Marketing
Feed Your Facebook: Tips for Managing Your Social Media Presence in a Time-Starved World
This post originally appeared on the Elder Pages Online Blog and is authored by Tasha Beauchamp, MSc. Tasha is the Webmaster and Research Scientist for Elder Pages Online, a company specializing in Internet marketing for hospice and geriatric care managers.The big concern about Facebook and other social media tools is that they take time.
Indeed, the purpose of a Fan page, blog or Twitter account is to develop relationships and community with your fans, subscribers and followers. Just as it takes time to have meaningful conversations, it takes time to create engaging posts. And you don’t develop trust and rapport by simply talking about yourself. Like any good friend, you need to be giving out at least as much energy as you are taking in.
You need to regularly offer content that inspires or educates your target audience. According to an ExactTarget social marketing study:
- 38% of Fans will UNLIKE you because your posts are boring or repetitive
- 24% of Fans will UNLIKE you because your posts are too self-promotional
Even as a non-profit, if your hand is always out asking for money or time, more than you are giving away information and useful resources, you will lose followers.
So how do successful social marketers create engaging content in a manageable amount of time? They become “Content Curators.” Because social networking is essentially distinguishing yourself through your content, you need to care for your social presence like a curator cares for an exhibit at a museum. (Facebook has sometimes been called “The Museum of the Self.” This makes the content curator analogy even more appropriate.)
The curator draws together pieces of art from different sources, each one a gem, and assembles them into an exhibit that as a whole inspires the visitors, draws crowds, and promotes membership to the museum. There is also a very practical side to curation: While the exhibit requires creativity, the curator does need to work within a budget and timeline.
It is the same for curating a social media site. Posts are assembled from a variety of sources, working together to create a whole that inspires and educates visitors, generates leads, and promotes LIKES, follows or subscribers. And it must all be done within a budget and timeline.
To accomplish their goals, successful social marketers follow some basic rules of thumb:
- Choose a target audience and identify keywords/categories of interest to this group
- Create a plan and work the plan
- Post on a regular basis
- Make 80% of the posts educational/inspirational to viewers (only 20% about yourself)
As an elder care professional, I would suggest that your target audience is family caregivers. Boomers are starting to robustly embrace Facebook. (According to Pew Internet data, approximately 33% of middle-age individuals are now using social networks).
Determine a list of topics that will be of interest to Boomer daughters and sons. In the realm of family caregiving, this would mean posts pertaining to the care of elders. But it also means presenting information to help manage the stress and challenges of being a family caregiver. Dementia, paying for care, and tips for handling daily life with chronic or serious conditions are just some of the many posts that would be welcomed by family caregivers.
Create a Content Calendar. According to Daniel Zarella, author of The Facebook Marketing Book, you want to plan and compose your posts ahead of time. Create a calendar so you will know what you will post on each day of the coming week. Give yourself a specific time each week to get in the social media headset, to think like a curator, and compose the next week’s posts. For truly thoughtful posts, it’s much easier to do several at once than to try spontaneously each day to say something meaningful when you are in a rush to meet other deadlines.
- Facebook status updates have 420 characters (not counting any web addresses you link to)
- Blogs typically have 300-1000 words, depending on how often you post
- Twitter has a 140 character limit per tweet
Post consistently. You must get in the habit of regularly making meaningful posts. Each channel has a culture of its own with an expected frequency:
- Facebook: once a day
- Blogging: 1-5 times a week
- Twitter: 3-5/day
Many people find it easiest to set a specific time aside each day to do the actual posting. (You can use automated programs, but these rank lower on the search results than posts that are submitted manually.) On a rushed day, you can simply copy/paste the text from your Content Calendar. But because this is the social network, you also want to respond to comments made on previous posts and take time to look at your News Feed and make meaningful contributions to conversations happening on the pages of allied businesses. If you are seen only to broadcast out and not to engage with others, you will quickly fall in the category of “marketing to” your audience rather than creating community and “marketing with them.”
Find content that is educational and inspirational. This is the part that takes time. You want to be sure you are posting across a wide range of topics. You also want to vary your content across the categories and keywords you identified earlier in the planning process.
