How retirement homes can use social media to aid in marketing and communications

Online Marketing for
Retirement Communities
Digital Communications Strategist
April 8, 2014
Copyright © Eden Spodek, Eden Spodek Inc. 2014.

Online Marketing for Retirement Communities
•  Digital Communications
Strategist
•  Instructor at U of T SCS Digital
Strategy Certificate
•  25 years in communications
and marketing, including
•  19 years in digital
•  Launched first online
community in 2001
•  Ran PodCamp Toronto (5 years)
•  Blogger since 2006
•  Variety industries, agency
and client-side
Introducing Eden

•  Internet Usage in Canada
•  Online Community Building
•  Reputation and Trust
•  Retirement Communities
Using Social Media
•  Paid, Earned, Sponsored
and Owned Content
Agenda

Internet Usage in Canada

82% of Canadians use at least
one social network.
Canada has the the highest
social media network
penetration in the World.
By comparison, the US ranks
fourth with 75% penetration.

Social,
Digital
&
Mobile
Around
The
World,

We
Are
Social,
January
2014


64% of Canadians using social
media have actively stayed up-to-
date with a brand via social
media and 1/3 want a dialogue
with the brand (not looking for a
deal or contest)
Delvinia’s AskingCanadians
How are Canadians Using Social Media?
Stryve Group, July 12, 2012

“16% of CEOs say they use
social media as a top way to
engage customers. However,
they expect their use of social
media to more than triple in the
next 5 years.”

Leading
Through
Connec@ons,
Highlights
of
the
Global
Chief
Execu@ve

Oﬃcer
Study,
IBM,
2012


Community Building

“An online community is a
group of people with common
interests who use the Internet
(websites, email, instant
messaging, etc.) to
communicate, work together
and pursue their interests
over time.”

Lee
Lefever,
The
Common
CraM
Blog,
July
2003

What’s an Online Community?

Online Communities
•  Comprised of people with a
common interest
•  People sharing information
and ideas
•  Instead of meeting in
person, people meet online
(virtual)
•  Often an extension of
real-life relationships

Online Communities /2
•  Always on
•  Functions independently of
time and real-world
locations making
participation more
accessible
•  Membership can be open
or closed
•  May be moderated and/or
monitored by community
manager(s)

Purpose of Online Communities
•  Meeting place for people
with common goals
and interests
•  Gain customer insights
•  Identify, cultivate and
reward brand ambassadors
•  Generate leads and sales

Purpose of Online Communities /2
•  Helps identify potential
issues
•  Collaborate with customers,
partners, suppliers and
influencers directly
•  New customer service
channel
•  Marketing, visibility, brand
awareness, customer
loyalty, relationship-building

Developing a Strategy
Ask questions
•  What are the goals and target
audience?
•  How does community building
fit into your organization’s
objectives?
•  Who is your community?
•  What is the membership
criteria?
•  How can you help community
members?
•  How will you recognize and
reward members?

Developing a Strategy /2
Make Decisions
•  Decide how your community
will be managed
•  Develop internal and external
guidelines
•  Understand the objective(s) of
community members
and listen
•  Choose an appropriate
platform(s)
•  Determine a content strategy
•  Develop a marketing plan
•  What will success look like?

Setting Goals
•  S.M.A.R.T. – specific,
measurable, attainable,
realistic, timely
•  What do you want to achieve
with your community?
•  How will having a community
further business goals and
objectives?
•  Will you have one for
employees or external
audiences only?
•  What is the right strategic
direction for the organization?

