How to Use Social Media as Part of Your Care Home Advertising Strategy
It’s 2023, and if you aren’t already using social media as part of your care home advertising strategy, then this blog is for you.
Or, if you just need a bit of a steer on how to use it well, then this blog is for you too.
Perhaps, even, you’re looking for an award-winning agency (shameless plug) to manage your social channels for you (in which case, feel free to skip to the end of this blog and give us a call!).
In this blog, we’re exploring how you can utilise social media, and make it work for your business:
Using Social Media for Your Care Home Advertising Strategy
Social media can seem like a bit of a minefield (and trust me, it can be). But, it’s an important source of connection with your local community — and your residents’ families — who have the potential to be your greatest online promoters.
It’s simple: social media allows you to create brand awareness for the great work you do, which can lead to enquiries, leads and opportunities.
Ready for the best part? Social media is totally free to use, and is accessible to everyone. It’s a great way to promote your home organically — without having to spend a penny.
So, how should you be using social media as part of your care home advertising strategy?
Establish your goals
Firstly, it’s important to establish your goals when using social media to promote your care home.
Are you looking to fill your occupancy level? Do you want to update families on what their loved ones are getting up to? Do you want to attract the best talent? Do you want to showcase your team as leaders and experts in the care sector?
Identify your key platforms
Once you have your goals down on paper, your next step is to identify your key channels, as this plays a huge part in which audience you can reach.
Different channels work best for different purposes, and cater to a different audience demographic and interest. For example, if you want to connect with other businesses and hire carers, LinkedIn is the platform for you.
Here’s a quick breakdown of ways you can utilise each channel to reach your advertising goals:
Facebook is a great platform for engaging with the local community on Groups and Pages, and for posting real-life content – this can bring quality of engagement with residents’ families and friends, key stakeholders for care homes. Families feel involved when they can keep up to date with the activities that a home is running and seeing updates of their loved ones.
This channel is also a great source for reviews and testimonials. Recommendations and positive feedback will provide potential residents and their families with valuable information on how your business works and what they could expect for their family member if they were to live in the home.
Twitter is King when it comes to getting your content seen by users that are local to your care home. Using geolocation, you can find and interact with customers and potential new customers that are physically close to your home.
Alongside targeting locations, this platform is great for getting involved in trending conversations and topics such as local news or things going on in the care sector.
With LinkedIn’s B2B focus, this platform is key for building awareness of the good your care home is doing.
Similarly, to Twitter, LinkedIn is a hub for joining sector conversations. This ensures you’re kept up to date with news, developments, and different perspectives within the sector, and again allows you to raise the profile of your organisations’ work and knowledge, as well as gain tips and insights from others.
You can also use your social media content to provide helpful information on trending care topics and reduce the spread of misinformation.
LinkedIn is mighty when it comes to attracting new talent, with the opportunity to showcase your culture, wins, and promote any upcoming opportunities for work for the right candidate.
Lastly, we have Instagram, the home of creative photos, engaging video content, and short-form captions. Alongside sharing updates for families, Instagram is a great platform for sharing tips, insights into the care sector, and information that will encourage users to return to your profile – ‘value-added content’ we like to call it here at Pic PR.
Instagram is also a great way to join in with trending topics by tying in your activities calendar with awareness days and posting about them on the day.
Feeling adventurous? Give TikTok a try – it’s becoming the new search engine and has high-levels of engagement with its addictive quality. Here’s one of my favourite care home accounts jumping on a recent trend. Now, that’s one way to make your care home stand out from the competition!
Planning Your Content
Now you’ve chosen your channels, it’s time to plan your content.
Map out your ‘key content pillars’ of the topics you want to be talking about on each channel. You can take the time to research topics and content ideas that will truly resonate with the audiences on the different platforms.
In theory, your posts should be an 80/20 ratio of relatable, organic content, with a small mixture of sales-focused posts. This ensures that your audience will stay engaged while encouraging them to act so you can reach your goals. Remember to be visual, authentic, and informative.
If you’re looking to create a series of posts for LinkedIn for example, why not kick off with a ‘meet the team’ series, to promote staff loyalty and retention, while attracting new talent to your home?
Finally, don’t forget to use hashtags, tag other relevant accounts for further reach and share your location to engage with your local audience.
And that’s it. Social media is a powerful tool for advertising and promotion and every business has a place there — even your care home.
Looking for a bit of guidance or help with running your care home social media channels? Get in touch.
Alternatively, take a look at our previous blog to discover how to go live on your social media to boost engagement and drive bookings.