Where do you find content? A recent survey of 150 marketers across many segments of the business world revealed that:
- 73% value original content, but are challenged by the time it takes to develop it
- 57% use a mix of original posts and third party content
Following the 80:20 rule, successful social marketers tend to use links to other materials for the majority of their posts, adding their own comments for flavor and personality. They save their time and creative energies for that 20% that is about them, where they can really fine tune the call to action (join our list, sign up for our webinar, come to our event, donate to our cause…). In this way, they are able to give their social networking presence the best chance of delivering a return on the investment.
Remember, a key business function of social networking is to generate leads and move people toward action that allows you to engage with them in a more personal way.
A study by Idealware indicated that companies need to spend at least 2 hours/week per social media channel in order to feel it was worth the effort. Companies that spent less than 2 hours a week were generally dissatisfied with the results. Those that spent 9-20 hours per week total, usually working across many channels (e.g., Facebook, Twitter and blogging) seemed to be the most satisfied.
You can conserve time by wisely leveraging the content of others. Mimic the workflow of successful social networkers. Link liberally and paraphrase or make commentary on the work of others. Tons of information already exists. You do not need to re-invent the wheel. You simply need to be smart about finding the info and then adding your own personality to the mix.
To learn more, visit the Elder Pages Online Blog, or Contact Us.
New Study Shows Elder Care Marketers Benefit from Social Media [SLIDESHARE]
Elder Care Marketing Industry Report
Ryan Malone of Elder Care Marketer recently published results of a study in a white paper called the Elder Care Marketing Industry Report. The study surveyed 160 elder care marketers to glean insights into their marketing habits, what tools they use, and what impact social media has on their business. I’ve embedded the entire report below. It’s definitely worth checking out. Nice job Ryan! You can find Ryan on Twitter , LinkedIn ,Facebook or YouTube.
Here are the social media highlights from the Report:
- Small companies (1-50 employees) are twice as likely than big companies (50-500+ employees) to use social media in their marketing
- Overall, LinkedIn and Facebook are the most popular for marketing purposes
- Marketers spend an average of 6.6 hours per week on social media and would like to learn most about Twitter and blogs
- Interest is high in learning more about social media tools, which reflects the overall recognition of social media as a marketing vehicle
- Small businesses used a much broader base of social media tools than large businesses for marketing purposes
- Both B2B and B2C businesses benefited most from social media through increased mailing lists, traffic and subscribers, generating leads and creating partnerships.
- B2C reported a high increase in search rankings and B2B
businesses reported a higher benefit for identifying new products more often
Social Media Basics For (Senior Living) Executives [SlideShare]
I ran across this and just had to share. Fantastic presentation by Tim Ho!
Beacon Hill Retirement Community Launches Resident Blog – Smart Move
Here’s a great example of a senior living company building an online community using a blog as their platform. Beacon Hill Retirement Community, located in Lombard, Illinois, recently set up and launched a resident-owned “online magazine” called “Let’s Talk” built on the popular blogging platform WordPress. The blog allows residents (average age of 86) to publish multimedia content to the site including articles, videos, photos, menus, polls, and more.
According to the marketing firm that helped Beacon Hill set up the blog, nearly 1500 visitors have visited the site to date. Fresh content is added to the site over 50 times per month with an average of 23 feature stories designed to appeal to seniors and their adult children along with other items geared to resident’s interests. A Beacon Hill resident committee helps steer and develop content by telling management what they want to read, link to, write themselves; and also how to promote the site to other residents, peers and family members.
Management is also helping to promote the use of the site. They have installed two computers in common areas that are dedicated to Let’s Talk; they’ve added special suggestion boxes in the dining areas; they promote the site in the monthly newsletter; and local TV stations have apparently picked up on the story.
Beacon Hill’s marketing firm created the site and assists with community engagement, content creation, site management, evaluation metrics and strategy. According to the firm, Let’s Talk is becoming as popular with the resident’s as Nintendo Wii and the site is helping with marketing to prospects.
This is just another example of what the future holds for senior living and eldercare as more and more seniors take to the social web and social media marketing moves into the mainstream.
To learn more about how online community and social media can benefit your senior living, homecare, or eldercare company, visit CareNetworks.com. To ensure you continue to get great articles and news like this delivered as it’s published, subcribe to our blog.
Related Articles
- Senior Living Companies: You Must Blog Now!
- California’s Largest Retirement Community Kicks Butt Using Social Media
- Boomers Love Social Media. PS. These Are Your Customers [Video]
- Web Savvy Senior Living Companies Are Making The Move To Social Media. Are You?
