Earlier today, I was honored to speak at the invitation of the Health Care Association of Michigan (HCAM) and the Michigan Center for Assisted Living. Their multi-day, annual state conference is being held this week at the Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit – part of continuing education and important discourse regarding the industry, attended by assisted living owners, administrators, healthcare practitioners and marketers. The topic: Social media.
It is a medium still not widely adopted in the field but one that is growing in importance. Just consider current industry dynamics: With an aging population, both greater competition and opportunity are emerging. And while those making up the senior community (which makes up roughly 50% of the decision makers in assisted living), are not typically social media consumers, the other half (comprised of the children of those elderly potential residents) are.
To be sure, at a time of constricting traditional media sources, for owners and administrators of senior living communities, social media can be an ideal platform for telling their own stories – making sure their news and information is pushed out to a targeted ‘opt-in’ audience of followers. That could (and should) include blogs demonstrating forward-thinking vision and YouTube, the ideal repository for video content that can be produced affordably and posted for incredible searchability. Hey, it’s one more tool in the marketing toolbox.
Adapt, evolve or die. Words to live by for any industry including this one. Kudos to HCAM/MCAL for shining a spotlight for its members on the importance of addressing and considering a medium to help its members remain viable in the short- and long-term. As I said to the group today early and often: don’t utilize social media personally or professionally? Remember it’s not about you but whom you want to reach and motivate to action.