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Deade Jayne:  A Facebook Requiem
There were tales from her birthday party, a Fourth of July gala and a trip to the lake. She wrote about a handful of relatives fighting over her possessions. And she described how she felt about her future. By the end of the month, more than 115 Facebook friends were following the posts penned by her former neighbor on her behalf — Facebook friends who quickly grew fond of the woman whose Facebook page appeared after her death, when Jane became Deade Jayne.

She had been an accountant, a Republican, an evangelical Christian, a fervent gardener who installed lights so she could work in the flowers after sunset. It was a 6,000-square-foot house, a dilapidated maze of rooms, sagging ceilings and worn, stained furniture. She’d moved there in the ‘30s, and through the years, relatives had taken rooms with her. Some moved on. Others relied on her care for their last days. Their belongings were stacked in the damp, buggy basement. She grew old, watching friends pass away, speaking with her far-away brother and sister occasionally, relying on her neighbor for trips to the doctor, pharmacy and grocery store. And she resisted suggestions to move into assisted living, in the end even declining the surgery that might have prolonged her life. She died on her own terms, aged 91, in June.

It was a small obituary. A nephew came to cull a few family heirlooms, but no one in her family wanted her cremains. That’s how the neighbor came to have them: He was charged with scattering them around the house after the estate sale. And so for the month of July, while Deade Jayne awaited her scattering, her Facebook friends slipped past the grim idea of relating to an urn and grew to honor and love a woman who was undeservedly slipping away too quickly and quietly.

Deade Jayne wrote to them: Oh, darlings. I have had such a fun time tonight on this new-fangled internet, and my fingers are so tired they’ve turned ashen. I love you all!

One commented: What are your weekend plans, Jayne? The weather should be lovely.

Another: Jayne, honey, you are lamenting the good old days, aren’t you? Just a while until life feels like a breeze again.

At the end she wrote: My last night before scattering. I will be watching tomorrow, with a smile, a giggle and maybe a tear, for you will be honoring my earthly pathway. For this, know that you are loved and will forever be a part of me for being my friend.

On August 2, nearly 2 dozen friends gathered to place Jane’s cremains in her rose beds and vegetable gardens and beneath the towering pin oak she planted 40 years ago. They said farewell to Deade Jayne, and there were tears.

Postlude.
Deade Jayne’s 115 Facebook friends, some of whom lived half a country away, bonded and shared her journey to her final rest. It’s in our nature to look for ways to connect. We text, email, comment, tweet and post because online connections bridge time, space and generations to create community.

While reading an article in Fast Company called Brand Storytelling: Connecting with Your Audience, I was reminded of the importance of storytelling. A theme we’ve touched on regularly in this space, storytelling is a tried-and-true method at the very heart of marketing. And who better to tell your story than the people who live and breathe it each and every day: residents.

The first-person experience is something your audience desires. But finding these stories takes some initial legwork. It takes dedicating time and resources to conduct interviews with residents; talking with them about their lives, family, hobbies and new pursuits; and ultimately uncovering unique story ideas.

For operational communities, oftentimes we facilitate what we’ve dubbed as a “story engine session,” in which we visit with residents and key staff members to discover the community’s untold stories. Our goal of the session is to communicate the community’s brand story to the media through the residents’ eyes. This technique instills trust, builds brand awareness, and better connects with your audience of readers and viewers.

Recently I’ve had the opportunity to visit communities and dedicate a full day to interviewing residents and associates. It’s amazing how many human-interest stories are uncovered by simply spending 30 minutes talking with these folks. Following each session, I walk away with a bank of media-friendly stories that can be used to enhance each community’s brand, which inevitably results in articles published in prime news publications and features aired on TV.

At one senior living community alone, we’ve identified a variety of brand-building stories by talking with its residents. The following are examples of some of the media coverage we’ve garnered:

• A news story and two TV segments featuring hundreds of residents who were competing in the President’s Fitness Challenge.
• A story featuring a resident who has been volunteering each week in his spare time at the local prison for the past 22 years.
• Two TV segments featuring three residents who have a lifelong passion for woodworking, and have worked together in the community’s woodshop every day for the past decade.
• A story featuring a couple of residents who, at the request of their grandson, began delving into their family history and have documented their life story in 55 volumes.

