Senior Living Industry
Seabury Retirement Community Talks Social Media
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.
_________________________________________________________________
Seabury is a premier New England retirment community that combines wellness, active lifestyle and healthcare on 66 acres in the Bloomfield Connecticut countryside. I recently connected with Courtenay Knox, Seabury’s Social Media Coordinator, who submitted this post.
Seabury has always been on the cutting edge of technology. We created our first webpage early on in the development of the “world wide web.” In fact, fellow organizations often ask us why our website is a “.com” rather than a “.org.” The reason for this is that Seabury developed its first website when the only domain available was “.com!”
With the advent of Web 2.0 and Social Media marketing, Seabury realized that to stay on top of our field we would have to move towards a more interactive and dynamic website. We wanted to be able to engage our audience with fresh content and pertinent, timely information on successful aging. We wanted to start a conversation with the world and let them know that Seabury is an expert on aging successfully. Historically, Seabury has always done this on a local level. We host experts in the field to present lectures to our residents, we publish articles in traditional print media, and we strive to offer services based on the most up-to-date research on successful aging. Because we have so much to offer our residents, why not share it with the world via our website, Twitter, Facebook, and blogging and more? And so began our journey towards social media.
Renee Bernasconi, Seabury’s Vice President of Marketing and Communications, knew that the key to launching a dynamic website would require daily maintenance. There would have to be a point person whose responsibility would be to write a blog and respond to comments, update Seabury’s Facebook status and send out informative “tweets.” This job would require someone with good writing and communications skills. Because Renee knew I had been writing Seabury’s monthly fitness bulletin for several years, she knew I had the skills necessary to write articles and cull valuable information that would be of interest to our audience. Thus the Social Media Coordinator position was born.
Renee and I began working with our IT company to develop a fully updated, user friendly, dynamic 2.0 web site. After many months of planning, the site was launched in mid-October 2010, and continues to grow. We consider the site to be a continually evolving entity as we further develop our tabs and constantly update content. Our home page has two “Latest News” tabs that are changed biweekly. We also have direct links to our Twitter and Facebook pages, both of which are updated on a daily basis, as well as links to our Flickr and YouTube sites. Also featured on our home page is a link to our blog: “We Know Aging.”
While our foray into Social Media is still in its infancy, we anticipate extended growth over the next few years as more and more people (especially those over 50) begin to accept social networking. We hope to establish a presence online by building a branded, customized blog, creating an exciting Facebook page, and attracting high-quality followers on Twitter. Ultimately, when consumers are searching the internet using key words such as “successful aging”, “active aging”, or “expert long term care”, we hope Seabury appears at the top of the fold.
In the meantime, we will continue to develop our site and create content as if we were receiving thousands of hits per day, so that when that day does come we are fully equipped to handle the volume!
Contact Information:
Courtenay Knox
200 Seabury Drive
Bloomfield, CT. 06002
Direct phone: 860-243-6007
Main phone: 860-286-0243
Toll free phone: 1-800-340-4709
Fax: 860-243-6072
courtenayknox@seaburyretirement.com
www.seaburyretirement.com
Like this post? Here are more like it:
- Beacon Hill Retirement Communities Launches Resident Blog – Smart Move
- How Senior Living and Eldercare Companies Can Build a Winning Social Media Team
- Can Social Media Convert Senior Living Prospects to Customers?
Need Help Building, Growing, or Managing Your Online Presence? Need a Speaker for an Upcoming Event? Hire The Guy Who Founded CareNetworks.
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.
___________________________________________________________
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 ‘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.
________________________________________________________
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.
CareNetworks Nominated for Best Senior Living Industry Blog and Website!
Don’t you just love it when somebody you don’t even know recognizes how awesome you are? That’s assuming, of course, that you are in fact awesome. Well the good folks at SeniorHomes.com set up a little contest to give people the opportunity to recognize awesomeness on the web and some lovely person out there nominated us for Best Senior Living Industry Blog and Website for 2011(and no, it wasn’t my mom). As Willie Wonka once said as he helped his guests off the chocolate river boat, “A small step for mankind, but a giant leap for us.” So, if you’re one of our socially savvy clients, a regular reader of this blog, or a member of one of our ultra hip online communities, help us get out the vote. Click here to cast your vote for us. If we win, we’ll hook you up with an all expenses paid trip to our chocolate factory, where all of the social media candy is made. Ah… that last line was a bit of a joke. Again, to quote Wonka, “A little nonsense now and then is cherished by the wisest men.” Thanks for your support!
Brian Geyser and the CareNetworks Crew
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.
Social Media Strategy: Learn How The Red Cross Does It
In my recent post on social media and HIPAA, I added a couple of resources to help you develop your own social media strategy. One of those resources included a link to the Red Cross Social Media Handbook, which includes a full PDF version of the handbook, an online communications guideline, and and a nice slide presentation that wraps it all together. The information covers the Red Cross social media strategy, national social media presence, a reference for how to create your own social media presence, social media best practices, and much more. If you’re thinking about getting into social media, or need to beef up your current social media strategy, these tools offer are a good reference for you. Here is the slide presentation. Let me know what you think.