Success Series
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 2 [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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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. To view part one, click here.
Q: What is your total “reach” on all your social sites (i.e. how many individuals do you have direct conctact with via FB, Twitter, Blog, RSS, email, etc.)?
We currently have a total of 2220 fans on Facebook that we interact with pretty regularly. We actually found that our number of fans go up regularly by about 5-10 fans per day. During contests and various other promotional seasons, this doubles or even triples each day. Likewise, our Twitter account consists of roughly 470 followers who many times reposts and shares our posts. I don’t have the exact numbers for Blog RSS and Email subscription but it’s a large number!
Q: Have you been able to capture leads using social media?
Capturing leads through Social Media was never really our goal so unfortunately, I do not have any data on this. Some of the metrics we look for however are how many visitors are coming from Twitter and Facebook to our website? How many visitors are going from Emeritus.com to our social media outlets? The numbers vary quite a bit but our social media do drive quite a traffic. This is because almost everything we post on our social media are directly from our corporate blog and resource center. Since one of our goals is brand reputation management, we’ve had potential customers inquiring about our services on Facebook. This is usually followed by many employees in the field, other residents, as well as our marketing team to direct them to the right page on Emeritus.com to get them the best information they seek. In cases like these, I think they certainly have aided in converting the lead into a move-in.
Q: Have you been able to attribute any move-ins directly to social media? Do you have any data or comments on ROI?
We unfortunately do not have any solid data on ROI. However, as stated in the question above, we work to direct our fans and viewers on our SM to the right places for whatever information they may be seeking. Once in awhile, we’ll get potential customers asking for information from a specific community. We make sure to message them and direct them to the right contacts to find the information. Likewise, we work closely with each community to make sure they reach out to these customers as soon as possible.
It is also truly great to see that when a resident moves in to a community, we’ve had many family members as well as residents themselves who post up a quick testimonial and great feedback on the experience they’ve had so far. It has been a blessing through social media to see that!
Q: Can you share some data on how social media has impacted your overall web presence?
Each month, I check our analytics tool to see what kind of traffic our Social Media outlets are driving to our website. We found that our Facebook page drives anywhere between 500 to 1,500 visits to our website each month. During seasonal promotion and contest months, the number of visits can spike up quite a bit.
It’s great that you mentioned SEO enhancements. As an online marketing specialist at Emeritus, SEO is definitely one of the biggest initiatives we have at Emeritus. One thing many social media marketers tend to forget is how great of a link building opportunity Facebook and Twitter is. It’s a great opportunity to directly show a fan base exactly what they are looking for. We’ve found that by sharing our resources, there are a lot of third party vendors as well as customers who are more than willing to share the resources on their blogs and websites. It seems to work great because we regularly see industry blogs linking to our website for our contests as well as resources and guides we provide!
Q: Do you think social media enhances your other marketing/PR initiatives/campaigns?
Our social media definitely does enhance other marketing campaigns. I won’t say it dictates our initiatives but its just one more outlet we can utilize to promote our marketing campaigns. If we are sending out a press release on various events or newsworthy updates, we post them directly onto our social media. What better ways to keep our customers directly updated with our happenings than through social media? This way, they’re able to give us direct feedback on what their thoughts are. We get quite an excited response when we post news articles!
We also work very closely with our marketing team and PR team. A lot of times, we post news articles that are picked up from our press releases so what better way to enhance our presence than to use social media!
Q: What are the downsides to using social media? Do you have any horror stories or crisis incidents to share?
One of the downsides, which also happens to be a great upside, is that it is completely open to the public. Our Facebook profile is 100% open to the public. Fans can post whatever they’d like and we try our best not to delete them, but to address them appropriately. We’ve seen viewers post negative comments that are borderline slandering, but unless they are completely out of line, we still address them accordingly.
One incident we had awhile ago was that a former employee, who was a bit disgruntled by their experience with Emeritus, created a fake account to post many negative comments. We unfortunately were not able to find out who the specific employee was, but again, by addressing each negative comment accordingly, they stopped posting fairly quickly.
It helps a lot when our customers and family members also help in addressing the issue. A negative comment is usually followed by a reply from a customer or family members with great positive testimonials.
Q: Do you have social media policies in place?
We currently do not have a formal SM policy in place but we are actually working in collaboration with our Human Resource Department to get this in place. Originally, we left it somewhat open with the idea that our main policy is to manage and address everything that happens on our social media venues. When we first opened up our Facebook profile, it was actually not open to the public. We simply posted resources and news articles which didn’t help others interact with us. So we finally opened our page to the public and the only thing we really wanted to maintain was a positive atmosphere and community where we address things in a positive manner, address any issues that come about, and most importantly, provide our fans with fresh, new posts on a daily basis.
