With how technological we have become, it’s no longer enough just to have a functional website. If you want to make your online endeavors truly effective at increasing the occupancy of your senior living community, a strong social media marketing plan is essential.
Think that social media doesn’t deserve a place in senior living marketing? Think again. Remember, it is often the adult child who is conducting research on senior living communities. Seniors themselves are online too, and they’re interested in social media just like the rest of us.
Why Use Social Media?
Social media is engaging. It starts conversations and gets the attention of your audience through interest and emoition. It inscreased brand awareness and the visibility of your content. And, most importantly, social media increases traffic to your website.
Increased Website Traffic = Increased Online Leads = Occupancy Growth
In this blog we will go over three social media platforms and how they can aid occupancy growth at your senior living community.
Facebook, one of the most popular social platforms, should be a huge priority when it comes to your social media marketing plan. Everyone is on Facebook! Okay, maybe not everyone, but with over a billion users it comes pretty darn close.
It isn’t just the adult children of seniors who are active on Facebook, though. If there is any social platform your potential residents are on, you can bet this is the one. Did you know the oldest Facebook user is 107? People of all ages are “liking”, posting, and checking their feeds on Facebook.
Articles, pictures, polls, videos, contests—these are just a few types of content that can be posted to Facebook. It’s all about giving your audience the opportunity to actively engage with your business. The content you post on Facebook should be interesting, funny, inspirational, helpful—or all the above. Because this is the kind of content that gets read and ultimately pulls people to your website.
- YouTube
While some seniors find reading large amounts of text to be an arduous task, they’ll find watching a video is easier and more enjoyable. You’ve always heard the advantages of showing over telling. Videos tell a story in a way that truly grabs your audience’s attention. What are some topics that are begging to be turned into video content? How about:
- Testimonials
- Meet the staff
- Virtual tours
- A typical day at your community
There are so many possibilities when it comes to video marketing for senior living. Maybe you already have some videos on your website, which is great—you definitely want them there. However, posting your videos onto YouTube as well not only increase the visibility of the videos themselves, but of your website, too.
Even though Pinterest is less popular than Facebook or YouTube, the majority of Pinterest users are female. And who is the biggest online audience for senior living? The adult daughter. It makes sense then, that Pinterest is the perfect outlet to explore with social media marketing for senior living.
Any content you create that contains either pictures or a video can be pinned onto your Pinterest boards. Once it’s pinned, it comes up in your followers’ “feed”. Your pins can also come up when people search for related words and phrases, similar to how a search engine operates.
The idea behind using Pinterest for your business is to get people interested enough to click through your pins to read your content. Since it involves pre-existing content, Pinterest is a virtually painless way to increase traffic to your website.
Don’t discount the importance of social media in the digital marketing plan for your senior living services. Facebook, YouTube, and Pinterest are three social media platforms that can really help you take your online marketing to the next level.
Does your senior living community have a social media marketing plan? If yes, are you using it effectively for occupancy growth? Social media may not cost you any dollars, but it does cost a lot of time and effort to get it right. We've got social media experts on hand who would be glad to help. Call Marketing Essentials today at 419.629.0080! 