To take it a step further, we encourage communities to develop a Facebook page in which residents can convey the brand story online, by posting photos of community events and interacting with their neighbors and associates. Adding videos that bring residents’ testimonials to life can also greatly enhance a community website, and position residents as brand ambassadors.

So, who are the eyes and ears of your community? If you listen and do a little digging, I promise you’ll find a goldmine of opportunity.

Why not let residents help tell your brand story? The positive stories shared by satisfied residents who have adopted your brand might just make all the difference. And always remember the power of storytelling, as it will continue to be an essential component of any successful senior living marketing plan.

In a 2009 National Survey of Consumer and Workforce Satisfaction in Nursing Homes as compiled by My InnerView, more than 150,000 family members and more than 82,000 residents were interviewed about their satisfaction and preferences.

One aspect of the study focused on what drives consumer recommendations. The top 5, as cited by the survey:

This list reinforced to me that there is a real difference in how care is perceived. Taking care of someone’s needs is not the same as the very human element of compassion. I also found it interesting that things like quality of meals and meaningfulness of activities ranked near the bottom of the list in importance. This tells us it’s the experience, rather than the features, that factor into whether a resident or family member will make a referral.

You might say, well, isn’t this an operations issue? What does this mean for us in marketing? Let me give you a real example.

A skilled nursing and memory care community I work with can confidently claim high employee and resident satisfaction. They can also boast a beautiful new building that raises the standard of long-term care in their area ─ think well-appointed hotel with rich colors and commissioned artwork. But after three years in operation, they approached us for marketing support because occupancy held at less than 50%.

What was missing in their marketing program? First, a focus on what they do well, compassionate individualized care, rather than on the amenities and building. Second, a marketing communications program that projected that same caring attitude and connected with their target audiences – residents, families and professionals.

This community had already done the hard part of meeting expectations for all who experienced it. Our job was to craft and deliver the right message to the right audience. What once focused on features, not benefits, and affordability rather than care was repositioned. Their story now goes beyond a list of bullet points to how their staff, building design features, services, amenities and activities promote skilled nursing and memory care at its best: The way a loving family member would deliver it.

It is summed up in a new tagline: Living up to your idea of care. A thought that is right on target for what matters most to residents and families. 

Crisis communications is a hot topic these days. With a national spotlight scrutinizing how BP is handling its ultimate crisis, and more recently the fiasco stirred up by Steven Slater from JetBlue, now more than ever, companies across the country are re-thinking and re-evaluating their crisis communications plans.

In fact, when preparing their strategy, many organizations recognize it’s not a matter of ‘if,’ but ‘when’ they might be protecting their reputation locally, regionally or even nationally. The same is true for senior living communities. In order to manage your current reputation, you need to have a consistent communications plan in place to prepare for an unforeseen crisis, such as a fire, earthquake, union strike or tax-exemption challenges.

Randy Eilts and Bill Sitton, former journalists, share their insights into the importance of crisis communication planning and reputation management, and how it pertains to the field of senior living.

Reputation Management: We Didn’t Do Anything Wrong from GlynnDevins on Vimeo.

Writing letters. 
Say you get a letter. There’s a pretty stamp, a handwritten address, and the return is someone you know — a friend or relative. Inside, the first of a page or 2 starts with a dear you and includes a “this made me think of you,” a “remember that time when we” or perhaps a “guess what happened!” And there’s a reason: “Just keeping in touch,” “hope to visit soon,” “I wanted you to know.”

Through the information and anecdotes, you get it: authenticity, purpose, a letter from a real person that makes you feel like one, too.

In 1974, Martin Conroy wrote a direct mail letter for The Wall Street Journal that generated 55 percent of new subscriptions over the next 28 years. It’s a letter from a real person, and it comes across with authenticity and purpose. People felt it. They responded.

I think about direct mail letters to seniors that are authentic and purposeful. One-to-one, from a real person, to a real person. They start with “dear” and they mean it.

Saving theatres.
In small towns across the country, old movie theatres are new again — as centers for community life.

Loving colons.
Overlooked and misused, colons have launched a comeback. They’re the latest in punc chic.

Life goes on: So far.