Posted by Brian Geyser on Fri, Jul 23, 2010 @ 01:12 PM
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.
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Posted by Brian Geyser on Tue, May 25, 2010 @ 09:08 AM
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?
Posted by Brian Geyser on Fri, Feb 26, 2010 @ 01:25 PM
Check out these staggering statistics in this cool video produced by Jesse Thomas. Is your company leveraging the social web to connect with customers and prospects?
JESS3 / The State of The Internet from Jesse Thomas on Vimeo.
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For more on how your company can benefit from social media and online community, contact us. You can also join our free Online Marketing Community for marketing professionals in senior living, homecare, LTC, and hospice. Just click the image blow:
Posted by Brian Geyser on Mon, Jan 25, 2010 @ 08:07 AM
In Part 1
of this series, we reviewed some of the important lessons we learned in 2009 from the world of social media as they apply to the senior living and long-term care industries. In this segment, we will look at lessons learned from interviews I did with real people within senior living and LTC companies who are actually using social media applications to drive business and improve the customer/prospect experience; and we look ahead to 2010 - the year that companies will "go social." To read all of the interviews in the Social Media Success Series, click here.
2009: What We Learned From The People Doing It
- The vast majority of senior living and LTC companies are not currently using social media. However, we are seeing a lot of evidence that this will change in 2010. Everyday, new blogs, Twitter accounts, Facebook Pages, and online communities are being launched by companies across the country in every segment of our industry.
- Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn seem to be the tools of choice right now in the industry. Blogs and branded online community sites are close behind.
- Most companies are attempting to dip their toes in the social media ocean by using internal resources. A few have hired professionals to launch their social media campaigns, or to take existing campaigns to the next level.
- Senior living and LTC companies are very interested in using social media tools to listen to what customers and prospects are saying, as well as to join in on the conversations.
- Social tools are helping companies build relationships with customers, prospects, partners and referrals sources.
- Several companies are using social media tools for recruiting and employer branding purposes.
- It often takes a team of people within each organization to manage the social media work load.
- Keeping up with advances in social technology is one of the biggest challenges companies face.
- Many senior living and LTC companies are hesitant to get into social media because they fear the things people may say about them online. They also worry about privacy and HIPAA issues.
- None of the companies we interviewed had formal social media policies or procedures in place.
- Companies are using social media to position themselves as online resources where customers and prospects can obtain helpful information about the challenges they are facing.
- Content creation and community management are two major challenges for companies in our industry.
- None of the companies we interviewed are particularly focused on ROI. They tend to be more interested in building relationships and brand awareness at this point and looking at social media as a long-term investment.
- Several companies are going all out and allowing residents, family members, and staff to post to their sites.
What To Expect In 2010
Based on trends in our industry and others, we can expect 2010 to be the year that senior living, homecare, LTC, and other eldercare providers begin adopting social media on a large scale. ALFA is dedicating resources to it, AARP has a major social media presence - including an online community, heck, even the Pope is getting in on the action!
The bottom line is that websites alone are no longer enough. The new social Web demands that companies use social tools to listen, communicate, engage, dialog, publish, support, respond, and, most importantly, build trusting relationships with customers. Here's a bonus SlideShare presentation from my favorite new media analyst, Jeremiah Owyang. Enjoy.
To learn more about using social media and online community for business, contact us. You can also join our free online marketing community specifically for senior living, home health, LTC, and hospice providers.
JOIN OUR FREE MARKETING COMMUNITY
Posted by Brian Geyser on Wed, Dec 30, 2009 @ 10:30 AM
This was the year that senior living, long-term care, homecare, and hospice providers began experimenting with social media. Social tools like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn; blogging/publishing platforms like WordPress; and white-label social/group networking platforms like Ning and Groupsite have started to penetrate these industry segments and are slowly beginning to change the way these companies are doing business. Even ALFA, the Assisted Living Federation of America, launched a social media initiative this year and is active on multiple social sites.
Since August when I launched this blog, I have posted many articles about companies in our industry, both small and large, that are beginning to use social technologies to derive business benefits. Some posts feature interviews with industry insiders who share their experiences and offer great insights into what's working, and what's not. Other articles provide information, tips, and resources designed to help your company navigate the social media landscape. In case you missed any, here is a list of my Top 10 Most Popular Posts for 2009:
- California's Largest Retirement Community Kicks Butt Using Social Media [Interview]
- Home Care Company Uses Twitter To Build Brand Awareness And More [Interview]
- 7 Best Social Media Tools For Senior Living And Long-Term Care
- Social Media And HIPAA: What You Need To Know
- Nation's Largest Senior Living Company Embraces Social Media [Interview]
- How Senior Living And Eldercare Companies Can Build A Winning Social Media Team
- Senior Living Companies: You Must Blog Now!
