Social Media for Retirement Communities

What You Can Do,

What You Should Do,

And Why

Presented by Todd Harff

©2010 Creating Results, LLC

Agenda

• Benefits of Social Engagement• What Social Media Is• Who Is Using Social Media• How They’re Using It• What You Can Do• What You Must Do

Hourly Commitment Per Week

Confidence in Your Social Media Strategy

Have a Social Media Policy

Is Social Media Marketing worth my company’s investment?

What can it do for us today?What can it do for us tomorrow?

Benefits of Social Engagement

• Drive traffic – Generate leads

– Branding, name recognition

– Lift and substitute for traditional advertising and community outreach

– Lift search results

– Lift web traffic

– Connect with media

– Leverage the networks of your Residents, their families, supporters and employees

Benefits of Social Engagement

• Listen, get feedback

• Improve relationships with all stakeholders

• Find vendors, sources, partners and prospects

• Recruit

• Inspiration

Social Media:

What It Is

When you boil it down,

it’s about listening to your customers,

being helpful by offering your knowledge and

giving them interesting content

to share and thereby advocate for you.

- Amy Mengel

Social Networking Defined

• The stops your brand’s message makes

• Faster, wider, more transparent

• Fewer barriers between you and your audience

• Less control

• Interactive and instant

Platforms and Tools

• Social Networking Sites – Facebook, LinkedIn,

Twitter…

– Niche sites – industry or passion

• Social (Content) Sharing– YouTube, Flickr

– Digg, De.li.cio.us, reddit

• Online Conversations– Blogs

– Message boards, forums

– Comments

• Podcasts

• Wikis

Social Media:

Who Is Using It and How

Social Media:

How They Are Using It

Creating Results’ Research: Silver & Social Surfers

• National survey of 40+ Internet users plus video in-depth interviews

• Look at motivations, ease of use, attitudes

Primary Reason for Trying Social Networking

Work/career29%

Connect w/ friends16%

Friends invite14%

Family invite9%

Connect w/ family7%

Old friends5%

Never tried4%

Photos4%

Curious/No reason9%

What Would Motivate Trial?

Pressure from Friends4%

Better Understanding/ Clearer Advantages

15%

Better Privacy Controls7%

Connect with Family4%

More Time4%

Forced by Work4%

Absolutely Nothing62%

Do You Want To Engage With Companies Through Social Networks?

No30%

Not Really29%

Maybe23%

Yes18%

Creating Results’ Research: Silver & Social Surfers

• Anti-Social Media?

– “I am enrolled in social networking to reconnect with friends not to be bothered with advertisements.”

– “I see this as my personal time. If I were out with friends I wouldn’t want a business to try to join us.”

– “Maybe it would be okay with LinkedIn.”

Social Engagement:

What You Can Do

1. Monitor

• Know what people are saying …– About you– Your company– Your competitors– Industry trends

• Resources:– Google alerts,

SocialMention, Twilert– Search w/in platforms– RSS and email subscriptions

2. Recruit

• Advertise job opportunities

• Build positive brand image with future hires

• Resources:– LinkedIn – used by nearly

80% of companies recruiting with social media … and proving most successful

– Twitter – jobs feeds

– SlideShare – case studies on social recruitment

3. Extend your brand’s reach

• Generate awareness

• Be introduced to new circles by a “friend” who vouches for you

• Find new channels to distribute content

• Resources:– AddThis

– YouTube, Digg, etc.

4. Drive traffic

• Link to your website in content, on personal/ professional profiles

• Promote events

• Resources:– Bit.ly (for shorter links)

– Facebook events

– Flickr (for post-event photo galleries)

5. Boost natural search results

• Backlinks to your site from highly-valued websites

• Drive more and new traffic to your website

• Start a blog

• Join or start conversations (w/ backlinks)

• Real-time tweets included in results delivered by Google, Bing, Yahoo

6. Listen

To what they say … and how they say it …

• On your channels, promote conversation and encourage honest feedback

• On other channels, “eavesdrop” Listen & Learn

6. Listen

• Resources:– TimeGoesBy.net (especially

the comments! Great list of elderbloggers, too)

– Eons

– A Place for Mom

7. Learn

• Ask questions and get answers– Of industry colleagues– Of residents – Of prospective residents

• Find metrics and benchmarks and best practices• Resources:

– LinkedIn, Facebook, et al– Association platforms– SlideShare, blogs, more

8. Build community

• Start first by proving yourself a valuable member of existing communities

• Share relevant news/resources

8. Build community

• Make it easy for your audiences to connect with each other– You provide the spark

– They interact freely (unfiltered)

• Spotlight contributors, influencers (in a genuine way)

• Loss of message control

• Involve your audience

• Create a dialogue

8. Build community – Engagement

9. Make friends

• Give. Give generously. Give frequently.– Of your time– Of your content– Of discounts & freebies– On your platforms– In comments on others’

platforms

• Play match-maker for resources, partners, influencers

• Make it easy for them to share your news

10. Provide customer service - Monitor

• Monitor for issues and quickly respond – The earlier you respond the more effective you can be

• Respond to requests on and offline

• Resources:– Google alerts, Twitter searches (Hootsuite, Co-Tweet)

10. Improve customer service – Deliver?

10. Improve customer service - Deliver

• Use social networks to make relationships with prospects/targets feel more intimate

• Fill seniors’ insatiable need for information by providing more details

• Resources:– Twitter, Flickr

– 1to1media.com

And …

11. Encourage user generated content

12. Run contests

13. Run a location-based promotion or implement a loyalty rewards system for staff, residents or prospects

Social Media:

What You Must Do

Where to Start

1. Set simple policies to guide social engagement

2. Develop a strategic social media plan

3. Commit resources

4. Educate yourself

5. Face Reality

Face Reality

• Even contagious messages die– 10% forward rate would be great

• Reach and Frequency now cheap – The new challenge => Getting people’s attention

Face Reality

• Brand messages are no longer in your control– If you invite users to upload

photos … be prepared and welcoming of a bunch of old wrinkly people

– Know how you’ll handle negative/off topic comments

• It takes time and commitment

Baby Boomers and seniors still value a personal, direct, one-to-one feeling

You don't need a social media strategy –You need a brand strategy that leverages social media.

Don't get off the brand strategy just because there's a new communications channel,

that's how you lose the plot as a brand. Technology is the tail, not the dog.

- Chris Kirubi, Coca Cola Nairobi

Todd Harfftodd@creatingresults.com

703.494.7888 ext 13

Blog: maturemarketingmatters.comWeb: CreatingResults.com

Twitter @ToddHarff @CreatingResults

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QUESTIONS?