Now that our Facebook and Twitter profiles have grown to a much bigger scale than what we had originally started with, we feel that having a solid structure and guideline will help manage our profiles a bit better.
Comment:
Emeritus’ Facebook Page alone is an amazing example of how LTC companies can use free social media tools to expand their reach, engage customers and prospects, and build community around their brand. Emeritus may just have the best Facebook community in the industry right now. Kudos to the Emeritus team, and thanks for the interview!
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To learn more about how to leverage social media for your senior living company, retirement community, skilled nursing facility, home care agency or hospice organization, contact us.
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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.
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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 Works in Home Care [CASE STUDY]
Back in September 2009, I interviewed Noelle Kurth, Corporate Communications Director (and social media marketing machine) for At Home Personal Care based out of Salt Lake City, Utah. The article, “Home Care Company Uses Twitter to Build Brand Awareness and More,” is one of our most popular posts. At that time, Noelle was helping the company design and build a new website and social media hub to replace their traditional brochure-style website.
Recently I decided to check in with Noelle to see how the new site was serving her and the company. Here’s what she had to say:
Thanks for checking in! Wow, our new site has definitely served us well over the last 4-5 months!
When creating the new site, I knew we had to utilize a “contact form” in order to capture data for our leads. This has been the biggest difference. Users can fill out our specific form to include fields like who is in need of care, care level, location, email, phone, etc. Then I can distribute the leads based on location and our care managers can follow up on them. Most recently, our Utah office turned a web lead into a $5,000 a month client!
I have been working diligently at driving traffic to our site and keeping our content “fresh” with new articles, videos, etc. We have seen definite improvements in our Utah and Texas market as far as SEO. I use Google Analytics to track progress. In 4 ½ months, we have had 16,015 page views with an average of 4:23 seconds time on site. 76.63% are new visitors and we have a nice mix of traffic coming from direct, search engines, and referring sites. I use link building tactics, social media, and our email campaigns to help promote the site. I have also redesigned most of our promotional items and print material to include our web address. Some of our material did not have it included previously.
I also implemented some online web “contests.” We partnered with a National Gift Basket Company and hold different contests depending on the holiday or time of year. During our Mothers Day Contest, we saw a 700% spike in traffic during the course of the contest, which was about a month. Each market promotes the contest with press releases, social media, and general networking. The Gift Company also promotes the contest on their site and social media outlets, so it’s a win-win. We do other fun things like “Caregiver of the month” etc. and promote with social media.
Not only have our patients and families commented on how well designed the site is, but also our referring partners and community alliances. I have even had competitors comment on our site. Its all very exciting and we are happy with the results thus far.
- Noelle
Now for a look at the new site compared to the old one…
OLD SITE
NEW SITE
The new AHPC website incorporates a search engine, contact forms, social bookmarking and sharing capability, a blog, and ample opportunity to engage visitors on various social outposts like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
Hats off to Noelle and the AHPC team for designing a great site that serves as both a resource destination and a social media hub for visitors and a lead generator and relationship builder for the company. As you can see from Noelle’s note, positive results do not come easy. She spends a ton of time nurturing the hub and it’s various outposts, creating content, building partnerships, monitoring for comments and inquiries, and designing engaging campaigns that – like gravity – pull people into the site’s orbit. So, if you think you’re simply going to launch a Facebook page and have a volunteer or intern manage it for one hour per week and suddenly get results, think again. Noelle is a skilled social media practitioner with all of the qualities necessary to help her company succeed in this socially networked world.
If you don’t have a social media rock star like Noelle Kurth at your senior living, home care, or LTC company, but you want to leverage social media for your business, contact us, we may be able to help. And yes, that is a call to action;-)
Kudos to Colby Wright of CW Design for his work on AHPC site.
Related Posts:
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?
For Immanuel Senior Living, Social Media is a No-Brainer [Part 2]
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.
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For this post, we pick up where we left off with Roxann Rogers Meyer, Director of Sales/Marketing for Immanuel Senior Living, the leading provider of senior living in Nebraska. For Part 1 of this interview, click here.
12. What is your primary goal for using social media?
To get people to understand senior housing options and to be a trusted resource in the community for retirement living. Our goal is to transform lives through innovative programs and services for seniors and their families.
Immanuel Senior Living On Facebook
13. Are you planning to expand your social media reach?
We continue to look at more ways we can reach people with new social media tools and we’re looking at industry experts to see what they’re doing
14. Are people responding to your social media efforts?
Yes, people are responding. Lora recently shot video with the Flip Cam of one of our community’s Christmas parties and put it on our website and social media sites including Facebook, Youtube and Twitter and we received a response from a fan on Youtube who commented, “Original human interest adds to your videos. Great job.” Another time Lora put pictures up on Facebook about a recent fund raising event that took place at our community and also tweeted about it and received a response from someone who had attended, telling us what a fabulous event it was.
