Social Media Best Practices for Senior Living and LTC

Interview: Home Care Company Uses Twitter To Build Brand Awareness And More

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Today we talk with Noelle Kurth, Marketing Director for At Home Personal Care, a Mesa, Arizona based company that provides affordable home care services for elderly and disabled people. We will present the interview in full and then provide some analysis and a summary with take away points at the end.

At Home Personal Care Website

1. What online properties, aside from your website, do you own/operate (Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, YouTube, Flikr, etc.)?

Twitter , Facebook & Constant Contact for our monthly e-communication. We've been using Twitter for about three months and Facebook for two months. We are also launching a new Website in October (hopefully) which will have a main corporate site with pages dedicated to each of our five offices. The new site will also include a video and a blog where we will post information on senior/elder topics, company events, letters from clients/families, etc. 

Twitter Page 

Facebook Fan Page

2. Why did you choose those? 

Twitter because there is a wealth of information there, real time updates, its free, I can connect with my network, its easy to use (can use my iPhone app), and I can reach thousands of users easily. Facebook because it is manageable, free, I can reach a targeted audience, and it has a clean interface. Constant Contact because it is very affordable, easy, and doesn’t take a whole lot of effort.
 
3. Who manages your online properties?

I manage Twitter & Constant Contact. Samantha (Operations Manager) manages Facebook-----although she has been slacking!!!
 
4. How much time does it take to manage per week?

I Twitter on the go. My time is valuable and Twitter is very quick and easy for me. I would say 2 hours a week, if that.
 
5. How are you using each and who are you trying to reach?

I use Twitter to stay in contact with my peers, referral sources, and local contacts. I read articles and gain new knowledge on topics I feel I wouldn’t have know about otherwise. I post information about events we take part in, company news, and networking opportunities. We have not seen much value from Facebook yet, but as I mentioned, we have not devoted enough time to getting it up and running. We are planning to attend more to it once our new site is launched. In fact, each of our five offices will have their own Facebook fan page. Our one Twitter account will represent all five offices. 

6. Do you have a social media strategy? What is it?

Be consistent, post compelling information, make it fun, engage, interact, and don’t make it all about me/us.


7. What is your primary goal for using social media?

Share information, gain knowledge, reach targets, gain new opportunities, branding.
 
8. Are you planning to expand your social media reach? 

Yes, I use twitter in my marketing efforts consistently and will build a Facebook page for each of our five locations soon.

9. Are people responding?

I've had several responders and have made great contacts.
 
10. What are your biggest challenges so far?

Haven’t come across any challenges so far!
 
11. Did you have to try to convince someone at your organization to try social media?

I am the leader in my organization when it comes to media outreach, marketing efforts, and technology advances. Our president luckily is very opened minded to hearing new ideas and ways to reach our audience. 

12. Are employees on board with your efforts? 

I would say 50% of them are. It has been a challenge to get some of the “old school mentality” minded individuals to realize that social media works. I think people “over think” it too much and get frustrated or intimidated by it. They don’t know where to start or how to get going. They think it is too time consuming, etc.
 
13. How are you measuring success?

I don’t necessarily track success with a specific formula. I base the success off the opportunities I’ve come across and the number of responses I get from users. As long as people are interacting with me, I find that successful. I know I am strengthening my brand recognition and market awareness every day just by sending a second “tweet.” Before using Twitter, I didn’t have access to the thousands of articles, blogs, websites, contacts, opportunities, events, and FUN!
 
14. What's the one piece of advice you would give other senior living, home care, eldercare, or dementia care companies about getting into social media?

I would advise them that social media is a very low cost, mostly free, way of increasing brand recognition, reaching a targeted audience, gaining new opportunities, announcing upcoming events, promoting specials, increasing referral sources, and staying consistent or ahead of your competition. As the population ages, people will need to realize that adopting new methods of outreach such as social media is crucial. Social Media, Blogs, Website SEO, etc is only increasing…it is not going away, and if you are not adapting to it, you will be missing out now and in the months ahead, and eventually you will be left in the dust. The age range for internet users is your targeted audience. These are the adult children/family/friends that are making decisions regarding their loved ones care. Gone are the days of the paper yellow pages. People are going online and to the web. Social media is easy to use, low maintenance, and extremely manageable. Put it this way….there is not ONE reason NOT to being engaged in social media.

Summary and Analysis

With Noelle's help, At Home Personal Care (AHPC) is clearly moving in right direction with their social media strategy. At this time, they have 683 followers on Twitter, and that number is growing daily. Noelle's Twitter prowess is quite impressive. She knows how to use Twitter to make connections, increase brand awareness, and build relationships with clients, referral sources, local businesses, prospects, families, and others. You can learn how Noelle is using Twitter by following her and AHPC here. 

AHPC's decision to develop a new Website that incorporates a blog is critical. Their current site is a classic Web 1.0 static online brochure which provides generic information about the company and their sevices (for more on a good Website, click here). These days, a blog is a minimum requirement for any company Website. A blog will enable AHPC to syndicate information out to Twitter, and from Twitter, they can drive traffic back to the blog and the site. Presumably visitors will be able to subscribe to the blog - allowing for lead capture, and readers should be able to comment on posts - allowing for dialog between the company and readers (for more on how to avoid making a company blog suck, click here). 

One way AHPC could inject some steroids into their social media plan is to add a centralized online community to their new site (disclosure: we build and manage online communities for senior living and eldercare organizations, so this part may be slightly bias). An online community would allow members of the AHPC community (patients, families, referral sources, staff, management, partners) to sign up, create a profile, connect with each other, and add content to the community site themselves. In our last interview post with Laguna Woods Village, we learned how they were attempting to do this using "Club Pages."

One way to add community to an existing Website is to use a white label social networking/online community platform like KickApps, Ning, Groupsite, or SocialGo. All of these sites have "freemium" pricing, allowing you to build your own online community or social network for free (like Twitter). Be warned though, freemium pricing includes advertising, limited features, minimal ability to brand or customize, and limited customer support. In addition, while an online community can be a fantastic business/marketing tool, it can also be technically complex and a time killer. Look for many more posts about this subject on this blog in the future. 

Takeaway Points

• A static Web 1.0 style Website will make you invisible. You need dynamic content, relevant information, and interactivity to compete these days.
  
• Having multiple social media outposts like Twitter and Facebook can be useful, as long as they are attended to.
  
• Twitter can be a fast and free way to build a network and increase brand recognition - and maybe even drive sales.
• Having a comprehensive social media strategy is key to success.
  
• There is an "old school" mentality in business about social media that needs to be overcome. Remember back in the 90's when businesses weren't convinced they needed a Website?  
• Your customers are using social media. You should be too! 

For more about senior living, eldercare, or home care online communities and social media strategies, 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 At Home Personal Care, contact Noelle Kurth at  Noelle@athomeprc.com or 480.205.8320. I would like to thank Noelle for generously sharing her insights and experiences. We will check in with her in several months to see how she and AHPC are doing with their new Website and post the results here. 

Related posts:

• California's Largest Retirement Community Kicks Butt Using Social Media  
• Can Social Media Convert Senior Living Prospects To Customers?
• Web Savvy Senior Living Companies Are Making The Move To Social Media. Are You?
• Assisted Living Group Using Social Media To Combat Swine Flu

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.