Online Communities
How ‘Open Community’ Applies to Senior Living, LTC, and Home Care
Here at CareNetworks, we’re taking part in the virtual book tour that our good friends Maddie Grant and Lindy Dreyer of SocialFish have launched to explore the concepts in their new book, Open Community: a little book of big ideas for associations navigating the social web. This post is Lindy’s take on the Open Community concept and why it’s important to you.
Building Community on the Web
We come from the association industry and for many of us “membership” people, community is old hat. It’s what we do. It’s central to our work. And yet, for some reason (actually a lot of reasons) what we know about community isn’t always translating well to building community online. Maddie and I have talked to thousands of association executives who have voiced their frustrations about the social web – from the overabundance of tools and the disorderly experimentation of staff and members, to the lack of organizational support and the unwieldy processes for monitoring and managing social media, and that’s just the beginning. It’s easy to get bogged down in the newness and the detail, and miss the bigger picture – not the 10,000-foot bigger picture, but the “just high enough to make practical sense” bigger picture.
What is “Open Community?”
So we started writing the book, and the idea that kept popping up is the concept of “Open Community.” Here’s the gist. Your Open Community is your people who are bonded by what your organization or company represents and care enough to talk to each other (hopefully about you!) online. To be clear, the Open Community concept is not about building an online community platform or internal, private social network. That could be one tactic in your arsenal, but one of the most important first steps toward building community online is accepting that your Open Community is out there, not just on your web site. Your stakeholders are connecting on their own terms in the social spaces where they spend the most time, and you need to be where they are. Sometimes, rather than hosting every conversation and leading every initiative, your company can (and should) simply be present and act as a supportive participant.
Open Community and You
The concepts we present in Open Community are important for the Senior Living, Long-Term Care and Home Care industries, too, because they get to the heart of why building community on the web can help companies like yours achieve business objectives. If you follow this blog, you already know why relationship building online is so valuable to companies and you already know that connecting with customers and prospects on the web is a smart business idea. Social sites like Facebook and Twitter are showing rocketing growth in usage among people age 50 and older (your audience) and therefore that social media sites can be a good way to interact with people in the places they are choosing to spend their time.
Engaging Your Open Community
But being able to harness what we call the “messy ecosystem” around your brand or your industry, being able to nurture and care for and engage the open community in which your staff, customers and prospects operate, those are the things that will lead to return on investment. How do you get your Open Community to rally for you – to share your ideas and content, to participate in your events or simply to spread good word-of-mouth about you. Unless you are able to build real relationships between real people, it cannot be done.
We hope our book will help you develop a good understanding of how to embrace the Open Communities around your companies – to engage them in the right way so that the full power of social media can be unleashed when you need it most.
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To purchase Open Community, click one of the following links:
- Open Community on Amazon
- Open Community on Kindle
- Open Community on SocialFish
- Open Community on Engage365
To learn more about how to put Open Community to work for your company, contact us.
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
Are You A Marketing Professional?
Are you a marketer in senior living, home health, private duty homecare, or hospice? Join our new free online marketing community specifically for built for you. Get all of the networking benefits of attending a conference without ever leaving your office. To check it out, 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.
How Senior Living & Eldercare Companies Can Build A Winning Social Media Team
Senior living and eldercare service providers who dabble in social media quickly realize that, in order to do it right, they need a small internal crew of Web savvy staffers who can manage and be responsible for the organization’s social media efforts. Just check out any of my recent interviews with industry organizations using social media to prove my point. Even if you decide to hire a pro to do some of the work for you, people inside the organization still need to be involved. Here are a few ways to build your internal social media team without breaking the bank:
- Identify your crew. Look for people from different departments (admin., marketing, recreation, nursing, social services, food services, dementia care) who are already using social media in their daily lives (Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, etc.) and who would be jazzed about helping your organization get into it, or get better at it.
- Recruit your best staff. Try to get your stars from each department involved, even if they’re not all social media savvy. Include your company’s social connectors, like your receptionist and your popular direct care staff, in the mix.
- Promote a social culture. Let everyone from staff to customers to partners know about your social media strategy, empower them to get involved, and give them tools to do it.
- Participate yourself. Top managers and senior leaders of the organization must participate on a regular basis, even if just once a week. It’s hard to get your staff involved, engaged and excited if you’re not stepping up too. Plus, you want to have the perspective of senior leaders added to the mix.
- Communicate expectations. Decide what you expect from each member of the team and put it in writing. Make sure each member is able to dedicate a little time each day or each week to meeting the expectations.
- Identify a social media manager. One person within the organization should ultimately be responsible for all social media activity, including posting content, monitoring social media outposts, and responding to company-related activity. The marketing person may be a good choice. Sometimes it makes sense to have two co-managers. You can also hire an external pro to do some of this for you, but you will still need a point person within your company to work with the pro. To get a sense of what a social media manager does, check out this list.
