Social Media Best Practices for Senior Living and LTC

Senior Living Companies: You Must Blog Now!

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What? Why?

If there's one thing every senior living company needs to have on their Website right now, its a blog. Why? First, a blog allows you to easily post dynamic content to your site, broadcast it across the Web for free, and puts your company on the social media grid. Second, your competitors are doing it. Third, your customers are all over it. Forth, done right, your blog will supercharge your SEO, establish you as a trusted resource, and drive prospects, potential partners, and potential employees to your Website. If you want proof, check out this interview with SeniorsforLiving.com. And finally, without one, you will become invisible online. 

Explain.

Every day, boomers with elderly parents, caregivers seeking senior living or eldercare solutions, and skilled employees looking for a good company to work for use the social Web and new media to search for answers and opportunities. Your blog is the place that can (and should) provide them with the information, advice, tips, resources, knowledge, skills, help, support, and opportunities they need. Unless your Website has social components (like a blog), its basically an online brochure with nothing more than canned marketing messages, fancy photos, and information about you. These days, that's not enough. You need more, and a good place to start is a blog. 

How? 

Setting up a blog is fairly easy. For companies on a serious budget, I recommend using WordPress, a free blogging platform that has all the features a company needs to get started. The more challenging aspect of having a blog, of course, is the blogging itself. Blogging takes time and has to be done right. But in this new world of social media, you can't afford not to do it. 

Here are 14 tips to help you succeed with a company blog: 

1. Pick the "Main Blogger." Someone in the company has to be responsible for posting to and maintaining the blog. That person should be someone who you trust to be the online voice of your company or organization. Staff like your conceirge, activity director, or marketer may be a good choice. Senior executives should contribute to the blog at least monthly. If you can get your department heads to post one article a month, that would be ideal. 
2. Be human. Write as though you're writing to a family member, not a faceless mass of people. Use your postings to connect with your audience through your own (or your company's) style and personality. Let YOU come through. Write in the first person, using "I" and write almost like you're having a conversation. Speak to your specific audience and always keep them in mind as you write. 
3. Be Helpful. I hate to say it, but nobody really cares about the fancy messaging on your company Website. Every senior living company Website says pretty much the same thing. So on your company blog, you want to give people fresh, honest, unique content and actionable information they can use today to make informed decisions and get stuff done. 
4. Break information into chunks. People typically don't like to read long drawn-out paragraphs.  Break up your paragraphs, use bullet points, use lists, and stay on topic.  If you want to cover other topics, it's better to write new posts covering those other topics. 
5. Use a captivating title. Your title should prompt people to want to read the post.  Use calls to action like, "Three Must-Read Books On Healthy Aging For 2009" or lists like, "15 Ways To Stay Connected To Family In Assisted Living."  Use all caps in the title. 
6. Post from experience. Boomers and seniors love stories and first-hand accounts. If you have personal experience in certain aspects of care giving for example, write about it. Use case studies; tell readers how you or your company solved a particular problem. This shows readers that you know what you're talking about and you're trust worthy. It can also begin to position you and your company as an authority on the subject. 
7. Write well. This cannot be taken for granted. I don't care how salient your post is, if it's poorly written, you will not be taken seriously. In fact, you can even damage your online reputation.
8. Use images. Always try to place an "intro image" at the beginning of a post. The image should have something to do with your content. Be mindful of copyright issues. Try to use images licensed under creative commons licensing. You can find a lot of these on Flikr. 
9. Post regularly. Readers are more likely to read your blog if you have a regular posting schedule. Post at least once per week, and stick to it. 
10. Market your blog. Syndicate your content out to other social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Put a link to your blog in your email signature and on business cards. 
11. Create a "sneeze page." A sneeze page is a blog post that reviews your previous blog posts and provides links to them. You can do this one a week or once a month, depending on how often you post. 
12. Link out. Whenever you reference something or someone that can be found on the internet, make it a link. Always give others credit for their work and link to their sites. At the bottom of your post, add your name, title, and a link to your main Website. 
13. Don't sell. People who read blogs don't want to be sold to.  They want interesting and informative content. Help your readers by providing them with this, not by trying to tell them on how great you your company is. If you provide great content, it will be a reflection of your company and will help you sell your brand organically. 
14. Don't give up. Blogging requires commitment and focus. While most of the time it's great fun, it can get tedious and time consuming sometimes. Don't let that stop you. Just push through and keep blogging. Your audience will appreciate it.

For senior living companies that want to go beyond just a blog to fully tap into the social web, I recommend setting up a branded online community, which combines a blog with other social media tools like member profiles, discussion forums, event calendars, photo galleries, and much more. You can learn more about the benefits of blogs, social media, and online communities at http://carenetworks.com/benefits.

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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.