15. Have you seen a return on your investment so far?
It’s hard to put a hard dollar amount on the value of social media, but I think educating the public and helping them understand what active aging is all about is priceless.
16. What are your biggest challenges so far?
The number one goal of our marketing department is maintaining our occupancy goals. We exist to support the senior living consultants at each of our communities in reaching prospective residents and adult children. So we’re adding social media to our traditional marketing and communication strategies. It doesn’t replace what we’re currently doing. Time management is another important factor to consider and also doing things that make sense. Other challenges include staying on top of the current trends in social media.
17. Did you have to try to convince someone at your organization to try social media?
I had to create a presentation for the executive leadership team on the value of being involved in the conversation. Especially when you see the numbers and the amount of actual dollars attached to it, it’s not hard to convince your CEO and CFO that it’s money/time well spent.
18. Are employees on board with your efforts?
Yes, employees are excited by what we’re doing, They’re following us, watching the videos and commenting on what’s going on. They also forward our stories and videos on to their family and friends.
Immanuel Senior Living On Twitter
19.How are you measuring success?
By the number of followers and fans, how often our communities are featured in Google, and how often the media is picking up on the stories that we’re doing.
20. It sounds like your success measures, while important, don’t necessarily translate into sales or a higher, more stable census (your stated number one goal). How can your executives justify the expense of engaging in social media if you’re not able to prove that it’s having a direct effect on the bottom line?
Our executives justify the importance of being involved in social media because, above all, it’s vital to be part of the conversation. And while it may not necessarily translate into a reservation right now, it begins the conversation and may turn into something in the future. In addition, Immanuel Senior Living also measures success by the number of people we educate about who we are, what senior living is all about, and the benefits of staying active in a retirement community. I think that if you can show someone—be it a prospective resident, an adult child or even a grandchild— what their loved one is up to and the amount of fun they’re having/activities they’re taking part in—that’s worth it.
Recently I also put up a couple of winter pictures of one of our communities, with the caption, “Baby it’s cold outside. Glad we’re staying warm and cozy at the Village, where the fire is so delightful so let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!” There was a response from a person on Facebook—who’s not even a fan, but is a prospective resident, who said, “I want to live here….someday.” To me, that begins the conversation and gets people to think about senior living in an entirely new way.
21. Can you offer another interesting short story about your social media efforts thus far?
We shot a short 2 ½ minute video of an 89 year old resident who directs the resident chime choir at one of our communities and tweeted it and put it up on our Facebook Page and Youtube Channel. I then pitched it to the media who were able to view exactly what I was pitching. They in turn decided to come out and film the video for themselves and turned out to be a great story.
Also, we sponsored an Aging Conference and I shot a video of the dancing grannies – ladies who range in age from 62-82 years old. I put the video
up on our social media outlets and, currently, it’s been viewed 179 times and has a five star rating. Also, Immanuel Senior Living has been featured in a blog on how senior living communities should brand their Youtube channel. Here’s an example of one of Immanuel’s YouTube videos:
22. 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?
Don’t just post something about your community. Look around and find interesting articles, blogs, tweets, etc. that you can share with your fans or followers of active seniors in general, what other communities are doing, or just a quote. It encourages collaboration and not silos. it also shows that you’re keeping in step with what’s going on in the world. Also, with social media, it’s constant—you can’t just post something and a month later, post again. You constantly have to monitor, check and react to it.
Contact Information
Roxann Rogers Meyer, Director of Sales/Marketing
rrogers@ihsi.org 6757 Newport Ave. Suite 200 Omaha, NE 68152
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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:
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.
Blog, Twitter, & Facebook = Big ROI at SeniorsforLiving.com
This is the third post in our new Social Media Success Series, which features interviews with innovative senior living, eldercare, home care, and dementia care companies who are using social media as a business/marketing tool. If you would like to have your organization considered for inclusion, contact us.
In this interview, Gina LaGuardia, Editorial Director at SeniorsforLiving.com shares some fantastic insights about how they are using Twitter, Facebook and a company blog to drive traffic to their Website, establish strategic alliances, nurture relationships, listen to and learn from others in the industry, extend their online reach, and build brand awareness.
Company Profile
SeniorsforLiving.com is a free consumer service that helps seniors and their families research, evaluate, compare and connect with quality assisted living, independent living, retirement communities, and other senior care providers.
Interview
1. What online properties, aside from your website, do you own/operate? We have a Twitter and Facebook account, plus a company blog on our Website.
Website
2. Why did you choose those? My personal experiences on Twitter have been immensely successful and edifying to my professional growth, so it made sense to try this for our business as well. As for Facebook, the statistics show tremendous growth in usage by baby boomers and seniors, and that’s our target audience. Our blog is our main content “voice.” Though we typically publish new features on our “Articles & Resources Page,” our blog — consistently updated five days a week — enables us to talk about current topics within the senior housing and senior care space/boomer trends/etc.
