media Team
- Senior Living Companies: You Must Blog Now!
- Beacon Hill Retirement Community Launches Resident Blog – Smart Move
- Blog, Twitter, And Facebook = Big ROI At SeniorsForLiving.com [Interview]
- Web-Savvy Senior Living Companies Are Making The Move To Social Media. Are You?
What We Have Learned: A Year In Review [Part 1 of 2]
Below is a summary of important lessons from the world of social media as they apply to the senior living and long-term care industries, along with links to more detailed content if you want more juice:
- Social technologies are transformative and are here to stay. The statistics are mind blowing. This video drives that point home.
- The static, brochure-style website is going the way of the dinosaurs. Dynamic, interactive websites that encourage dialog and participation and help you build relationships with customers and prospects is where it’s at. If you don’t have social and community-building elements built into your website, it’s time to rethink your online strategy.
- Your customers are online, in a big way, and they love social networking and social media. This video from MSNBC is one example. The fact that seniors are Facebook’s fastest growing demographic, by far, is another.
- Many experts, including myself, believe that social media/networking can and will have a profound impact on the quality of life of seniors living at home and in retirement communities – allowing them to stay connected to friends and family like never before. This study from the University of Alabama, and others like it, aim to prove that point with real data.
- Social media can be used for employer branding purposes and to help you recruit top talent. Sites like LinkedIn and Twitter can help you attract and engage both management and care staff. Branded online communities, like the one over at Terrace Communities, can function as a recruiting tool by posting jobs in the discussion forums and asking prospective employees participate in the online community during the interview process.
- Privacy and HIPAA issues, while important in our industry, should not prevent companies from adopting social technologies. With the proper strategies, policies, and guidelines in place, senior living and LTC companies can safely participate on the social web.
- A company blog is a critical tool in the social media tool box. It can drive traffic to your site, position your company as a trusted resource, and help you build community on the web. Whether you have a company blog or have yet to build one, these articles can help with your blogging strategy.
- Keeping up with the fast paced world of social media can be a job in and of itself, and presents as one of the biggest challenges for companies in every industry. New tools and applications enter the market every day. For companies in our industry, these 7 tools are the best place to start.
- Most senior living and LTC companies I’ve interviewed believe that social media ROI is difficult, if not impossible, to measure. Lucky for us, a couple of smart social media pros have shown that this is not necessarily the case. These articles cover the all-important ROI issue.
In part 2 of this series, which will be published next week, I will summarize what we learned from the interviews I conducted in the Social Media Success Series.
Build Your Social Media Presence In 2010
Thinking about starting a company blog? Interested in getting into social media but don’t know where to start? Fascinated by the prospect of online community? Contact us. CareNetworks is the only company dedicated soley to providing social media strategy and solutions to senior living and LTC providers.
Brian Geyser, APRN-BC, MSN is a clinician, consultant, educator, blogger, social media strategist, online community manager and the founder of Carenetworks, LLC. He blogs regularly here at Carenetworks.com and would love to connect with you on Twitter, Linkedin, and/or Facebook.
7 Best Social Media Tools For Senior Living And Long-Term Care
As we’ve seen from my Social Media Success interview series and related posts, innovative senior living and LTC companies are beginning to discover the many benefits of social media and online community. These early adopters are paving the way for everyone else as they discover what works, and what doesn’t on the social Web. Based on these posts, I’ve compiled a list (not in any particular order) of the top seven social media tools for the industry, along with some descriptions of why they made the list and how they can help your organization.
Social media is not a panacea. Your online presence and activities won’t replace the relationships you build with residents and families and the great work you do in the physical world. However, used properly, these tools can accelerate your growth by helping you expand your online reach, attract and engage new customers, build relationships with prospects, and participate in the online conversations. Here’s the list:
- Twitter. Noelle Kurth, Marketing Director for At Home Personal Care in Mesa, AZ showed us in this post that Twitter can be an easy, powerful, and free tool for networking with other professionals, broadcasting news and information about your company, recruiting, and building brand awareness. Twitter can help you build a community around your brand as well as keep you on top of important industry news and events in real time. By syndicating content from your blog or website to Twitter, you can build a following, enable sharing of your content, and drive traffic back to your website.
- Facebook. If there is one place online that you can bet many of your customers and prospects are hanging out, it’s Facebook. Building a Facebook Page is a smart move for companies in our industry because it allows you to tap into an existing popular online community of boomers and seniors that’s growing by the minute, literally. People who already have a Facebook account (and there’s only about 300 million last I checked) can easily follow and engage with your company. The best part is that they can easily share their love for you with their friends. Like Twitter, Facebook Pages can be used to syndicate blog content, post news, information, and events, and share other multimedia content (like YouTube videos) with your followers. And like Twitter, Facebook can be used to help with employer branding and recruiting.
- Linkedin. This is THE social network for professionals. If you’re a senior living or LTC professional, you should have a free Linkedin account. Linkedin allows you to build a professional network, share content, post job openings, research prospects, join industry groups, participate in forums, scan industry news, and much more.
