Posted by Brian Geyser on Wed, Aug 25, 2010 @ 12:16 PM
Mayo Clinic just announced in this press release that they have created a new Center for Social Media. They say that the Center "exists to improve health globally by accelerating effective application of social media tools throughout Mayo Clinic and spurring broader and deeper engagement in social media by hospitals, medical professionals and patients."
Since 2008, Mayo has been using social media tools for employee engagement and, over time, they have become a shining example of how health care institutions can leverage social media to educate and inform the public.
Lee Aase, Mayo's Manager for Syndications and Social Media, also created Social Media University Global (SMUG), a free online resource for learning about all things social media. You can visit SMUG's Facebook Page here.
In this video, Dr. Victor Montori, Mayo's Medical Director of the new Center, discusses this potentially revolutionary new venture.
Need help with your social media initiatives? Contact us for a free social media assessment. We won't try to sell you anything, we promise:-)
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 Sun, Jul 18, 2010 @ 12:58 PM
After months o
f data collection, story boarding, editing, and motion graphic experimentation, we've finally completed and uploaded our first YouTube video. I want to thank Steve Povilonis for the many hours of work he put in on this project. Also, thanks to Eric Qualman, who's Social Media Revolution video, which to date has been viewed over 2 million times, inspired us to create this one. Finally, thanks to all of the early-adopter senior living and home care companies featured in the video. You're all pioneering social media best practices for the industry.
We plan to update the video each year with the latest stats and hottest social companies from the industry, so if you think your company is worthy of inclusion in the 2011 version, let us know. Enjoy.
Posted by Brian Geyser on Tue, Jun 29, 2010 @ 09:00 AM
I co-manage a vibrant online community for senior care marketers called the Daily Grind, and every so often, I pose a question to the community members. Back in April, 2010, I asked this: If you could ask any question about social media as it relates to our industry, what would it be? Many people responded. You can view the entire thread here. Below is a summary of some of the questions, and the answers I gave...
1. How do I find a credible vendor that I can trust that understands social media. What should I look for when selecting a vendor?
Look for a vendor that has a good track record of using social media for their own business. If the vendor is not blogging, using Twitter and Facebook, etc. successfully themselves, they cannot do a good job helping you. Also, if they tell you social media is easy and will provide huge returns, run. Finally, try to use someone with knowledge of and experience in our industry.
2. How do I overcome the IT department's lack of support?
Education. Education. Education. IT departments need to develop a meaningful understanding of how social technologies both inside and outside the corporate firewall can benefit, and possibly harm, the company. Those of us within companies that have this knowledge need to demonstrate the transformative potential of social technologies to IT and other stakeholders. We need to champion the cause. We need to bring these tools to the right people and prove their value.
3. How do I find the time to manage social media?
The first and most obvious answer is you need to make time - you can't afford not to. Find things you spend time doing in your week that are not working and replace them with new media initiatives. Your customers make time to get online to do research and make purchasing decisions and your competitors make time to provide your customers with information and help them with purchasing decisions. But beyond that, you need to develop a strategy that keeps you focused on the business goals of the tools you choose to use. Pull to together a team of internal folks and disperse the work load. If you need to, hire a pro to help you out.
4. We don't have the money to invest in the development of social media. What does an on line community cost?
I can't be more clear about this - you can't afford not to invest some resources in social media. The longer you wait, the more invisible you become. Early adopters will have a distinct advantage in this space as time goes on. This has been proven by large companies like Zappos and Coke. If you have the right people in your organization - staff who use social technologies in their personal lives - and you dedicate some time to the cause, you can start using social media for very little up front cost.
5. What does it typically cost to start using social media?
See above. If you do it on your own, it could only costs your time. Then again, time is money, so it's going to cost you money regardless of how you do it. Right now I'm working with a small homecare company that has chosen to "go social" using me as their guide. They are dedicating $1000 per month to the effort and together we are going to transform their online presence over the course of 6-12 months. They elected to shift dollars away from T.V. and radio ads that were not producing desired results and move that money into a social strategy. This is just one example and cost can vary. There are generally three ways to do this: 1. Do-it-Yourself (DIY), 2. Done-for-You (DFY), 3. Done-with-You (DWY). I prefer the Done-with-You approach and that's how I work with my clients.