3. Who manages your blog, Twitter & Facebook accounts? I’m the editorial director for the company and I manage them. I have two bloggers who contribute to the blog, and I manage all posts. One blogger is a public policy coordinator for the Alzheimer’s Association and a former activities director at an assisted living community; the other works in health care.
4. How much time does it take you to manage the accounts per week? We are active on Twitter at least five days a week at various points throughout the day and night. We are in the process of allocating additional time to our Facebook group. On the blog, we update posts everyday, so it’s a full-time effort. 
5. How are you using each and who do want to reach? Twitter has been an invaluable source for connecting with other professionals in our industry who have similar interests and target markets. Although many of our followers may be perceived as “competition,” the potential for establishing business development and affiliate relationships has far outweighed any of those concerns. We are also primarily utilizing Twitter and Facebook to deploy content from our blog and establish a working partnership with other blogs and sites that provide content around similar issues.
One project I am particularly proud of that has developed from our initiative on Twitter is our Seniors/Boomers: News You Can Use blog carnival, which ensures high page views with each installment and numerous linkbacks (great for SEO), as well as increasing our blog readership and keeping us abreast of topics being discussed about senior housing/caregiving/boomer issues, etc.
We also regularly feature guest bloggers’ contributions on our blog based on synergies either between our two companies and/or the sharing of a common interests/goals. We do not pay for guest blogs, but we typically “blog post swap” where we also contribute a post to their site/blog. Without our blog, we wouldn’t have much “meat” to engage our SM followers with, so I’d say that is the means to the end. The tool I most enjoy and from which I personally derive the most value is Twitter.
6. Do you have a social media strategy? We definitely have a strategy — that is, to use social media to engage potential users and/or those who care deeply about seniors. As I mentioned, the relationships we have made has served to enhance our business, hone our editorial message, and enable us to emerge as a leader among online senior housing/senior care directories.
7. What is your primary goal for using social media? To increase branding for our site across social networks, establish ourselves as a content leader in the space, and affiliate with those who are equally passionate about seniors and providing the best care for loved ones.
8. Are you planning to expand your social media reach? Yes, we are planning to increase our footprint on Facebook in coming months and are considering LinkedIn as another avenue for expansion.
9. Are people responding? They are, and those with whom we have connected have proven helpful both in terms of expanding our base of knowledge about issues related to senior housing and senior care and in expanding our audience. Social media is truly a community of colleagues and friends. The key is to find people with whom you share interests, goals, and passion. For us, we regularly watch the #seniors, #boomers, and #caregiving hashtags (on Twitter) and conduct those (and related) keyword searches. What may begin as a business initiative to garner a mass to whom you can share news of your services, offerings, products, etc. will turn into a group of people you respect, rely on for information, advice, and insight, etc. It’s truly an amazing thing to watch evolve and flourish!
10. What are your biggest challenges so far? There is a time issue…. The best cultivation of social media, in my opinion, is enhanced by an adequate investment of time.
11. Did you have to try to convince someone at your organization to try social media? The management of SeniorsforLiving.com has been very supportive of our social media efforts, and the rewards are plentiful — from increased site visits and SM referrals to connecting with our partners and clients online.
12. Are employees on board with your efforts? Yes, although I am the only representative Tweeting at this time.
13. How are you measuring success? We are monitoring success via page referrals from the SM sites, linkbacks to content hubs, feedback from clients and users, etc.
14. Can you tell if your social media activities, including the blog, have actually affected your bottom line? Have you garnered actual paying customers because of your blog, twitter or facebook accounts? We have certainly reaped an increase of traffic thanks to those users who have discovered us via our various SM endeavors. Additionally, the linkbacks garnered as a result of SM are very effective for our SEO initiatives. We have also made quite a mark with our partner communities and providers who are watching our SM efforts and seeking us out as they climb aboard themselves.
15. 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 should be an important aspect to your online marketing plan. The potential to connect with customers and potential customers is ever evolving and never ceases to amaze me. Smart companies will not only converse with others about their services and offerings, but about the everyday challenges of senior housing and senior care. It should be about relationship building, not drumming up business.
___________________________________________________________________
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 SeniorsforLiving.com, contact:
Doug Johnson | EVP-Sales & Marketing | Seniors for Living | P: 212-490-6290 x227| F: 212-490-6296 or visit them online at SeniorsforLiving.com, Twitter, or Facebook. My thanks to Gina LaGuardia for taking the time to share her amazing insights!
Related Posts
- California’s Largest Retirement Community Kicks Butt Using Social Media
- Homecare Company Uses Twitter To Build Brand Awareness & More
- Web Savvy Senior Living Companies Are Making The Move To Social Media. Are You?
- Social Media: Are You Ready? [Great Video]
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.
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.