- Blog. These days, a company blog is an essential tool in the online arsenal. I review the details of why you need a company blog in this post, but the bottom line is that a blog is a fantastic tool for building community, and for many companies, it can serve as a social media hub. Content and links are currency on the new social Web, and a blog allows you to publish content and distribute that content to your social media outposts like Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin. From there, your community can share your content with their friends – driving traffic back to your blog and website organically. This is called inbound marketing and it’s much more powerful these days than in-your-face interruptive marketing. Another creative way to use a blog is to build one for your customers to use, like Beacon Hill Retirement Community did. You can check out an example of that here.
- YouTube. My friends over at Brookdale Senior Living do some good stuff with YouTube. Here’s an example. YouTube makes it very easy to publish video content to your Website. If you have a blog, it’s even easier to take your YouTube videos and embed them right into your posts. Video is an incredibly powerful medium, and with little or no money, you can create fantastic video content that your Twitter and Facebook fans will love (and share).
- Branded Online Community. For a more comprehensive social media solution (and here’s the shameless plug for my business), a branded online community like the ones built by Terrace Communities and Living Well Assisted Living At Home may be your best bet. Branded online communities have a distinct advantage over using, say, Facebook to build community in that you have much more control over the platform, the features, the branding, the ads, and the content. Most community platforms include a blog and discussion forums and some, like the ones mentioned above, come with community calendars, file cabinets, and photo galleries – all of which can be syndicated to your social media outposts like Twitter, Linkedin, and Facebook. Learn more about branded online communities here.
- Email. Yes that’s right, I said email. Email is actually the largest and most popular (by far) social media and online community platform in the world. If you think about it, anybody who uses email has an address book filled with the contact information of people in their various networks – and they connect, communicate, and share with their networks via email all the time. Tools like eNewsletters using platforms like MailChimp and ConstantContact can be a great way to stay in touch with your customers and provide them with interesting news and information (with linkbacks to your site or blog) that they can pass on to their email networks.
While all of these tools take proper strategy, resources, and time, the potential benefits to your organization, your customers, your staff, and your prospects are clear. Social networks and social media are fundamentally changing the way your customers and prospects learn, evaluate and ultimately make decisions. Social tools like the ones mentioned above are increasingly influential in marketing and sales practices. Customers seek evidence online to validate decisions and get instant feedback from their peers through social networks. By joining the conversation and giving people an opportunity to connect with you online, you have the ability to educate, inform, support and engage your audience in new ways never before possible. Are you using social media?
Related Posts
- Web Savvy Senior Living Companies Are Making The Move To Social Media. Are You?
- What Every LTC Organization Needs To Know About Their Website
- Blog, Twitter, & Facebook = Big ROI At SeniorsForLiving.com
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Brian Geyser, APRN-BC, MSN is a clinician, consultant, educator,
blogger, online community manager and the founder of Carenetworks, LLC. He blogs
regularly here at Carenetworks.com and would love to connect with you
on Twitter, Linkedin, and/or Facebook.
Nation’s Largest Senior Living Company Embraces Social Media [Interview]
This is the latest post in our Social Media
Success Series, which features interviews with innovative senior
living, eldercare, home care, and long-term care providers who are using
social media as a business/marketing tool. If you would like to have your
organization considered for inclusion, contact us.
Brookdale Senior Living is the largest owner/operator of senior
living communities in the U.S. serving over 52,000 residents across the nation in a variety of settings. They are a leading national provider of
senior-related services employing over 32,000 associates nation wide. For this post, we interviewed Eric Marsh, Brookdale’s Web Content Manager.
Brookdale Senior Living Website
1. What online properties, aside from your website, do you own/operate? We as a company have really embraced the idea of using social media, and have explored many different options. Currently we are actively using Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.
2. Why did you choose those? We chose these for for a couple of different reasons. These social media sites are those that have received the most buzz, and have the largest audience at the moment. The idea of social media is to see what people are discussing, connect with them by contributing to the conversation and hopefully act as a resource for someone in need, and, ideally, building a relationship with them. We believe these four sites target who we’re trying to connect with to have a conversation. That said, we always have an eye out for other venues, and do not intend to limit ourselves.
3. Who manages them? I take charge with our company’s social media sites, such as the Facebook and Twitter accounts. Ray Swatzell, Recruiting Systems Manager, and Lindsay Elias, Staffing Coordinator, take care of the recruiting sites, such as our LinkedIn and Facebook recruiting pages, which we’ve just started constructing. Some of our associates have professional pages on Facebook and LinkedIn profiles, and use those separately from our company sites.
4. How much time does it take to manage per week? It’s hard to say how much time, because every day is different when it comes to social media. We post all of our press releases as well as senior living news that we feel is noteworthy. We also keep our ear to the ground for people mentioning our brand or senior living topics so that we can read about or comment further. We try to keep up with the conversation and manage our sites as often as we can so we are able to connect with people quickly, rather then letting time go by and their questions go unanswered.
5. How are you using each and who are you trying to reach? Twitter has been utilized to connect with other senior living professionals to discuss trends and hot topics. It has been a beneficial tool for broadcasting company and industry news. It’s also useful for our recruiters to announce our open positions and it is also a good tool for learning about what others are saying regarding our brand and senior living.