- Cover yourself first. Have policies and guidelines in place so everyone knows what they can and cannot do online. Make sure you address HIPAA in your policies.
- Measure progress. Set goals with time lines and develop ways to ensure that you are achieving them. Here are a few resources for measuring social media success:
- Social Media Success Doesn’t Start With ROI
- KDPaine’s PR Measurement Blog
- STATS: 84% Of Social Media Programs Don’t Measure ROI (make sure to check out all the comments on this post for some goodies!)
Getting Professional Help
For some organizations, it may make sense to hire a pro to do the heavy lifting. The benefits to having an outside seasoned professional on your team can far outweigh the costs. Their experience, objectivity, technical skill, and guidance can be invaluable in a social media world that just keeps changing. Just make sure the person has a verifiable social media and online community building track record. Ideally, the person would also have direct experience in the industry and segment your company belongs to. For more about professional social media services to our industry, visit carenetworks.com.
Oh, and you may want to aviod this guy:
Related Posts
- Online Communities: Let Your Best employees Do The Marketing For You
- What Is A Social Media Expert? [Video] Too Funny!
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.
Senior Living Companies: You Must Blog Now!
What? Why?
If there’s one thing every senior living company needs to have on their Website right now, its a blog. Why? First, a blog allows you to easily post dynamic content to your site, broadcast it across the Web for free, and puts your company on the social media grid. Second, your competitors are doing it. Third, your customers are all over it. Forth, done right, your blog will supercharge your SEO, establish you as a trusted resource, and drive prospects, potential partners, and potential employees to your Website. If you want proof, check out this interview with SeniorsforLiving.com. And finally, without one, you will become invisible online.
Explain.
Every day, boomers with elderly parents, caregivers seeking senior living or eldercare solutions, and skilled employees looking for a good company to work for use the social Web and new media to search for answers and opportunities. Your blog is the place that can (and should) provide them with the information, advice, tips, resources, knowledge, skills, help, support, and opportunities they need. Unless your Website has social components (like a blog), its basically an online brochure with nothing more than canned marketing messages, fancy photos, and information about you. These days, that’s not enough. You need more, and a good place to start is a blog.
How?
Setting up a blog is fairly easy. For companies on a serious budget, I recommend using WordPress, a free blogging platform that has all the features a company needs to get started. The more challenging aspect of having a blog, of course, is the blogging itself. Blogging takes time and has to be done right. But in this new world of social media, you can’t afford not to do it.
Here are 14 tips to help you succeed with a company blog:
- Pick the “Main Blogger.” Someone in the company has to be responsible for posting to and maintaining the blog. That person should be someone who you trust to be the online voice of your company or organization. Staff like your conceirge, activity director, or marketer may be a good choice. Senior executives should contribute to the blog at least monthly. If you can get your department heads to post one article a month, that would be ideal.
- Be human. Write as though you’re writing to a family member, not a faceless mass of people. Use your postings to connect with
your audience through your own (or your company’s) style and personality. Let YOU come through. Write in the first person, using “I” and
write almost like you’re having a conversation. Speak to your specific
audience and always keep them in mind as you write. - Be Helpful. I hate to say it, but nobody really cares about the fancy messaging on your company Website. Every senior living company Website says pretty much the same thing. So on your company blog, you want to give people fresh, honest, unique content and actionable information they can use today to make informed decisions and get stuff done.
- Break information into chunks. People typically don’t like to read long
drawn-out paragraphs. Break up your
paragraphs, use bullet points, use lists, and stay on topic. If you want to cover other topics, it’s
better to write new posts covering those other topics. - Use a captivating title. Your title should prompt people to want to read
the post. Use calls to action like, “Three
Must-Read Books On Healthy Aging For 2009″ or lists like, “15 Ways To Stay Connected To Family
In Assisted Living.” Use all caps in the
title. - Post from experience. Boomers and seniors love stories and first-hand accounts. If you have personal experience in certain aspects
of care giving for example, write about it. Use case studies; tell readers how you or your company solved a
particular problem. This shows readers
that you know what you’re talking about and you’re trust worthy. It can also begin to position you and your
company as an authority on the subject. - Write well. This cannot be taken for granted. I don’t care how salient your
post is, if it’s poorly written, you will not be taken seriously. In fact, you
can even damage your online reputation. - Use images. Always try to place an “intro image” at the beginning
of a
post. The image should have something to
do with your content.
