Posted by Brian Geyser on Mon, Aug 30, 2010 @ 09:43 AM
An increasing number of senior living, LTC, and home care companies are using social technolgies like Facebook, Linkedin, Youtube, and Ning to engage customers, employees, and prospects and to build a community presence on the web. Companies like Terrace Communities and organizations like ALFA are leading the pack in this space. One of the biggest challenges companies face is lack of involvement and participation from community members. Launching a Facebook Page is pretty easy. Building a vibrant engaged community around your brand on Facebook or any other community platform and extracting value from it is hard.
There are lots of mistakes companies can make with their new online community sites. These blunders can produce "ghost town" communities with nothing but virtual crickets and tumbleweeds representing the brand - not good. So how can your company avoid the virtual ghost town senario? Here a few pointers:
Build community around your members, not your brand. Remember this: your online community is not about you, it's about the members. Focus most of the activities on what is important to the members. Be community-centric, not brand-centric. Increased involvement (and probably sales) will likely be a nice by-product of this approach. To quote social media expert Chris Brogan, "To me, the new unit of business should be relationships. You get more fruit from an apple tree if you nurture it and pick apples when it’s ripe, instead of uprooting the tree and forcefully shaking the apples into your barrel. It takes a bit longer, but you’re a farmer and a steward, not a machinist."
Find your champions. Seed the community with members who are committed to its purpose, who care about the community, its members and its mission. Find employee champions who are dedicated to the cause and empower them to participate.
Keep content fresh and relevant. Know what your members want and deliver it on a regular basis. Post fresh content to the site twice a week, add photos and videos every other week, start or join a discussion several time per week.
Be informative. Offer interesting content that will help members solve their problems. What are the biggest problems your customers and their family members face? Provide content related to those problems.
Build a reputation as an expert. In your staff, family members, and residents, your organization has many experts in many fields. Allow these people to share their expertise in the forums or in a blog post.
Be persistent. You can't expect to build a large vibrant community overnight. Online communities are like marathons, not sprints - gardens, not fast food joints. Nurture, and keep at it.
Welcome new members and encourage them to participate. Send new members a personalized welcome message, make them feel at home, and teach them how to get involved. Avoid sending canned welcome messages.
Create interactions and contributions around your services. Foster opportunities for customers, prospects, and staff to talk about your brand. This is called "social commerce" and it can be a powerful tool to drive interest AND sales.
Focus on inspiring, not perspiring. Don't worry so much about how many people are visiting the site, how many members you have, and how many prospects who visit the site convert to sales. It's more important to focus on creating authentic emotional connectedness, interesting conversations, and a sense of purpose within the community. The rest will take care of itself.
Have a good community manager. Your community manager can help with everything listed above and can be a catalyst for growth and a partner for success. What does a community manager do? A lot. Here's a list.
What other things can you think of that will ensure the success of your online community?
Like this post? Here are more like it:
Need Help Building, Growing, or Managing Your Online Community? Hire The Guy Who Wrote This Post.
Posted by Brian Geyser on Fri, May 07, 2010 @ 06:14 PM
I am excited to announce that Terrace Communities Online (TCO), our first ever senior living social media project, has just won a Best Practice Award from the Assisted Living Federation of America (ALFA).
TCO was launched back in September of 2008 as a kind of "senior living social experiment" when I approached Robert Murano, COO of Terrace Communities with a proposal to build a private online community for his seven assisted living residences. The idea was to use social networking and social collaboration technology to connect the Terrace Communities ecosystem together under a branded virtual umbrella - allowing residents, family members, staff, referral sources, partners, and other stakeholders to connect, communicate, collaborate and share. Since then, 19,000 unique visitors have made 50,000 visits to TCO* and the community keeps growing.
Here's a SlideShare of the full article in the May/June issue of Assisted Living Executive. The Terrace Communities piece is on the last page. If you would rather read the article on the ALFA site, click here. Enjoy!
*These statistics are different from the stats quoted in the ALFA article because data give to ALFA for the article were incorrect. We mistakenly left out date ranges from our Google analytics report when we reported to ALFA. Ooops!
Check out some other cool posts:
Brian Geyser, APRN-BC, MSN is a clinician, consultant, educator, blogger, online community manager, social media strategist, 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, 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.
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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, Dec 21, 2009 @ 08:38 AM
Lately, I've been asked a lot about how hospice companies are using social media. While I have not found many examples, I did run across this pioneering organization, The Community Hospice, based out of New York State. They are building a branded online community and social media hub on their website (smart move) and connecting it to various outposts such as Facebook, Digg, Twitter, and StumbleUpon. They also use video pretty effectively to promote their services through interviews of actual clients/patients. Here's a screen shot of their community page:
I'll be reaching out to The Community Hospice to see if they're interested in being interviewed. Hospice organizations around the country could learn a thing or two about what they are doing to build community on the Web.
Related Posts:
Need A Company Blog?