Facebook is a great way to connect with people of all ages, since it’s become available to everyone. Our recruiters have joined numerous Facebook groups and pages to help recruit for specific candidates. Some of these groups include “Allied Health Jobs Available,” “Jobs & Vacancies Announcements!” and “Careers.” Facebook is also useful as a branding tool as well as a place for Brookdale associates to connect.
Linkedin has become a valuable recruitment tool, due to the fact that you can find qualified people, post jobs, and connect on a professional level. Our recruiters use it as a tool to recruit
first-rate employees. We just started this for our recruiters; we also
have a Brookdale Senior Living group on Linkedin and most of our
company uses it.
6. Do you have a social media strategy? Our social media strategy is to inform and react to issues regarding Brookdale Senior Living and the senior living industry.
7. What is your primary goal for using social media? Our goal is to provide information to those seeking it regarding Brookdale Senior Living, its affiliates, its programs, our individual communities and/or our industry as a whole. Our goal is to drive people to our Web site so that they can learn more about what our company offers for their needs.
8. Are you planning to expand your social media reach? We are definitely interested in exploring new sites in social media. Right now a few of our communities are exploring social media by using MyWayVillage, which provides our residents with a way to connect with their families, share their stories, and manage their daily schedules. We’re really excited to see how it progresses.
8. Are people responding? People who would have not normally connected with Brookdale are taking notice. We have made our presence known on these social networking sites, and people who are searching for our services or our industry as a whole are finding us.
9. What are your biggest challenges so far? There’s only so much you can do with the visual content of these sites, since they’re formatted to look the same as other pages and “tweets.” Keeping our information up to date is the best way to insure our sites reflect our brand integrity, and it can take up quite some time.
10. Did you have to try to convince someone at your organization to try social media? Yes, not everyone is aware of the many benefits of social media. Many people think that social media is just for teenagers to gossip or for family members across the country to connect, but it’s much more. There are many ways social media can benefit a company and their individual goals.
11. Are employees on board with your efforts? Relationships are key; many of us have connected with numerous employees who have added Brookdale as “friends” or “connections” to foster and grow relationships across the miles.
12. How are you measuring success? We use a variety of tools to measure how many people are being directed back to our main Web page, but mostly we’re just pleased when we can reach out to others through these sites to inform them about Brookdale, whether it’s a future resident, someone in the industry or someone wanting to work for us. We also measure success by looking at the increase in followers for each of our social media platforms
13. What’s the one piece of advice you would give other senior living, home care, eldercare, or dementia care companies about getting into social media? Social media can be as powerful as you want it to be. It just takes time and effort to grow your presence. Some companies put up a profile just because they read that it’s important, but if you don’t do anything with it, you won’t get anything in return. Set goals and take the time to nurture and grow your social media endeavors.
Takeaway Points
- The people you want to reach are online. Brookdale understands that the people they want to reach are using sites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Linkedin; and they regularly engage on those sites where their audience hangs out. This helps people both find and connect with them online.
- Social media can help with recruiting. Free tools like Linkedin and Twitter can help you find and attract top talent.
- Social media helps you broadcast your message. Social media tools can be a great way to broadcast your newsletters, calendar events, press releases, company information, and helpful content to the world for free.
- Social media helps you listen. Using social tools, you can find out what people are saying about you, your organization, and your industry – then respond accordingly.
- The big social media sites and tools are limiting. Sites like Linkedin, Twitter, and Facebook can be good, but can only take you so far in terms of branding and functionality. If you want to step up your game, you should consider building a branded online community for your website. Learn more about that here.
- You get out what you put in. Social media and online community are not fast fix solutions or get rich quick schemes. To do it right, you’ve got to commit, devote resources, and be persistent. Done right, the rewards can be far more than just monetary.
- Video Rocks. If you really want to impress, use video to engage your audience. Brookdale has an entire YouTube channel with tons of great video content for all to enjoy. Here’s a sample:
For more information about Brookdale, contact:
Holly Botsford
Brookdale Senior Living
Public Relations Manager
6737 W. Washington St., Suite 2300
Milwaukee, WI 53214
414-918-5314
hbotsford@brookdaleliving.com
You can also connect with Brookdale on:
Other Posts In This Series
- California’s Largest Retirement Community Kicks Butt Using Social Media
- Homecare Company Uses Twitter To Build Brand Awareness And More
- Blog, Twitter, & Facebook = Big ROI At SeniorsforLiving.com
Special Offer
For a free live social media readiness assessment for your organization, fill out our contact form and put the words “Brookdale offer” in the message.
For more about senior living, online communities and social media, visit carenetworks.com. To ensure you get more post like this delivered right to you as they are published, subscribe to our blog. To see examples of senior living online communities powered by CareNetworks, click here.
Brian Geyser, APRN-BC, MSN is a clinician, consultant, educator,
blogger, online community manager and the founder of Carenetworks, LLC. He blogs
regularly here at Carenetworks.com and would love to connect with you
on Twitter, Linkedin, and/or Facebook.