Communication Tips for Senior Living Homes

Millions of people have been stressed out and worried about their families every day during this COVID-19 pandemic. This is especially true for people with family members who are living in senior living homes. If you are running senior living homes, then odds are you’re doing everything you can to keep residents safe and comfortable. However, you should also be doing everything you can to alleviate the worries and fears of their families. To do this, you will need to be able to communicate clearly and regularly. The following are a few tips that will help you communicate more effectively during this time of crisis:

Know Your Audience

Not only do you need to know who you should get your message across to, but you need to know how you’ll get that message across. This requires that you know who your audience is. Your audience should include not just the family members of residents, but also employees, board members, and more. It’s because your audience is so varied that you should develop buyer personas. It will become much easier to meet the needs of your audience if you are able to target each one of your buyer personas. It also ensures that you don’t forget to address certain parts of your audience. For example, you might be so focused on alleviating the worries of the family members of your residents that you forget to address your employees. You need to keep communicating with your staff as well. Additionally, your staff will have family members who may be worried too.

Finally, the creation of buyer personas will help you determine which marketing channels to use for each part of your audience. For example, if your staff is on the younger side, it may be easier to communicate with them via Twitter. However, older residents are less likely to use Twitter. To deliver information to them and their families, Facebook might be a better option.

Use Your Marketing Channels

Businesses of all types tend to slash their marketing budgets first when times are tough. You should avoid doing this. Instead, refocus your marketing efforts to communicate with your audience. For example, you can create content for your blog to deliver information about what precautions you’re taking at your senior living home. Such content can help assure people that you’re taking good care of their family members. You can also provide information on how they can keep in touch with residents since in-person visits may no longer be possible. Consider creating content focusing on the caregivers of your senior living home. Such content allows you to spotlight your frontline workers while also inspiring confidence in your audience about your staff.

Besides continuing to create and publish content, you should also continue using social media. Social media is an excellent way to keep in touch with families. Use your social media channels to answer questions and concerns your audience has on a daily basis. Post updates to your social channels on a regular basis as well. The last thing you want to do is make your audience feel like they are being kept in the dark. The more often you provide updates, the less worried they will feel.

Use A Dedicated Spokesperson

Publishing new content on your blog and posting updates on your social channels is a good start. However, you should also have a dedicated spokesperson to deliver important messages to your audience. Posting videos or hosting webinars using this spokesperson can be very effective. With a spokesperson, your audience will have an easier time connecting with your message. It’s also easier to build trust when there’s an actual person delivering a message. The more trust you build, the less worried your audience will be.

You don’t necessarily have to create video content spotlighting your spokesperson either. For example, your spokesperson can deliver a message that’s posted on social media or in blog form as well. Simply having a name that people recognize attached to your message will help build trust. Your spokesperson will essentially represent your company’s leadership. This means that they should probably be an executive-level representative. Because we are living in uncertain times, it’s a good idea to name a dedicated spokesperson as well as a backup spokesperson.

These tips can help senior living homes communicate much more effectively. As a result, you can help to alleviate the worries and stress of your residents’ families. These communication tactics can be leveraged during any type of crisis, including this current COVID-19 pandemic. However, they are also essential to senior living marketing strategies even when there is no crisis to speak of.