Be mindful of copyright issues. Try to use images licensed under
creative
commons licensing. You can find a lot of
these on Flikr. - Post regularly. Readers are more likely to read your blog if you have a
regular posting schedule. Post at least
once per week, and stick to it. - Market your blog. Syndicate your content out to other social media sites
like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Put a link to your blog in your email signature and on business
cards. - Create a “sneeze page.” A sneeze page is a blog post that reviews your
previous blog posts and provides links to them. You can do this one a week or once a month, depending on how often you
post. - Link out. Whenever you reference something or someone that can be found on
the internet, make it a link. Always give others credit for their work and
link to their sites. At the bottom of
your post, add your name, title, and a link to your main Website. - Don’t sell. People who read blogs don’t want to be sold to. They want interesting and informative
content. Help your readers by providing
them with this, not by trying to tell them on how great you your company is. If you provide great content, it will be a
reflection of your company and will help you sell your brand organically. - Don’t give up. Blogging requires commitment and focus. While most of the time it’s great fun, it can get tedious and time consuming sometimes. Don’t let that stop you. Just push through and keep
blogging. Your audience will appreciate
it.
For senior living companies that want to go beyond just a blog to fully tap into the social web, I recommend setting up a branded online community, which combines a blog with other social media tools like member profiles, discussion forums, event calendars, photo galleries, and much more. You can learn more about the benefits of blogs, social media, and online communities at http://carenetworks.com/benefits.
Don’t forget to subscribe to our blog to get post like this delivered right to your inbox or RSS reader as they are published.
Related Posts:
- Blog, Twitter, Facebook = Big ROI at SeniorsforLiving.com
- 10 Reasons Why Your Company’s Blog Sucks
- Employer Branding: Using Social Media To Recruit Senior Care Staff
- How To Use Social Media To Grow Your Senior Living Or Eldercare Business
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:
California’s Largest Retirment Community Kicks Butt Using Social Media
This is the first 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 tool. If you would like to have your organization considered for inclusion, contact us.
Today we talk with Heather Rasmussen, Public Relations Specialist for Laguna Woods Village, the largest retirement community in California. We will present the interview in full and then provide some analysis and a summary with take away points at the end.
Company Profile
Formerly known as Leisure World, Laguna Woods Village is the largest retirement community in California, featuring 12,736 homes privately owned by approximately 18,000 residents. Laguna Woods Village is a gated, age-restricted community for active seniors. Just ten minutes from the Laguna Beach coastline, the Village is located on 3.8 square miles (2,100 acres) of rolling hillsides in south Orange County, California.
Interview
1. What online properties do you currently own/operate? (Website, Twitter, Facebook page, Linkedin, YouTube channel, etc.) Because we are such are large community, we have unique goals and challenges when it comes to using the Web and social media. Laguna Woods currently has a website, three marketing sites, and a Twitter account, which we started about a year ago.
Laguna Woods Main Website
Laguna Woods Marketing Site
Laguan Woods Village Twitter Site
2. Why did you choose these particular online properties? The web 2.0 plan for Laguna Woods Village is centered upon distribution of information to members of the community first, and marketing second. These sites currenlty help us achieve our goals.
3. Who manages your online properties? Our websites and Twitter page are managed by Laguna Woods Village staff. Our PR person, along with our web master manages most of the content. Typically, news and information is updated on the community’s main webpage, lagunawoodsvillage.com and is fed by RSS feed to other marketing websites and to Twitter. LagunaWoodsVillage.com even has an option for offline community clubs (there are over 200!) to create and administer their own webpage on the Laguna Woods Village website. Examples include Astronomy Club, Concerned Citizens of Laguna Woods Village, Republican Club, Democratic Club, Clown Club, Shuffle Board Club, Baby Boomers Club, and Science Club. The clubs produce their own content which helps with SEO and visitor interest.
Laguna Woods Village Club Pages
Laguan Woods Village Cat Club Page
4. How are you using each property and who do want to reach? Our website is a clearing house of information for current and potential residents. Current residents can read community news, be notified about upcoming maintenance schedules, download forms, read Board agendas and minutes, and view a community calendar of governance, recreation, class, and sports events. For new and potential residents, there is information about buying a home in Laguna Woods Village, resale and lease application forms, and over 80 downloadable floor plans.
Laguna Woods Village News Page
In terms of finding us online, our marketing pages are search-engine optimized. Visitors can request a brochure on Laguna Woods Village by filling out a simple form. Information on housing choices, amenities, and activities are included on the targeted marketing pages.
The Twitter account is targeted to community news and information that is of primary interest to current residents. The page is used like a “digest”, much like an RSS feed. Twitter followers are the first to know when news breaks in Laguna Woods Village. The Twitter account has also aided the Village’s search optimization efforts and has served as a good marketing tool. We weren’t planning on Twitter becoming a marketing tool, but it has all on its own.
