Video content works better than any other medium for propelling your senior living community’s sales and marketing efforts. That’s not just my opinion, it’s a well-researched fact. When you integrate video into your marketing plan, good things happen.
But if you’re new to video marketing or haven’t fully embraced it yet, you’re probably wondering which direction to turn. For that reason, I’m going to discuss the best ways to work video into your digital marketing strategy, and provide three key insights and best practices for your content marketing along the way.
Integrate Video Into Your Content Marketing Strategy
I have yet to meet a senior living marketing team that has enough hours in the day to address everything they would like to. In fact, that thought holds true for the entire industry, from executive directors on down – senior living is extremely busy.
But as powerful as content marketing can be in driving web traffic and developing your brand, it isn’t always easy on time and effort. However, that’s exactly what makes video such a natural fit for your content marketing. Using OneDay’s program as an example, you can produce extremely high-quality videos by simply pushing a couple of buttons on your smartphone.
Compare the OneDay process to writing and publishing a newsletter, for instance. Or any written content for that matter. Copywriting requires a far more significant investment of those finite resources – time, effort, and attention – whereas OneDay video content is fast, simple, and immediate.
Video and Social Media
Of course, I’m not saying you should entirely replace newsletters, blogs, ebooks, and guides with video content. There’s absolutely something to be said for the positive impact of SEO and Google search rankings. However, just integrating more video into your content strategy will suddenly free up valuable time and, even more importantly, better engage the viewer with your message.
Think of it from your target audience’s perspective. Are you more likely to click-through on a piece of well-produced, engaging video content from your Facebook or LinkedIn pages, or a blog post with a few hundred words of text and maybe a picture to break up the monotony?
Statistically, 72% of consumers prefer to learn about a company or product through video content rather than text. Chances are, a simple explainer video with minimal production time – OneDay videos, for instance, require no outside videographers or editors – will get a lot more traction than a blog post while using a fraction of the resources.
At the very least, you can quickly create 20 to 30-second talking head videos that summarize a recent blog post. That way, you still get the SEO benefits from the blog, just with the increased traction that video provides. And if you use OneDay to create the video, it will essentially require no additional time and effort, yet still drive greater engagement once you post the video to your website and social channels.
Testimonial and Day-in-the-Life Videos
Speaking of talking head videos, simple testimonial or day-in-the-life videos can be an extremely powerful way to develop and strengthen connections between the audience and your assisted living community. From your executive director to a new resident, a line chef to a memory care team member, your employees and residents all have perspectives and stories that absolutely shine when conveyed through video.
For staff videos, a short OneDay video introducing them to your audience or even taking them behind the scenes helps humanize your community for prospective residents and their family members. When the audience sees that your team is happy and passionate about what they do, and genuinely care for your residents and their quality of life, it can make a massive difference in the purchasing decision for a prospect and their loved ones.
Likewise, when you turn the camera on a resident and press record, you’re conveying a personal touch that helps form the all-important emotional bonds that drive move-ins. Remember, a prospect is about to enter into a brand-new, still unknown phase of their life. They’re bound to be a bit apprehensive, so a kind smile and encouraging words from a current resident can help them get over their concern and apprehension.
Once again, you can distribute these videos on your social media channels and even embed them on a rotating basis on your homepage. With two out of three people more likely to make a purchase after watching a testimonial video about a company, product, or service, this type of content can be a real game-changer for your lead generation.
Capture the Small Moments
Lastly, your video content doesn’t have to be elaborate or even planned out. Capturing the smaller, spontaneous moments between residents can be the most potent content of all. Maybe a couple dancing at a community event or two friends simply talking over lunch – those are the little slices of life that can really let a prospect picture themselves living in your community.
While a short video of your newly redesigned lobby or pool certainly won’t hurt your brand, it’s the human, more personal side of the equation that’s going to make the biggest difference in engaging your target market and driving occupancy rates. And since OneDay videos are so simple and fast to create, they’re perfect for capturing those fleeting little moments of life at your senior care community. That type of video content is ideal for Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn since they’re short, highly consumable, and connect at an emotional level with your audience.
As a partner in the truest sense, OneDay’s goal is to help you realize the ROI and occupancy rates you’ve always dreamed of, and video is just the tool to push you over the top. So take these insights, integrate them into your marketing campaigns, and start enjoying the benefits that OneDay provides to senior communities.