- Beacon Hill Retirement Community Launches Resident Blog - Smart Move
- Blog, Twitter, And Facebook = Big ROI At SeniorsForLiving.com [Interview]
- Web-Savvy Senior Living Companies Are Making The Move To Social Media. Are You?
What We Have Learned: A Year In Review [Part 1 of 2]
Below is a summary of important lessons from the world of social media as they apply to the senior living and long-term care industries, along with links to more detailed content if you want more juice:
- Social technologies are transformative and are here to stay. The statistics are mind blowing. This video drives that point home.
- The static, brochure-style website is going the way of the dinosaurs. Dynamic, interactive websites that encourage dialog and participation and help you build relationships with customers and prospects is where it's at. If you don't have social and community-building elements built into your website, it's time to rethink your online strategy.
- Your customers are online, in a big way, and they love social networking and social media. This video from MSNBC is one example. The fact that seniors are Facebook's fastest growing demographic, by far, is another.
- Many experts, including myself, believe that social media/networking can and will have a profound impact on the quality of life of seniors living at home and in retirement communities - allowing them to stay connected to friends and family like never before. This study from the University of Alabama, and others like it, aim to prove that point with real data.
- Social media can be used for employer branding purposes and to help you recruit top talent. Sites like LinkedIn and Twitter can help you attract and engage both management and care staff. Branded online communities, like the one over at Terrace Communities, can function as a recruiting tool by posting jobs in the discussion forums and asking prospective employees participate in the online community during the interview process.
- Privacy and HIPAA issues, while important in our industry, should not prevent companies from adopting social technologies. With the proper strategies, policies, and guidelines in place, senior living and LTC companies can safely participate on the social web.
- A company blog is a critical tool in the social media tool box. It can drive traffic to your site, position your company as a trusted resource, and help you build community on the web. Whether you have a company blog or have yet to build one, these articles can help with your blogging strategy.
- Keeping up with the fast paced world of social media can be a job in and of itself, and presents as one of the biggest challenges for companies in every industry. New tools and applications enter the market every day. For companies in our industry, these 7 tools are the best place to start.
- Most senior living and LTC companies I've interviewed believe that social media ROI is difficult, if not impossible, to measure. Lucky for us, a couple of smart social media pros have shown that this is not necessarily the case. These articles cover the all-important ROI issue.
In part 2 of this series, which will be published next week, I will summarize what we learned from the interviews I conducted in the Social Media Success Series.
Build Your Social Media Presence In 2010
Thinking about starting a company blog? Interested in getting into social media but don't know where to start? Fascinated by the prospect of online community? Contact us. CareNetworks is the only company dedicated soley to providing social media strategy and solutions to senior living and LTC providers.
Brian Geyser, APRN-BC, MSN is a clinician, consultant, educator, blogger, social media strategist, online community manager and the founder of Carenetworks, LLC. He blogs regularly here at Carenetworks.com and would love to connect with you on Twitter, Linkedin, and/or Facebook.
Posted by Brian Geyser on Mon, Nov 30, 2009 @ 01:57 PM
As we've seen from my Social Media Success interview series and related posts, innovative senior living and LTC companies are beginning to discover the many benefits of social media and online community. These early adopters are paving the way for everyone else as they discover what works, and what doesn't on the social Web. Based on these posts, I've compiled a list (not in any particular order) of the top seven social media tools for the industry, along with some descriptions of why they made the list and how they can help your organization.
Social media is not a panacea. Your online presence and activities won't replace the relationships you build with residents and families and the great work you do in the physical world. However, used properly, these tools can accelerate your growth by helping you expand your online reach, attract and engage new customers, build relationships with prospects, and participate in the online conversations. Here's the list:
- Twitter. Noelle Kurth, Marketing Director for At Home Personal Care in Mesa, AZ showed us in this post that Twitter can be an easy, powerful, and free tool for networking with other professionals, broadcasting news and information about your company, recruiting, and building brand awareness. Twitter can help you build a community around your brand as well as keep you on top of important industry news and events in real time. By syndicating content from your blog or website to Twitter, you can build a following, enable sharing of your content, and drive traffic back to your website.
