The senior living audience is broad, varied, and growing as a more significant subset of the population ages. Being proactive about reaching this group lets you connect with your customers early and nurture them as they go through their buyer journeys.
Digital marketing provides no shortage of opportunities to connect with your senior living audiences online. With the variety of marketing platforms at your disposal, you’re well-equipped to reach and resonate with this group. Two formats that have exceptionally high engagement are video and social media – which let you showcase your facilities and demonstrate the rich information.
In this post, we discuss how facilities can build out their video and social media marketing and share some advice on crafting ads that resonate.
Building Out Video and Social Media Marketing for Your Senior Living Facilities
While the reliable methods of traditional marketing have their place in drawing attention to your senior living community, there's something uniquely compelling about video and social media. Video is having a renaissance currently, where viewership is rapidly increasing. In 2023, people watch an average of 17 hours of video per week and are 52% more likely to share video than other content. It is a richly informative and engaging platform that lets you share in-depth information and answer any questions people may have about your facility.
Meanwhile, social media offers a canvas for shorter, yet equally impactful, snippets of information and customer interaction that brings your facility closer to future residents and their loved ones. It lets you interact directly with the people you’re trying to reach to answer any questions they may have. Social media is also excellent for sharing videos, whether you’ve made it on a different platform or are sharing it directly.
Ideas for Social Media and Video
Navigating the vast landscape of social media and video content might seem daunting, but the core of your strategy is about being creative and authentic. You want to present the personality behind your facility and show how it is a friendly and welcoming place to live.
Here are several ideas to infuse life into your senior living community’s online presence, no matter which group you’re trying to reach:
Leverage Video Tours and Testimonials
Video tours let you show people what your facility is like from anywhere – letting them see the rooms, amenities, or other health facilities residents can use. It also allows people to see and hear from some of the staff or current residents and their families to make your community stand out.
Host Live Q&A Sessions
The immediacy of platforms like Facebook Live or Instagram Live creates a unique opportunity for real-time interaction by hosting live Q&A sessions with potential guests. You can use it to address concerns or answer questions directly to make people feel more comfortable or elevate your community’s image.
Share Behind-the-Scenes Content
Allow potential residents and their families a sneak peek into the daily happenings of your community. In addition to video tours, behind-the-scenes content highlights how your facility runs, taking a more in-depth look at individual things your facility offers. Whether it's a special event or a typical day, these glimpses into life at your facility create a bond with your audience.
Utilize Social Media Stories
Quick updates, special announcements, or daily highlights all have their place on social media. It’s a wonderful way to keep your audience informed or engaged, showcasing how your facility takes proactive control of any situation.
Educational Webinars and Workshops
Taking the step to look at senior living facilities isn’t always easy – and people will often have many questions or concerns before doing so. By creating content that informs your community generally, you can inform future residents and their families about going through the process of finding a home while developing trust in your facility through sharing information.
User-Generated Content Campaigns
Encourage the families and residents to share their stories or about their attendance at any event held at the facility. This generates genuine content and paints a picture of community and belonging.
Employ Hashtag Campaigns
Creating memorable hashtags for your campaigns can significantly boost your visibility online, helping you categorize content and engage with a broader audience on social media.
Work with McClatchy to Connect to a Dedicated Audience
For every post, video, and campaign, the goal is to inform and touch lives and build lasting connections. With the right mix of video and social media, your senior living community can thrive in creating meaningful engagements and, ultimately, welcoming more members into its vibrant fold.
McClatchy has a broad array of expertise and resources geared towards magnifying your senior living marketing efforts – and a massive, well-understood audience that you can tap into. Over the course of the company, McClatchy’s Premium Audience Network allows us to achieve a national reach – but with granular specificity. Leverage our knowledge and connections to take your senior living facilities' marketing strategies from standard to standout.
Reach out today to learn more about how McClatchy can help conduct your senior living marketing!
