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There is no question that Twitter, the micro-blog site, is growing in popularity. No topic, area of business or organization is immune from being “tweeted” about on this social media channel. Senior living communities are no exception.

I did a tweet search the other day to get a feel for what people are discussing in the twittosphere about retirement communities and senior living. It truly is a broad range, from sharing about eating a meal with grandma at her retirement community to listing job openings to comments about how “seniors really know how to live.”

What’s exciting about these tweets is that there is a conversation going on out there about senior living — mostly from adult child influencers and people somehow connected to the field of senior living. It demonstrates that this is another channel that can be used to make people aware of the lifestyle that is available at a senior living community.

If I lived or worked at a community, I’d be “tweeting it up” on a regular basis about what I see and hear. My goal would be to make sure everyone out there knew that residents are active, connected and enjoying life.

Here’s a tweet from an adult child I found:
“Riding around my parents’ retirement community in Palm Springs in their black and gold golf cart with the Mercedes grill.”

Now that’s living!

Randy Eilts, Director of Public Relations, and Janel Wait, Director, Digital Services, at GlynnDevins, are hosting a free webinar this Tuesday, June 30, at 11:00 a.m. CDT, about social media and senior living. Get answers to your basic questions and learn how you can begin implementing social media tactics for your retirement community. Register here.

Readers of this blog have been asking if blogging is good for marketing senior housing. Social media has exploded in recent years and definitely has impacted the way people communicate and gather information. It’s impacting how seniors interact, too. Most boomers and seniors who use social media read and occasionally comment on blogs, watch online video, listen to podcasts, read and contribute to online ratings, according to a study by Forrester Research. A growing number are joining social networking web sites such as Facebook. Retirement communities should not abandon tried-and-true tactics in reaching prospective residents, yet social media is a way for communities to enhance and build upon their efforts.

There are a number of ways retirement communities can use social media to generate awareness and visibility among a variety of audiences. However, you need a plan and a commitment. Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc., can be very effective tools, but they are just that – tools.

• Do you want to engage seniors, adult children influencers or professional influencers?
• Do you want to “talk” or just listen to what people are saying and comment when appropriate?
• Managing your social media endeavors is the hardest part!  Who is responsible for updates?
• If you blog, can you commit to posting at least once a week, if not more often? What’s the plan for responding to comments – positive and negative? How will you promote your blog?

Another question: What are the success measures? If you get involved in social media today, you probably won’t get many followers right away. However, success accrues over time and may occur in small doses across several forums. Social media monitoring and analytics are critical to seeing progress.

So, is blogging a good way to market a retirement community? I would broaden that question to ask if social media overall is a good way to market a retirement community. The base of seniors and boomers who use social media will continue to grow. The communities that are the early adopters will be the ones to benefit from the earliest returns. Social media can reinforce transparency, bring your community to life online and enable communities to engage decision makers in ways they couldn’t do just 2-3 years ago. Those are all incredible benefits. But there is a price – not necessarily in the form of a big price tag, but in time and a commitment to stick with it. If you are ready to make social media a routine part of your day, then it’s a great way to market a retirement community.

Think about what you did on your last birthday. Maybe it was eating a nice dinner with family and then opening up a gift. Former President George H.W. Bush sent a message around the world this past Friday while celebrating his 85th birthday. He went skydiving! 

When interviewed after the jump on why he did it, he stated very simply: “…just because you’re an old guy, you don’t have to sit around drooling in the corner. Get out and do something. Get out and enjoy life.”

Those who are involved in the field of senior living tout that message all the time. You know that older adults are still very active and vibrant. They may not all be jumping out of airplanes, but they’re not sitting still, either. Living in a senior living community gives residents an opportunity to get as involved as they want to be. It might be taking part in a Tai Chi class, water aerobics or even serving on the resident council. The fact is, the community provides older adults to chance stay connected with others and involved.

The former president said jumping out of a plane makes him exhilarated and charged. Senior living communities may not offer that same type of charge, but the communities do enhance life for so many, who always end up saying, “I wish I had moved here sooner.”

By the way, get ready to read the headlines in five more years. President Bush says he’ll be skydiving again on his 90th birthday.

It’s time to wrap up the week and that will be difficult. There was so much shared, not just by the speakers, but by my fellow classmates as well. Their comments during class added depth, and the discussions on breaks and at dinner added insight. These are folks who are serving residents’ needs every day in communities of all types in places as diverse as Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; Green Valley, Arizona; and Richmond, Virginia. And there was more than one individual who shared with me their story about being called to this field. Like my new friend Don.

Don had a successful business career, gradually migrating to information technology and his own consulting business. Then he had the experience of being the primary caregiver for his mother. It was a life-changing event. Don went back to school, became a licensed nursing home administrator, and now is assistant administrator for a non-profit community in the Cleveland area. Now I am guessing Don has always been a warm and friendly human being just like he was all week, but these qualities are especially apparent when he speaks about his community and the residents.

This leads me to the most often-mentioned word by the speakers. No, it’s not debt service coverage ratio (CASP graduates will understand that). The word is mission. CCRCs are still predominantly non-profit, faith-based organizations. And because of this, they are strongly influenced by their mission to serve. But it is more than that. A mission, clearly and concisely stated, is an incredibly powerful tool for any organization, especially for an organization dedicated to care and hospitality.

Do you want to create an innovative dining program? Make sure it aligns with your mission. Are you sitting down with architects on a new community or expansion? Make sure they understand your mission. Do you want to retain staff and recruit top talent? Make sure your mission creates an environment that drives employee satisfaction. I could go on, but I think you get the picture.

A mission is about knowing who you are as an organization. It can be defining, inspiring, empowering and differentiating. One classmate shared their mission – To create evolving, vibrant communities. Further, they called it a core purpose. What would you do if you were told your job every day, regardless of what you do, were to create an evolving, vibrant community? I don’t know exactly what I’d do, but it sure opens up some possibilities.

Not that creating or acting on a mission is an easy task, as I learned this week and know from my own business experience. But mission, an idea that often is a bunch of blah, blah, blah in the general business environment, takes on real meaning when thinking about creating living environments.

What a week and what a field! I am glad that I can be a small part of something that has such opportunity to make a difference.