CareNetworks is now helping senior living and LTC companies build awesome corporate blogs on the WordPress platform. If you've been thinking about starting a company blog, contact us. We'll help you figure out the best solution for your organization. At the very least, read these posts:
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, Dec 02, 2009 @ 05:26 PM
So I'm wandering around the farmers market at Bishop's Orchards in Guilford, Connecticut, where I occasionally shop for produce, and posted throughout the store are these signs asking me to become a fan of Bishop's on Facebook, and that if I did, they would donate $1 to a local charity. Being a social media guy and a true fan of Bishop's, I decided I better check it out.
When I got home, I unpacked the produced, jumped on my laptop in the kitchen, and headed over to Facebook to look up Bishop's Fan Page. When I got there, I was frankly astonished at what I saw. Little old Bishop's Orchards Market, the relatively small grocery store where I like to get fresh produce after riding my mountain bike in the woods, had 5,036 fans. Holy crap! Not only that, their Facebook page was very active, pretty sophisticated, and had a very engaged fan base.
Bishops uses their Facebook page to keep customers and fans informed about events, sales and other items of interest. They regularly post photos of customers and organize charity events and fund raisers for local sports teams and community organizations. They keep fans engaged by holding contests and promoting their Facebook page on their website and in their store.
Bishop's clearly has someone at their company who manages their Facebook Page because the content is always fresh (kind of like their produce) and the fans are clearly engaged. While Facebook itself is free, the person who is managing their Facebook Page is not. That person has to take time to develop and evolve Bishop's Facebook strategy, regularly post relevant content to the site, respond to fan comments, promote the site to new fans, and create engaging campaigns to keep existing fans coming back. That is the investment Bishop's is making in building, growing, and maintaining their online community. Are they getting a positive return on this investment? All you have to do is take one look at their Facebook Page to figure out the answer:
Through their Facebook Page, Bishop's has direct access to over five thousand customers that voluntarily signed up to follow the company's activities on a social media site. I think ROI has been established.
This is a great example of one business building community using a popular social media tool. Now if Bishops can do it, every senior living and senior services company in the country can too. Whether or not you use Facebook, or another social media tool depends on your strategy, which I will cover in more detail in future posts. Great work Bishop's!
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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 Wed, Nov 18, 2009 @ 12:47 PM
At the 2009 Online Community Summit in Sonoma, CA, companies from around the world met to discuss best practices in social collaboration and online community. Vida Killian, of Dell's Idea Storm Community, was there and she shared a few minutes of her wisdom with Bill Johnston of Forum One Networks in this 3 minute video below. In the video, Vida discusses the value online community for Dell and their customers. What can our industry learn from companies like Dell who are on the cutting edge of social technology? Is online community even applicable to senior living, homecare, eldercare, long-term care, or hospice organizations? What do you think?
Related Posts
Posted by Brian Geyser on Mon, Nov 16, 2009 @ 09:55 AM
"Why the heck would any senior living company want to invest in an online community? What's the big whoop about all this social media babble anyway? I need to see some hard figures. What's the ROI?"
Sound familiar? It kind of reminds me of back in the '90's when companies were still trying to decide if they should have a Website. "I mean, why do we need a Website? People can just look us up in the phone book." That statement is laughable now, but the same phenomenon is occurring today when it comes to social media. While some progressive senior living companies have seen the light, most are still either burying their heads in the sand or just don't get it (yet). The fact is, the vast majority of senior living company websites today are static, information-only billboards that don't allow for user interaction, participation, or engagement. Smart senior living companies are capitalizing on the new social Web by building online communities for their audience, joining the conversations, and combining information with participation.
Wait, lets back up. What exactly is social media anyway? Well, according to Wikipedia, social media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing tools (like blogs, wikis, discussion forums, shared videos, etc.). It supports the human need for social interaction with technology, transforming broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogs (many to many). Social media supports the democratization of knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers.
"Got it. So, what's an online community?" An online community is simply a group of people who have something in common and who gather together using social media tools to connect, communicate, collaborate, and share. Everyday, millions of people with common interests or facing similar challenges create, join, and contribute to online communities; and business in every industry have taken notice.
"Okay, so how do I apply this to my business?" Senior living companies are in the business of community. An online community is simply a natural extension of what you already do everyday. Senior living communities are vibrant, dynamic places made up of residents, family members, staff, outside professionals, referral sources, and many others. The interactions, conversations, and activities that happen everyday in your offline community, can (and should) also be happening online. An online community can have marketing and operational benefits for you, and, more importantly, can provide a host of benefits to your residents, family members, and staff.
"Yeah, that's all great, but (and here is the dreaded ROI question) what's the ROI? I need to see some hard data." Okay, I'll show you some data in a minute, but let me first ask you a few questions.
- What's the ROI for that Veteran's Day event you held last week? You spent $1,700 on food, decorations, the bag pipers, and flyers. How do you measure ROI there?
- What's the ROI of your phone system?
- What's the ROI of your email system?
- How much would it be worth to have the ability for prospects to easily find you online and have an open dialog with your sales and marketing team, your clinical team, or your executive team anytime, from anywhere?
- What's the value of providing a platform where staff can post articles with photos about the amazing things going on in your community every day; you can easily communicate company news to the world; and family members can stay in touch with their loved ones or reach out to staff for support?
Okay, now back to your ROI question. This video should cover it...
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 @ 09:22 AM
Am I living in the dark? We don't have T.V. in our house (by choice) so maybe you've all seen this, but I just ran across it and had to post. Not only is the trailer cool and the seniors in it an inspiration, but they have a fantastic online community built on Ning too! Gotta Dance is an independent documentary film about the senior dance group, The New Jersey NetSationals, and it's been getting rave reviews. Check out the trailer below and let me know what you think.
Find more videos like this on Gotta Dance With Us
Posted by Brian Geyser on Sun, Oct 18, 2009 @ 07:24 PM
One question I'm always asked about when it comes to health care or senior care and social media is, "What about HIPAA?" Online privacy and security are important issues, especially on the new social Web. But I have good news for the those folks in health care, senior care, home care, hospice, and dementia care who want to start using social media but fear HIPAA: It's not as complicated as you think. In fact, it's all about common sense. Below I provide a brief overview of the main issues, three examples of health care/senior living organizations effectively using social media without violating HIPAA, and some resources for developing your own social media and online communications policies.
HIPAA & Social Media
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires that a patient's identity and personal health information be protected (also called Protected Health Information, or PHI). Health care providers who violate HIPAA can face stiff penalties, including fines up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment for up to 10 years for knowingly misusing individually identifiable health information. As a result, many care-related organizations shy away from deploying social media, blogs, and online communities due to fear of HIPAA violations. This is unfortunate as these organizations are missing out on the many opportunities and benefits that social technologies offer.
Senior living companies, homecare agencies, skilled nursing facilities, hospitals and the like, should feel free to engage in social media - as long as mechanisms to secure PHI are employed. Information posted to blogs, Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, or online communities by health care companies should be prepared for public consumption and each organization engaging in social media should have policies and guidelines related to social media and online communications in place prior to deploying these technologies. Here are three examples of health care and senior care organizations using social media, as well as some social media policies and online communications guidelines for your reference:
Innovis Health
Innovis Health is a non-profit hospital and health care organization based out of Fargo North Dakota. Innovis has a blog (shown below) plus Twitter, Facebook (show below), YouTube, and Flikr accounts. On the blog, Innovis publishes hospital news and general health news. This content is then syndicated out to their Twitter and Facebook accounts. The blog also features a Twitter feed - showing Innovis Twitter activity in real-time. The Innovis YouTube channel features hospital commercials and local news coverage. Their Flikr account displays photos of their various facilities, their staff, and marketing images from different marketing campaigns. This complement of social media tools allows Innovis to broadcast their message, engage a following, and drive traffic back to their website.
There's very little patient-specific information on any of their social media properties, however, the blog does feature two stories about babies that were born at the hospital during a March 2009 flood, including parent names and, in one case, a photo of the new parents with their infant. The assumption here is that the parents gave Innovis specific written permission to publish these stories (a must if you plan to publish PHI or patient identity).
Innovis Health Blog
Innovis Health Facebook Page
Children's Hospital L.A.
Children's Hospital L.A. actually encourages patients and families to tell their stories on the hospital website. The way they work within HIPPA rules is by employing a 3-step process where the person submitting the story must:
- Review a "Use and Access" Statement
- Review the hospital HIPAA policy
- Fill out a secure online form where the story, images, and any links are uploaded to and reviewed by hospital staff for approval prior to being posted to the site for public viewing
Children's Hosptial L.A. "Share Your Story" Page
Children's hospital L.A. "Use & Access" Statement
This is a shrewd business move on the hospital's part because it allows them to publish vetted positive stories from actual patients - which clearly has marketing benefits - without violating HIPAA.
Terrace Communities
Terrace Communities is a group of seven assisted living residences located in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Florida. Terrace uses a member-only, public facing branded online community to connect residents, staff, and family members from all seven facilities. Members have unique profile pages and can participate in discussions, post to the group blog, add to the calendar, and upload photos to the galleries. Below you can see the community homepage with a photo of a Terrace resident and her son prominently displayed.
Terrace Communities
Notice that, like Children's Hospital L.A., Terrace Communities encourages their members to interact and post content to the community website. Also, as you can see from the screenshot below, Terrace regularly posts photos of and stories about residents, family members, and staff to their community site. One difference here is that residents of Terrace communities are NOT considered or referred to as "patients." Therefore, while privacy and information security are issues for Terrace, HIPAA is not a major concern. Terrace does have each resident and family sign a generic photo release form allowing them to publish photos on their website and in marketing materials.
Terrace Communities (Cont.)
Conclusion
Blogs, social media, and online communities can be powerful tools for organizations to broadcast news and information, as well as engage prospects and customers. The vast majority of what health care and senior care organizations publish using social technologies has nothing to do with PHI. As long as organizations take proper measures to ensure that Protected Health Information is kept private and secure there's nothing to fear. If you are going to publish patient photos or stories, get a written release. Of course, it's always possible that a rogue employee who doesn't follow the rules can violate HIPAA, but that can happen offline even more easily than online - and should not be a reason to avoid getting into social media. Additionally, proper social media management allows companies to monitor posted content and quickly remove anything inappropriate. The following resources can help you get started developing your own social media policies.
Resources
Related Posts
References
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.