- Facebook. If there is one place online that you can bet many of your customers and prospects are hanging out, it's Facebook. Building a Facebook Page is a smart move for companies in our industry because it allows you to tap into an existing popular online community of boomers and seniors that's growing by the minute, literally. People who already have a Facebook account (and there's only about 300 million last I checked) can easily follow and engage with your company. The best part is that they can easily share their love for you with their friends. Like Twitter, Facebook Pages can be used to syndicate blog content, post news, information, and events, and share other multimedia content (like YouTube videos) with your followers. And like Twitter, Facebook can be used to help with employer branding and recruiting.
- Linkedin. This is THE social network for professionals. If you're a senior living or LTC professional, you should have a free Linkedin account. Linkedin allows you to build a professional network, share content, post job openings, research prospects, join industry groups, participate in forums, scan industry news, and much more.
- Blog. These days, a company blog is an essential tool in the online arsenal. I review the details of why you need a company blog in this post, but the bottom line is that a blog is a fantastic tool for building community, and for many companies, it can serve as a social media hub. Content and links are currency on the new social Web, and a blog allows you to publish content and distribute that content to your social media outposts like Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin. From there, your community can share your content with their friends - driving traffic back to your blog and website organically. This is called inbound marketing and it's much more powerful these days than in-your-face interruptive marketing. Another creative way to use a blog is to build one for your customers to use, like Beacon Hill Retirement Community did. You can check out an example of that here.
- YouTube. My friends over at Brookdale Senior Living do some good stuff with YouTube. Here's an example. YouTube makes it very easy to publish video content to your Website. If you have a blog, it's even easier to take your YouTube videos and embed them right into your posts. Video is an incredibly powerful medium, and with little or no money, you can create fantastic video content that your Twitter and Facebook fans will love (and share).
- Branded Online Community. For a more comprehensive social media solution (and here's the shameless plug for my business), a branded online community like the ones built by Terrace Communities and Living Well Assisted Living At Home may be your best bet. Branded online communities have a distinct advantage over using, say, Facebook to build community in that you have much more control over the platform, the features, the branding, the ads, and the content. Most community platforms include a blog and discussion forums and some, like the ones mentioned above, come with community calendars, file cabinets, and photo galleries - all of which can be syndicated to your social media outposts like Twitter, Linkedin, and Facebook. Learn more about branded online communities here.
- Email. Yes that's right, I said email. Email is actually the largest and most popular (by far) social media and online community platform in the world. If you think about it, anybody who uses email has an address book filled with the contact information of people in their various networks - and they connect, communicate, and share with their networks via email all the time. Tools like eNewsletters using platforms like MailChimp and ConstantContact can be a great way to stay in touch with your customers and provide them with interesting news and information (with linkbacks to your site or blog) that they can pass on to their email networks.
While all of these tools take proper strategy, resources, and time, the potential benefits to your organization, your customers, your staff, and your prospects are clear. Social networks and social media are fundamentally changing the way your customers and prospects learn, evaluate and ultimately make decisions. Social tools like the ones mentioned above are increasingly influential in marketing and sales practices. Customers seek evidence online to validate decisions and get instant feedback from their peers through social networks. By joining the conversation and giving people an opportunity to connect with you online, you have the ability to educate, inform, support and engage your audience in new ways never before possible. Are you using social media?
Related Posts
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Brian Geyser, APRN-BC, MSN is a clinician, consultant, educator,
blogger, online community manager and the founder of Carenetworks, LLC. He blogs
regularly here at Carenetworks.com and would love to connect with you
on Twitter, Linkedin, and/or Facebook.
Posted by Brian Geyser on Fri, Nov 06, 2009 @ 12:24 PM
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
Interview
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
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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.
Posted by Brian Geyser on Fri, Sep 04, 2009 @ 09:48 AM
The Assisted Living Federation of America (ALFA) now has a section on their website called "Social Media 101" which shows off some of their new "ALFA 2.0" initiatives and provides links to their new blog (ALFA Re:Source 2.0) and various social media outposts including Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Linkedin, and Widgetbox. It's great to see organizations like ALFA finally getting into the game. AARP has taken it one step further by adding an online community their site - a very smart move. ALFA will be examining social media strategies among senior living companies in the September/October issue of Assisted Living Executive, so keep an eye out for that. We will be covering that story here as soon as it's published. We need to see more stories from industry leaders about innovative senior living companies like Terrace Communities and Living Well Assisted Living at Home who are using online communities and social media to reach a wider audience and engage their customers, prospects, staff, and referral sources in new ways. We will keep you posted on the ALFA 2.0 initiative as it develops. In the mean time, if you are a senior living company or eldercare service provider using social media, tell us your story.