A beautifully designed, easy-to-navigate senior living website is important for the overall user experience, but it’s the content on your site that drives traffic from the search engines, engages seniors and their families, and ultimately persuades them to take action.
Here are five ways we use content marketing to help our senior living clients establish their brands, drive prospective residents to their websites, and exceed their census and acquisition goals.
5 Key Components for a Successful Senior Living Content Marketing Strategy
Your website content should address seniors and adult children at all the stages of the buying cycle, from those just starting to learn about senior living options to those who are actively searching for a senior living community to call home.
Blog Posts
Remember, for the majority of seniors and their families, making the move to senior living is a new experience, wrought with uncertainty. You, on the other hand, have all this knowledge and expert advice that you can share, and a blog is the perfect place to do it.
Topics such as “How to Have The Talk with Your Parents” or a “Guide to Senior Living Terminology” will draw those just starting the senior living journey, while a blog post on “What to Look for in a Senior Living Community” or “Top 10 Reasons to Retire in Saratoga NY” will help seniors who are ready to make the move, but are still trying to decide where.
Success Stories
While your professional advice is valuable, prospective residents and their families will also want to hear from existing members of your senior living community. More than a testimonial or review, success stories should document the resident journey. For example, maybe you have a resident who came for respite care, but liked it so much he decided to stay, or an individual who was reluctant to leave her home, but found that by not having to cook and clean, she was able to take up a hobby she’s always wanted to learn.
Reading about, or listening to, the experiences and personal stories of others will give seniors an idea of what to expect, and can help ease the anxiety when they learn about others who were in the same situation or felt the same way.
Video
Effective content doesn’t always come in the form of text. In fact, a short video can often deliver the same amount of information as several pages of copy, and it requires far less effort for your site visitors to obtain it.
Even if you don’t have the budget for professional videography, candid videos taken with a smartphone can work just as well, and they allow you to update your content more frequently. Consider including videos of social activities, meals, holidays and residents interacting with staff, as well as resident success stories and video testimonials from family members.
Reviews
When seniors and their adult children are actively searching for a senior living community, the number one priority is ensuring the best care and quality of life. You’ve likely included these attributes throughout the content on your senior living community’s website, but without reviews from your current residents and their families, these claims can fall flat. By posting reviews, you add authenticity, build trust and offer reassurance.
Reviews can be sprinkled throughout the site, or added to a page specifically created for resident testimonials.
FAQs
As with any big life decision, senior living comes with a lot of questions. The more answers you can provide, the more likely seniors and their families will be to view you as an expert, and the more time they will spend on your site, which means more opportunities for you to tout your own senior living community and all its benefits.
FAQ pages are one of the best ways to address common questions, and you can always link to your blog for more detailed information. You may even want to break out your FAQs into two sections, on for general senior living inquiries and the other for questions specifically about your community, such as,”Is your senior living community pet-friendly?” and “Does you senior living community have an entrance fee?”
Content Marketing Support for Senior Living Communities
Content marketing is an incredibly effective way to engage with prospective residents, but it can also be incredibly time consuming, especially since the content on your website needs to be updated and added to frequently in order to truly be successful. Even senior living communities who have a dedicated person to handle all the writing, editing, publishing and content promotion, often find they’ve bitten off more than they can chew.
If your senior living community is struggling with a content strategy, Mannix Marketing can help. We specialize in content marketing for senior living communities, and can offer support or provide you with a comprehensive full-service solution. Contact us, or give us a call at 518-743-9424 to schedule a free 15-minute review of your plan and get recommendations from our Senior Living Strategists.