5. Do you have a social media strategy? If So, What is it? Our social media policy is to consistently post and Tweet items that are interesting, informative, and relevant to our residents.
6. What is your primary goal for using social media? Our social media goal is currently evolving. In the beginning, Laguna Woods Village used Twitter just like an RSS feed. We publicized it to residents, and received a few dozen resident followers. Then, local businesses began to follow us, then people from all over the country. We’ve realized that, when maintained properly, Twitter can be a very powerful marketing tool.
7. Are you planning to expand your social media reach? Yes. YouTube is one consideration. Video is a very powerful medium. We can highlight community events and news better through video. We happen to have the luxury of having our own TV studio on the campus, so it’s a bit easier for us.
8. What are your biggest challenges so far? Creating good content consistently. Maintaining the online communications of Laguna Woods Village is literally a full time job.
9. Did you have to try to convince someone at your organization to try social media? Being a homeowners association, the staff at Laguna Woods Village had to convince a Board of Directors that social media and heightened online communications was a good idea. The Board is made up of eleven resident volunteers. Although some may believe that residents of a senior community are not web savvy, our Board embraced the idea wholeheartedly!
10. Is ROI an issue? ROI is hard to quantify. We know our social media efforts have clearly increased and improved communications with and between residents. We’ve also seen an enormous increase in people requesting tours. There’s no doubt that overall interest in our community has dramatically increased since starting our social media efforts.
11. What’s the one piece of advice you would give other senior living companies about getting into social media? Don’t be afraid to create a social media program. Websites like Facebook and Twitter make it very easy and cost effective to communicate to a large audience in a fun and fresh way. However, don’t create a social media program if you don’t have the resources to maintain it. It looks very unprofessional to have a social media account that is neglected or poorly maintained.
Summary and Analysis
For a community this size, its not surprising that Laguna Woods Village (LWV) has multiple websites. Their main site is very sophisticated compared to many other senior living companies, especially ones that are much smaller by comparison. That said, their main site is impressive and incorporates an incredible amount of helpful and easily accessible information for prospects, residents, financial institutions, agents, and other companies. It also has a FAQ section, calender, integrated search, and Club Pages with resident-generated content. The LWV site is, in a sense, and online community – an extension of the offline community.
What we don’t see on the LWV website, which is standard for most online communities these days, is a blog, discussion forums and member profiles. However, one could argue that the entire site is a giant decentralized news and information blog. Discussion forums would add value by allowing for more two-way dialog on the site and could enhance resident/family participation and engagement. Member profiles could help residents connect and network more easily, as well as capture leads.
One of the more intriguing features on the LWV site are the Club Pages, which allow community members who are part of a club to build a web page right on the LWV main site. There are more than 230 clubs, special interest groups and organizations at LWV and many of them have a unique Club Page.
LWV’s marketing sites are a smart adjunct to their main site as they provide an SEO boost (making it easier for prospects to find them on the web) as well as handy downloadable forms such as brochures, lease information sheets, and fact sheets – all designed make it simple for people visiting their sites to access helpful information.
Finally, the LWV Twitter account (their one social media outpost) seems to be paying off as both a communications and marketing tool.
Takeaway Points
- Your website is not enough. It’s important to have more than just a website these days. Senior living companies need to consider, at the very least, having a blog and additional online outposts such as a Twitter and/or Facebook page. A centralized online community on your website with multiple social media outposts is the best option.
- Participation rules. Having the ability for residents and others to create content on your site improves SEO and elevates the perception of your community to those who visit the site as a place that encourages inclusion, engagement and participation.
- Social media requires resources. Managing an online community with various social media outposts can be very time consuming and at least one staff person needs to responsible for overseeing all social media efforts.
- Your site should be a resource. Your website should be a place where people can easily access and download up-to-date information and resources that help them make decisions.
- Twitter has pros and cons. If done right, Twitter can be a powerful tool to improve communications with existing residents/families, extend your online reach, and drive people to your website. While Twitter is currently free, there is a learning curve and it takes time to properly maintain your Twitter account; and time is money!
- Good management is a must. Online communities and social media outposts like Twitter and Facebook that are poorly managed and/or look like digital ghost towns can be damaging to your brand.
- Content creation will likely be your biggest challenge.
The key is to provide consistent, relevant, and helpful content directed at your online audience and their needs. - Don’t get too focused on ROI. If your social media efforts are helping you to build better relationships with your prospects and customers, they are worth every penny. Oh, and by the way, as you can see from the successes of the Laguna Woods social media strategy, ROI means “Risk Of Ignoring.”
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.
For more information about Laguna Woods Village, contact Heather Rasmussen at 949-268-2292.
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.
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.