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 Wed, Apr 21, 2010 @ 08:56 AM
When people begin the process of finding and researching senior living, eldercare, homecare or long-term care options, chances are, at some point they turn to Google. Google has a great free tool for businesses called Google Places
that allows local companies to take command of their listings on Google search results, keep track of traffic stats, customize their listing on Google Maps and more. If you're not already using it, I suggest you give give it a try. Here's a short video explaining the service:
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 Wed, Oct 28, 2009 @ 12:00 PM
Here's a great example of a senior living company building an online community using a blog as their platform. Beacon Hill Retirement Community, located in Lombard, Illinois, recently set up and launched a resident-owned "online magazine" called "Let's Talk" built on the popular blogging platform WordPress. The blog allows residents (average age of 86) to publish multimedia content to the site including articles, videos, photos, menus, polls, and more.
According to the marketing firm that helped Beacon Hill set up the blog, nearly 1500 visitors have visited the site to date. Fresh content is added to the site over 50 times per month with an average of 23 feature stories designed to appeal to seniors and their adult children along with other items geared to resident's interests. A Beacon Hill resident committee helps steer and develop content by telling management what they want to read, link to, write themselves; and also how to promote the site to other residents, peers and family members.
Management is also helping to promote the use of the site. They have installed two computers in common areas that are dedicated to Let's Talk; they've added special suggestion boxes in the dining areas; they promote the site in the monthly newsletter; and local TV stations have apparently picked up on the story.
Beacon Hill's marketing firm created the site and assists with community engagement, content creation, site management, evaluation metrics and strategy. According to the firm, Let's Talk is becoming as popular with the resident's as Nintendo Wii and the site is helping with marketing to prospects.
This is just another example of what the future holds for senior living and eldercare as more and more seniors take to the social web and social media marketing moves into the mainstream.
To learn more about how online community and social media can benefit your senior living, homecare, or eldercare company, visit CareNetworks.com. To ensure you continue to get great articles and news like this delivered as it's published, subcribe to our blog.
Related Articles
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 Wed, Oct 21, 2009 @ 05:01 PM
Having trouble getting noticed online? Feeling depressed about your social media failings? Overwhelmed with social media overload? This new drug just may help...Too Funny!
Posted by Brian Geyser on Wed, Sep 23, 2009 @ 08:04 AM
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.
Posted by Brian Geyser on Mon, Aug 31, 2009 @ 12:37 PM
The best marketing is free.
Most professional caregivers are passionate about what they do, but are most passionate about the companies they work for? Some certainly are. Senior living and eldercare services providers (at least the good ones) usually have many employees who love the company that employs them. These are your “brand cheerleaders,” “brand evangelists,” or “brand enthusiasts,” and they should be identified and empowered to spread their love for you. What’s a great way to help them do it? Social media. Social media tools like blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and online communities allow brand enthusiasts to easily channel their passion to hundreds, thousands, even millions of people in a very short period of time for little or no money. Ultimately this can translate into leads and sales.
So How Do You Do It?
- Identify your brand enthusiasts. These are your best employees. People you wouldn't mind speaking out on behalf of your company.
- Encourage them to share. Let them share their passion and remove any obstacles in their way.
- Build them a platform. Like a company blog, a branded Twitter account, a Facebook Page, or branded Web Community to help them channel their love for you.
- Highlight company talent. Showcase your best employees and let them speak on your behalf. Put their photos and comments on your Web site.
Happy employees who love their employer can be a powerful marketing tool for any organization. The same principles can be applied to happy customers who love you. Harness this positive energy, provide a simple platform to channel it, and reap the rewards. How do you let your best employees and customers share the love?
www.flickr.com/photos/elvire-r/ / CC BY 2.0">Image credit
Posted by Brian Geyser on Fri, Aug 21, 2009 @ 10:34 AM
The New Social Web
The internet is the fastest growing global communications medium in
history. According to Google, over 1.4 billion people use the internet
today, and 200 million new users get online every year. For most LTC
organizations, a company Web site is their tiny island in this vast
ocean of information and technology; a relatively inexpensive way for
the organization to help consumers find them and discover what they
offer. But the internet is changing rapidly. The days of static,
information-only company Web sites are over, and a new era of dynamic
online social media has begun.