- 10 Reasons Why Your Company’s Blog Sucks
- How Senior Living And Eldercare Companies Can Build A Winning Social Media Team
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.
Interview: Home Care Company Uses Twitter To Build Brand Awareness And More
This is the second post in our new Social Media Success Series, which features interviews with innovative senior living, eldercare, home care, and dementia 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.
Today we talk with Noelle Kurth, Marketing Director for At Home Personal Care, a Mesa, Arizona based company that provides affordable home care services for elderly and disabled people. We will present the interview in full and then provide some analysis and a summary with take away points at the end.
At Home Personal Care Website
1. What online properties, aside from your website, do you own/operate (Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube, Flikr, etc.)?
Twitter , Facebook & Constant Contact for our monthly e-communication. We’ve been using Twitter for about three months and Facebook for two months. We are also launching a new Website in October (hopefully) which will have a main corporate site with pages dedicated to each of our five offices. The new site will also include a video and a blog where we will post information on senior/elder topics, company events, letters from clients/families, etc.
Twitter Page
Facebook Fan Page
2. Why did you choose those?
Twitter because there is a wealth of information there, real time updates, its free, I can connect with my network, its easy to use (can use my iPhone app), and I can reach thousands of users easily. Facebook because it is manageable, free, I can reach a targeted audience, and it has a clean interface. Constant Contact because it is very affordable, easy, and doesn’t take a whole lot of effort.
3. Who manages your online properties?
I manage Twitter & Constant Contact. Samantha (Operations Manager) manages Facebook—–although she has been slacking!!!
4. How much time does it take to manage per week?
I Twitter on the go. My time is valuable and Twitter is very quick and easy for me. I would say 2 hours a week, if that.
5. How are you using each and who are you trying to reach?
I use Twitter to stay in contact with my peers, referral sources, and local contacts. I read articles and gain new knowledge on topics I feel I wouldn’t have know about otherwise. I post information about events we take part in, company news, and networking opportunities. We have not seen much value from Facebook yet, but as I mentioned, we have not devoted enough time to getting it up and running. We are planning to attend more to it once our new site is launched. In fact, each of our five offices will have their own Facebook fan page. Our one Twitter account will represent all five offices.
6. Do you have a social media strategy? What is it?
Be consistent, post compelling information, make it fun, engage, interact, and don’t make it all about me/us.
7. What is your primary goal for using social media?
Share information, gain knowledge, reach targets, gain new opportunities, branding.
8. Are you planning to expand your social media reach?
Yes, I use twitter in my marketing efforts consistently and will build a Facebook page for each of our five locations soon.
9. Are people responding?
I’ve had several responders and have made great contacts.
10. What are your biggest challenges so far?
Haven’t come across any challenges so far!
11. Did you have to try to convince someone at your organization to try social media?
I am the leader in my organization when it comes to media outreach, marketing efforts, and technology advances. Our president luckily is very opened minded to hearing new ideas and ways to reach our audience.
12. Are employees on board with your efforts?
I would say 50% of them are. It has been a challenge to get some of the “old school mentality” minded individuals to realize that social media works. I think people “over think” it too much and get frustrated or intimidated by it. They don’t know where to start or how to get going. They think it is too time consuming, etc.
13. How are you measuring success?
I don’t necessarily track success with a specific formula. I base the success off the opportunities I’ve come across and the number of responses I get from users. As long as people are interacting with me, I find that successful. I know I am strengthening my brand recognition and market awareness every day just by sending a second “tweet.” Before using Twitter, I didn’t have access to the thousands of articles, blogs, websites, contacts, opportunities, events, and FUN!
14. 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?
I would advise them that social media is a very low cost, mostly free, way of increasing brand recognition, reaching a targeted audience, gaining new opportunities, announcing upcoming events, promoting specials, increasing referral sources, and staying consistent or ahead of your competition. As the population ages, people will need to realize that adopting new methods of outreach such as social media is crucial. Social Media, Blogs, Website SEO, etc is only increasing…it is not going away, and if you are not adapting to it, you will be missing out now and in the months ahead, and eventually you will be left in the dust. The age range for internet users is your targeted audience. These are the adult children/family/friends that are making decisions regarding their loved ones care. Gone are the days of the paper yellow pages. People are going online and to the web. Social media is easy to use, low maintenance, and extremely manageable. Put it this way….there is not ONE reason NOT to being engaged in social media.