Reputation and Trust

“…the understanding or influencing of an individual's or
business's reputation. It was originally coined as a public
relations term, but advancement in computing, the
internet and social media made it primarily an issue of
search results. Although it is often associated with ethical
grey areas, such as astroturfing review sites, censoring
negative complaints or using SEO tactics to game the
system and influence results, there are also ethical forms
of reputation management, such as responding to
customer complaints, asking sites to take down incorrect
information and using online feedback to influence
product development...”
– Reputation Management, Wikipedia

Reputation Management

“The only way to build trust …
is to develop relationships and
provide valuable educational
information. That information
should help your customers
and prospects solve the
problems they’ve been
having… Whatever it happens
to be, harvest stories that
humanize the company in
order to sell.”
– Gini Dietrich, Spin Sucks: Communications and
Reputation Management in the Digital Age
Building a Culture of Trust

•  Community manager – a trusted and
transparent part of the community
•  Trust is built by:
•  Answering complaints and
questions
•  Correcting incorrect factual
information on sites he/she helps to
maintain the company integrity
•  This helps demonstrate the community
manager cares about the community
because he/she is invested in it
•  By improving services through member
feedback, the organization provides
better client service by better fulfilling
client needs
Reputation and Community

•  Essential consideration in
strategy development
•  Define role of community
manager
•  Cultivate community
ambassadors
•  Engage, feature and highlight
your biggest fans
•  Role of other community
members (active participants,
lurkers, etc.)
•  All members need to feel like
they belong
•  Be transparent
Building a Community of Trust

•  Starbucks tracks interactions
and progress on the site and
shares them with members
•  Transparency helps build:
•  A community of collaboration
•  A feeling that members are
partners
•  Customer/brand loyalty
•  Building community around
the brand creates an
environment of trust between
Starbucks and its most
passionate customers
Case Study: My Starbucks Idea

•  Launched iPhone app (2012),
there were problems; publicly
admitted their mistake,
customers were
overwhelmingly supportive
•  Lessons learned:
§  Knowing when to admit
mistakes builds trust and
customer loyalty
§  Ask customers to come to them
with problems and give the
company a chance to provide a
solution instead moving to a
competitor
§  How to turn problems into
opportunities
Case Study: FreshBooks App

Retirement Communities Case Studies

HCF Management, Lima Ohio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd6mfUHlMqs

•  Hired a NOW Marketing
Group for a pilot project for
seven of their 27 facilities
•  Learned from digital audit
that it was more important
to focus on engagement
than numbers
•  Developed a three-pronged
approach
Case Study: HCF Management

1.  Be Hyperlocal
•  Launched individual
accounts for 24 facilities on
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube
and Pinterest – all are
accessed centrally through a
“Social Hub” on HCF’s
corporate website
•  Use Scoreboard Social to
track engagement between
the facilities
Case Study: HCF Management /2

2.  Reach Out to
Decision-Makers
•  People who make the decisions
aren’t necessarily the people
receiving their services
•  Facebook posts are designed to
educate, engage, entertain and
show their expertise mixed with
general interest posts so
prospective decisions-makers
feel included
•  Created virtual tours and staff
introductions for YouTube
•  Harlem Shake videos received
10K views first week and
garnered media attention

3.  Reach Out to Employees
•  Uses social media to build
employee engagement (FB,
Pinterest, email newsletters)
•  Led to increased engagement
between employees and
residents

Highlights*
•  24 facilities across two states
now on social media, web hub
•  A series of “Harlem Shake”
videos filmed at 13 facilities
received more than
35,000 views
•  Quarterly average of 27%
increased engagement across
facilities since launching
social media
•  2,252 combined
subscriptions to email
newsletter
*3 Ways Social Media Creates a Social Local Community, Social Media Examiner

BMA Management, Illinois

•  Leading provider of assisted
living in the Illinois, #16
overall in the United States
•  Nominated Best Senior Living
Blog and Social Media
Rockstar – in the 2014
SeniorHomes.com Best
Senior Living Awards Contest
•  Targets children of current
and future residents
•  Uses pop culture to stay
relevant (e.g. selfies, Wii
competition)
BMA Management, Illinois

•  Establish a response protocol
•  Monitor and actively listen at
all times
•  Engage when it makes sense
•  Address issues, not
the rants
•  Don’t over engage
•  You may want to provide more
information than is really
necessary in a situation
•  Doing so isn’t always best for
the brand and can lead to other
issues or further questions
Engagement & Issues Management