Blogs, Webinars, wikis, podcasting, forums, list serves, e-books,
viral videos, and online communities are transforming the way companies
market themselves and connect with consumers. Smart companies and
organizations around the world are adopting these technologies to build
lasting relationships with customers, and engage prospects like never
before. However, most long-term care organizations have yet to embrace
these powerful online tools and company Web sites throughout the
industry are showing signs of atrophy.
Today when Suzie Baby Boomer shops around for the best assisted
living facility or home care agency for her mother, she does it
online. What will she find when she lands on your website? What kind
of online experience are you offering? How are you helping
Suzie with the real-life problems and challenges she is facing as a
caregiver? How well does your website represent your brand? What is
your value proposition to Suzie, her mother, and the rest of her
family; and how does it compare to the company down the street offering
the exact same thing?
Your Web site
When customers, prospects or others visit your Web site, what do they experience?
Take a look at any LTC organization Web site and what do you see? The
vast majority have static Web pages that never change, with pictures
and a bunch of canned messages like, “We provide exceptional,
individualized care to your loved one,” or phrases like “compassionate
staff,” “supportive services,” “safe, secure setting and home-like
environment.” These are examples of what David Meerman Scott,
award-winning marketing strategist and best-selling author, calls
“gobbledygook.” When prospective customers see the same overused
language (gobbledygook) on every Web site, they get suspicious, if not
totally bored.
The fact is that most of the information provided on LTC company Web
sites these days is a pitch about how wonderful the organization is.
The messages are one-sided, controlled, and feel like a big press
release for the organization. This model of using a Web site solely to
advertise or promote your organization’s services is becoming
outdated as social media technologies are moving into the mainstream
and consumers have almost unlimited access to information from other
outlets they perceive to be more credible than yours.
Today’s internet is social, interactive and dynamic and, as a
result, customers are smarter than ever. Customers today want more
than one-way, company-centric messages that tell them how great you
are. Customers and prospects want informative content, participation,
and dialog, not propaganda. They want authenticity and transparency,
not controlled spin. Customers and prospects don’t expect LTC
organizations to be perfect. But they do expect them to acknowledge
that they are not, and to demonstrate that they are always working toward perfection. So, how does your website stack up?
Take look at your organization’s Web site from the prospective of your customers and prospects. Does it:
- help them solve their problems?
- provide them the information they need, when they need it?
- educate them with relevant, compelling, informative, and dynamic content?
- enable them to experience your organization and interact with the people who work there?
- brand your organization as a trusted resource?
- help customers and prospects connect with each other?
- demonstrate that your organization is worth doing business with?
- engage them and help them make purchase decisions over time?
Now think about your Web site from your perspective. Does it:
- help you build strong, lasting relationships with customers and prospects?
- enable you to communicate with them and show them that you really care?
- allow you to learn about what they think is important?
- foster a sense of community among staff, who otherwise may never connect with each other?
- honestly reflect the passion, commitment, and dedication
of your staff, showcase their unique personalities, and demonstrate the
exceptional care that they provide?
- set you apart from your competitors and convince prospects that YOU are the right choice.
If the honest answer to most or all of the questions above
is NO, it may be time to re-think your Web site strategy. Your Web
site should be a medium through which you build relationships with
customers and prospects over time; a resource and support destination
where customers, prospects, staff, and management can connect,
communicate, collaborate, and share. LTC companies that embrace the
social web and tap into its power will be rewarded by a new breed of
smart consumer who is hungry for participation, unbiased information,
and relevant content. Can you deliver?