Summary and Analysis
With Noelle’s help, At Home Personal Care (AHPC) is clearly moving in right direction with their social media strategy. At this time, they have 683 followers on Twitter, and that number is growing daily. Noelle’s Twitter prowess is quite impressive. She knows how to use Twitter to make connections, increase brand awareness, and build relationships with clients, referral sources, local businesses, prospects, families, and others. You can learn how Noelle is using Twitter by following her and AHPC here.
AHPC’s decision to develop a new Website that incorporates a blog is critical. Their current site is a classic Web 1.0 static online brochure which provides generic information about the company and their sevices (for more on a good Website, click here). These days, a blog is a minimum requirement for any company Website. A blog will enable AHPC to syndicate information out to Twitter, and from Twitter, they can drive traffic back to the blog and the site. Presumably visitors will be able to subscribe to the blog – allowing for lead capture, and readers should be able to comment on posts – allowing for dialog between the company and readers (for more on how to avoid making a company blog suck, click here).
One way AHPC could inject some steroids into their social media plan is to add a centralized online community to their new site (disclosure: we build and manage online communities for senior living and eldercare organizations, so this part may be slightly bias). An online community would allow members of the AHPC community (patients, families, referral sources, staff, management, partners) to sign up, create a profile, connect with each other, and add content to the community site themselves. In our last interview post with Laguna Woods Village, we learned how they were attempting to do this using “Club Pages.”
One way to add community to an existing Website is to use a white label social networking/online community platform like KickApps, Ning, Groupsite, or SocialGo. All of these sites have “freemium” pricing, allowing you to build your own online community or social network for free (like Twitter). Be warned though, freemium pricing includes advertising, limited features, minimal ability to brand or customize, and limited customer support. In addition, while an online community can be a fantastic business/marketing tool, it can also be technically complex and a time killer. Look for many more posts about this subject on this blog in the future.
Takeaway Points
- A static Web 1.0 style Website will make you invisible. You need dynamic content, relevant information, and interactivity to compete these days.
- Having multiple social media outposts like Twitter and Facebook can be useful, as long as they are attended to.
- Twitter can be a fast and free way to build a network and increase brand recognition – and maybe even drive sales.
- Having a comprehensive social media strategy is key to success.
- There is an “old school” mentality in business about social media that needs to be overcome. Remember back in the 90′s when businesses weren’t convinced they needed a Website?
- Your customers are using social media. You should be too!
For more about senior living, eldercare, or home care online communities and social media strategies, visit carenetworks.com. To ensure you get more post like this delivered right to you as they are published, subscribe to our blog.
For more information about At Home Personal Care, contact Noelle Kurth at Noelle@athomeprc.com or 480.205.8320. I would like to thank Noelle for generously sharing her insights and experiences. We will check in with her in several months to see how she and AHPC are doing with their new Website and post the results here.
Related posts:
- California’s Largest Retirement Community Kicks Butt Using Social Media
- Can Social Media Convert Senior Living Prospects To Customers?
- Web Savvy Senior Living Companies Are Making The Move To Social Media. Are You?
- Assisted Living Group Using Social Media To Combat Swine Flu
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.
Boomers Love Social Media. PS. These Are Your Customers [Video]
Boomers are taking over online communities and social networks. Oh, and did I mention, these are the people you are trying to reach? Take a look at this:
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Related Posts:
Online Communities: Let Your Best Employees Do The Marketing For You!
The best marketing is free.
Most professional caregivers are passionate about what they do, but are most passionate about the companies they work for? Some certainly are. Senior living and eldercare services providers (at least the good ones) usually have many employees who love the company that employs them. These are your “brand cheerleaders,” “brand evangelists,” or “brand enthusiasts,” and they should be identified and empowered to spread their love for you. What’s a great way to help them do it? Social media. Social media tools like blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and online communities allow brand enthusiasts to easily channel their passion to hundreds, thousands, even millions of people in a very short period of time for little or no money. Ultimately this can translate into leads and sales.
So How Do You Do It?
- Identify your brand enthusiasts. These are your best employees. People you wouldn’t mind speaking out on behalf of your company.
- Encourage them to share. Let them share their passion and remove any obstacles in their way.
- Build them a platform. Like a company blog, a branded Twitter account, a Facebook Page, or branded Web Community to help them channel their love for you.