6. How do we get our residents families to participate in our social media?
By marketing your social sites effectively and giving them a reason to participate. First, they have to know about the sites and how to access them. Second, if you have a blog or Twitter account and all you ever do is shout about how great you are, nobody will care. You have to provide value in order for people to keep coming back. See my articles, "What Every LTC Organization Needs to Know About Their Website" and "Ten Reasons Why Your Company's Blog Sucks" for more on this.
7. Are videos the way to go and how does it affect our SEO?
Absolutely YES to both. Video is taking over the internet and can drive tons of traffic to your site. I refer you to this article
I wrote on Brookdale Senior Living. Take a look at the video on the bottom of the post. You should also take a look at Brookdale's YouTube Channel
- It's awesome! They know how to rock video and are a model for how YouTube can be used by senior living/LTC companies for everything from marketing to SEO, to customer support. Finally, check out "HOW TO: Boost Your SEO with a YouTube Channel" which was just published by Mashable.
For more discussion on social media best practices for senior living, LTC and home care, join us over at Daily Grind and/or consider a free membership in ALFA's new online community ALFA Exchange, where you can dialog with me and other pros in the Social Media Best Practices Forum.
Posted by Brian Geyser on Fri, May 28, 2010 @ 04:22 PM
Elder Care Marketing Industry Report
Ryan Malone of Elder Care Marketer recently published results of a study in a white paper called the Elder Care Marketing Industry Report. The study surveyed 160 elder care marketers to glean insights into their marketing habits, what tools they use, and what impact social media has on their business. I've embedded the entire report below. It's definitely worth checking out. Nice job Ryan! You can find Ryan on Twitter , LinkedIn ,Facebook or YouTube.
Here are the social media highlights from the Report:
- Small companies (1-50 employees) are twice as likely than big companies (50-500+ employees) to use social media in their marketing
- Overall, LinkedIn and Facebook are the most popular for marketing purposes
- Marketers spend an average of 6.6 hours per week on social media and would like to learn most about Twitter and blogs
- Interest is high in learning more about social media tools, which reflects the overall recognition of social media as a marketing vehicle
- Small businesses used a much broader base of social media tools than large businesses for marketing purposes
- Both B2B and B2C businesses benefited most from social media through increased mailing lists, traffic and subscribers, generating leads and creating partnerships.
- B2C reported a high increase in search rankings and B2B
businesses reported a higher benefit for identifying new products more often
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 Wed, May 19, 2010 @ 08:46 AM
I recently spoke at the LTC-100 Conference in Key Biscayne, FL about the use of social media/social networking in senior living and long-term care. The room was packed with C-level executives who were simultaneously fascinated and frightened by the topic and my analysis of the subject. The fact is that senior living executives need to begin to embrace these new social technologies and, over time, become fluent in social media in order to keep their companies (and themselves) relevant. Why do I say this? Consider these facts:
- The Internet as we know it is only 14 years old
- Facebook alone has over 500 million active users and by numbers is the 3rd largest country in the world behind China and India - Yes Facebook's population outnumbers the U.S.
- The fastest growing demographic on Facebook is Boomers and Seniors
- The fastest growing segment on Facebook is females age 55-65
- 47% of Boomers maintain a profile on the social web
- In 2009 there were 18 million active online seniors
- Seniors spend 58 hours per month online
- 96% of Millennials have joined a social network
Many of the questions posed by the executives attending the conference related to getting started; best practices; privacy,HIPAA, and risk; resources/time; and ROI. With this in mind, I started a group on the new ALFA Exchange online community to address these very issues. You can check out the first discussion post here where I share a fantastic case study of a senior living company that clearly is leading the pack in this space. If you're a senior living or LTC professional and are not a member of ALFA's new online community, it may be worth exploring.