Paid, Earned, Social and Owned
• Social Media
• Word of Mouth
• Referrals/Reviews
• Your Website
• Your Blog
• Your Content
• Media Relations
• Blogger Relations
• Influencer Relations
• Social Advertising
• Traditional Advertising
• Sponsored Content
• Google AdWords
Paid Earned
SharedOwned

Paid Content

Earned Content

Shared Content

Owned Content

•  PAID: Comfort Life continuously speaks to a
highly targeted audience, Typically that adult
daughter that is researching retirement living
and care options for her father or mother.
•  EARNED: Some partners, such as
Comfort Life, will allow you to post articles
directly to the website (earned media) and
will highlight you in photo, article or video
features.
•  EARNED: You can also build relationships
with influencers who may help co-create and
share your content.
•  SHARED: You can pull feeds from your
Facebook and twitter conversations onto your
Comfort Life online community profile to
amplify your message
•  SHARED: If you're looking for great content to
share, such as eBooks, reports, stats,
checklists or calculators, Comfort Life
produces new sharable content every month.

Amplify your message

•  Canada leads in Internet usage
•  Build community around a common
goal
•  You don’t need a huge staff or do to
huge things to be remarkable
•  Collaboration, listening, problem-
solving and sharing of meaningful
content builds community
•  Community managers are the eyes,
ears and voice of an organization
•  Integrated approach to content
distribution – “PESO” opportunities
help build relationships and amplify
your message
Summary

Questions?

Thank you!

Continue the Conversation Online
Connect
Eden Spodek
Digital Communications Strategist
Eden Spodek Inc.
Eden@EdenSpodek.com
EdenSpodek.com
@EdenSpodek
LinkedIn.com/en/EdenSpodek

3 Ways Social Media Creates a Social Local Community
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/3-ways-social-media-creates-a-social-local-community/
Delvinia’s AskingCanadians – How are Canadians Using Social Media? Stryve Group, July 12, 2012,
http://stryvegroup.com/how-are-canadians-using-social-media
FreshBooks, http://freshbooks.com
Guide To Online Community Management, ReadWriteWeb, eBook,
http://www.slideshare.net/readwriteweb/rww-community-report-12107798
How are Canadians Using Social Media?, Stryve Group, July 12, 2012,
http://stryvegroup.com/how-are-canadians-using-social-media/
Leading Through Connections, Highlights of the Global Chief Executive Officer Study, IBM, 2012,
http://www-935.ibm.com/services/uk/en/ceostudy.html
The Common Craft Blog, Lefever, L., July 2003, http://www.commoncraft.com/archives/000208.html
My Starbucks Idea, http://mystarbucksidea.force.com/
No Bullshit Social Media, Deckers, E., Falls, J., 2012
References

Reputation Management, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reputation_management
Seven Trends in Community and Social Business for 2013, Community Roundtable, Leanne Chase,
January 3, 2013,
http://community-roundtable.com/2013/01/seven-trends-in-community-and-social-business-for-2013/
Six Revisions blog http://sixrevisions.com/mobile/design-mistakes-iphone-app/
Social, Digital & Mobile Around The World, We Are Social, January 2014
http://www.slideshare.net/wearesocialsg/social-digital-mobile-around-the-world-january-2014
Spin Sucks: Communications and Reputation Management in the Digital Age, Dietrich G., 2014
"Structuring a Social Media Team”, Ragan/NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions white paper,
http://www.ragan.com/Main/StructuringaSocialMediaTeam.aspx
The Can't-Miss Social Media Trends For 2013, Ryan Holmes, Fast Company, November 29, 2012,
http://www.fastcompany.com/3003473/cant-miss-social-media-trends-2013
What is an Online Community, Lee Lefever, July 2009, http://www.commoncraft.com/archives/000208.html
References

How retirement homes can use social media to aid in marketing and communications

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