- Highlight company talent. Showcase your best employees and let them speak on your behalf. Put their photos and comments on your Web site.
Happy employees who love their employer can be a powerful marketing tool for any organization. The same principles can be applied to happy customers who love you. Harness this positive energy, provide a simple platform to channel it, and reap the rewards. How do you let your best employees and customers share the love?
www.flickr.com/photos/elvire-r/ / CC BY 2.0“>Image credit
What Every LTC Organization Needs To Know About Their Website
The New Social Web
The internet is the fastest growing global communications medium in history. According to Google, over 1.4 billion people use the internet today, and 200 million new users get online every year. For most LTC organizations, a company Web site is their tiny island in this vast ocean of information and technology; a relatively inexpensive way for the organization to help consumers find them and discover what they offer. But the internet is changing rapidly. The days of static, information-only company Web sites are over, and a new era of dynamic
online social media has begun.
Blogs, Webinars, wikis, podcasting, forums, list serves, e-books, viral videos, and online communities are transforming the way companies market themselves and connect with consumers. Smart companies and organizations around the world are adopting these technologies to build lasting relationships with customers, and engage prospects like never before. However, most long-term care organizations have yet to embrace these powerful online tools and company Web sites throughout the industry are showing signs of atrophy.
Today when Suzie Baby Boomer shops around for the best assisted living facility or home care agency for her mother, she does it online. What will she find when she lands on your website? What kind of online experience are you offering? How are you helping Suzie with the real-life problems and challenges she is facing as a caregiver? How well does your website represent your brand? What is your value proposition to Suzie, her mother, and the rest of her family; and how does it compare to the company down the street offering the exact same thing?
Your Web site
When customers, prospects or others visit your Web site, what do they experience? Take a look at any LTC organization Web site and what do you see? The vast majority have static Web pages that never change, with pictures and a bunch of canned messages like, “We provide exceptional, individualized care to your loved one,” or phrases like “compassionate staff,” “supportive services,” “safe, secure setting and home-like environment.” These are examples of what David Meerman Scott, award-winning marketing strategist and best-selling author, calls “gobbledygook.” When prospective customers see the same overused language (gobbledygook) on every Web site, they get suspicious, if not totally bored.
The fact is that most of the information provided on LTC company Web sites these days is a pitch about how wonderful the organization is. The messages are one-sided, controlled, and feel like a big press release for the organization. This model of using a Web site solely to advertise or promote your organization’s services is becoming outdated as social media technologies are moving into the mainstream and consumers have almost unlimited access to information from other outlets they perceive to be more credible than yours.
Today’s internet is social, interactive and dynamic and, as a result, customers are smarter than ever. Customers today want more than one-way, company-centric messages that tell them how great you are. Customers and prospects want informative content, participation, and dialog, not propaganda. They want authenticity and transparency, not controlled spin. Customers and prospects don’t expect LTC organizations to be perfect. But they do expect them to acknowledge that they are not, and to demonstrate that they are always working toward perfection. So, how does your website stack up?
Take look at your organization’s Web site from the prospective of your customers and prospects. Does it:
- help them solve their problems?
- provide them the information they need, when they need it?
- educate them with relevant, compelling, informative, and dynamic content?
- enable them to experience your organization and interact with the people who work there?
- brand your organization as a trusted resource?
- help customers and prospects connect with each other?
- demonstrate that your organization is worth doing business with?
- engage them and help them make purchase decisions over time?
Now think about your Web site from your perspective. Does it:
- help you build strong, lasting relationships with customers and prospects?
- enable you to communicate with them and show them that you really care?
- allow you to learn about what they think is important?
- foster a sense of community among staff, who otherwise may never connect with each other?
- honestly reflect the passion, commitment, and dedication of your staff, showcase their unique personalities, and demonstrate the exceptional care that they provide?
- set you apart from your competitors and convince prospects that YOU are the right choice?
If the honest answer to most or all of the questions above is NO, it may be time to re-think your Web site strategy. Your Web site should be a medium through which you build relationships with customers and prospects over time; a resource and support destination where customers, prospects, staff, and management can connect, communicate, collaborate, and share. LTC companies that embrace the social web and tap into its power will be rewarded by a new breed of smart consumer who is hungry for participation, unbiased information, and relevant content. Can you deliver?
For more information on how to transform your Website into a dynamic social hub, contact us.