Related Posts:
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 Fri, Apr 23, 2010 @ 12:56 PM
Senior living communities are dynamic, social places. Every senior living community offers a unique blend of people, environment, activity, culture, and energy. Whether you're an active adult retirement community, an assisted living residence, a CCRC, or a skilled nursing facility, new media tools (like Facebook, Twitter, and blogs) and community platforms (like Groupsite.com and Ning) can help you put your physical community's style and personality on display to the world.
But, they can also help you do a whole lot more. Here are just some of the many things these Web 2.0 technologies can help your organization do:
Set yourself apart from the competition. Most senior living companies are not yet using social media, but the ones who are will have a leg up as social media goes mainstream.
Expand your online reach and drive traffic to your website. Google now uses a social media index in its search algorithm. A senior living company with little or no social media presence is increasingly irrelevant to Goolge.
Engage prospects, nurture leads, and drive sales. Social media tools allow you to have a 2-way conversation with the people you are trying to attract - seniors and their adult children.
Publish company news as it happens and create buzz for community news, activities and events. Now anyone in your organization can post information to your website in real-time, keeping content relevant, fresh, and sharable.
Post information about jobs and recruit top talent. Job seekers are increasingly using social media as a way to find jobs and connect with companies in the senior living and long-term care industries.
Gain new business insights and stay on top of best practices. Everyday, senior living professionals from around the country share their thoughts and experiences via Twitter, Facebook, and other online communities.
Build better relationships. Build your professional network, develop relationships with potential partners, connect with new referral sources, and enhance existing relationships.
Provide a platform for word-of-mouth. Allow your best residents/families to share their love for you with the world. Give them a place to post information, perspectives, stories, and tips.
Provide support. Help residents and family members get the answers and support they need in a faster, more efficient way.
Share best practices. Share knowledge and insights across your organization in real time and keep that knowledge stored forever in a searchable database. Provide a place to capture and exchange knowledge and information - positioning your company as an experienced expert and trusted resource.
Related Posts:
Posted by Brian Geyser on Fri, Apr 23, 2010 @ 12:25 PM
In case you missed it, the cover story in the March 2010 issue of Provider Magazine is all about how retirement communities, nursing facilities, assisted living residences and CCRCs are beginning to discover the operational and marketing benefits of social media - something I've been writing about for almost two years. I've embedded the entire article below for your viewing pleasure, but here are some of the highlights:
Ignore Social Media at Your Own Peril
- The internet is playing an increasingly important role in the lives of baby boomers caring for sick or elderly loved ones. Social media and social networks are changing the way people learn and make decisions.
- Your brand is no longer what you say it is, it's what others say it is. Social media helps companies learn about their stakeholders and their priorities - how they make decisions and what they value.
- Your competition is already in the game. An increasing number of senior living communities are using Facebook and other social tools to keep residents and families connected and to enhance corporate communications.
- Despite the above fact, there is still a misconception among many senior living executives and long-term care providers that social media tools would not be used by residents, family members, or prospects.
- Baby boomers who are seeking care for a loved one value word-of-mouth recommendation, expert opinions, and trusted brands - all of which can be enhanced using social tools.
How To Start
- First off, don't let fear stop you. Social media is a process, not an event. It's always better to be part of the conversation. It does not replace traditional relationship-building, marketing, PR, or communications - it augments and enhances them.
- Start with a clear strategy. Answer the questions: who are you trying to reach, what are your goals, how are you going achieve them, who is going to do the work, what kinds of policies do you need in place, and how are you going to measure success.
- Consider your audience: residents, staff, family members, referral sources, business partners, prospects, potential donors, potential employees, the media, legislators, and other possible stakeholders.
- Consider hiring a pro. You have a brand and a reputation to protect. Delegating social media to an intern, in experienced staff member, or volunteer could be a costly mistake.
Provider Magazine March 2010_________________________________________________________________________
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 and executives in senior living, homecare, LTC, and hospice. Just click the image blow: