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In last month’s blog post What Senior Living Communities Should Expect Digitally in 2011, we asked you a few questions about your 2011 digital initiatives. And the results are in…

These survey numbers support some of our predictions for 2011, and point to an upsurge in overall digital spending across the board, along with an increased growth in implementing social media tactics as a way to engage with prospects, leads and adult children. We hope these findings are interesting to you and look forward to fielding more surveys via our blog. Thanks again to those who participated!

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The 2011 Consumer Electronics Show was recently in Las Vegas, and so I’ve been following the latest and greatest in consumer electronics. I thought this little invention would be relevant to share with those of us who are closely monitoring the pill intake of loved ones, or for those of us who just can’t remember to take our own pills.

Check out this blog from Engadget on the GlowCap:
Vitality GlowCap Review

Next up for them…figuring out how to get a bottle that will divide up pills needed per day, and have a different sound go off if a certain pill was missed.

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I believe 2011 is going to be a big year for senior living communities from  a digital outreach standpoint. No longer do I hear… “We aren’t sure we need to spend money to support online efforts, because we don’t believe our audience is going to the Web.” My clients know their prospects are there. And their children are there. Communities know they have to make the most of their digital investment. 

Here are some of my thoughts on how 2011 will shape up in terms of senior living digital marketing…

1)  Optimizing local search will be a primary focus for senior living communities.

2)  Communities will design websites that create conversion.

3)  Communities will measure and analyze their digital investment.

4)  Communities will do more than dip their toe in the water when it comes to social media. 

5)  More communities will create video channels to highlight their community and residents. 

6)  Communities will provide more adult child tools via their websites in the form of education and resources.

7)  Mobile applications and mobile websites will become more important for senior communities. And don’t forget about tablets ─ Seth Godin predicts that 2011 is going to be the year of the tablet. Tablets are perfect for senior eyes.

8)  More and more offline marketing initiatives will push prospects to community websites to get more of the story. 

9)  Engagement will be a primary goal for senior living websites.

10)  More communities will utilize targeted landing pages or microsites that convert to pay off specific messages or promotions. 

This is going to be a stellar year for senior living digital marketing communication…the digital opportunities are just too endless for it not to be.

Find out how your 2011 digital initiatives compare by answering a few quick questions.

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After checking in on Foursquare when I arrived at the social media lab sponsored by AAHSA and GlynnDevins yesterday morning, I was excited to see the fervor around the monitors set up in the lab.

My colleague, Gigi Burton, and I spent the next 3.5 hours engaged in social media discussions with executive directors, marketing directors, residents, college students majoring in Gerontology at USC and a host of other interested individuals. We registered many attendees for their own personal Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Foursquare accounts, even taking their pictures and uploading them to their accounts from the floor. At least one individual even started tweeting before he left the social media lab.

A small sample of what we heard at the lab…

1) How many or which of these social media options should my community be supporting?
-At GlynnDevins, we would recommend spending a bit of time evaluating which of these communication tools is the best for your community, choosing one to get started, and then checking your resources to be sure you can continually keep your social media vehicle up-to-date and that you are responding quickly to any posts.

2) What should I say on my Twitter or Facebook pages?
-There are many ways to use these pages. One idea is to give prospects or adult children a slice of life in short bites with these two tools. Both tools can be used to build relationships with prospects or ACIs, and help bring your communities to life with ongoing updates from what life is like at the community. Check out the updates and Halloween photos from Somerby at Alpharetta’s Facebook page to see what I’m referring to.

3) What the group at the social media booth has been hearing from residents:
-I want to be on Facebook so I can communicate with my grandchildren and see their pictures and updates.
-My grandkids are posting pictures of my new great-grandchild on Facebook. If I want to see the pictures, then I’m going to have to be on Facebook!
-I’ve been reconnecting with people I haven’t heard from in years.
-I want to use Twitter so I can get news updates even faster than waiting to see the news on TV.

4) What we are hearing from Executive Directors/Marketing Directors/Activity Directors:
-I have to pay attention to local news blogs, etc. If a press release has been picked up by a newspaper, the news is out on their blog the night before, and there are 3-4 posts on the blog before the morning newspaper hits homes.
-We are getting some sales inquiries via Facebook. And we definitely feel that we are building relationships in the community.
-Our concierge is able to keep our Facebook page up-to-date. He really has his finger on the pulse of what is going on at our community.

If you haven’t had a chance, stop by the AAHSA/GlynnDevins social media lab today and say hi to Craig from AAHSA, the GlynnDevins crew and the wonderful USC volunteers! Here are a few photos to show you the space and the live Twitter feed from the floor at AAHSA this year.

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It happens, but at GlynnDevins we don’t like it. You may have seen our September 28 blog post, “We have ourselves a situation,” which was appropriately titled, since some of you may have had challenges with the link sent out via our auto-generated email to subscribers. 

At times even the best-laid plans for technology platforms can go off track, and quick fixes are necessary so information is always accessible. Rapid fixes and communication to your audience are necessary to ensure users feel that you are addressing the situation appropriately and swiftly.

Since we ran into this situation, I thought it might be timely to send out a few checkpoints you should include in your digital strategy, so you will be ready when technical glitches arise.

If an error occurs with one of your digital initiatives, here is a response process you might follow to ensure you address the issue and user/prospect concerns:

1. Be aware and watchful. Make sure someone is actively tuned in to your website and overall digital strategy so proactive fixes can be made to alleviate the need for crisis control, and/or quick identification of an error can be flagged.
2. Fess up. Tell your customers there is an error and that you are working to fix it.
3. Fix it. Make sure you fix errors as soon as you can.
4. Communicate, communicate, communicate. Make sure you are sending communication via all your messaging outlets, whether that is your website, emails, phone messages or social media vehicles so you reach customers in the format they like to hear from you.
5. Tell users the truth, don’t sugarcoat or place blame.
6. Turn a negative into a positive. Use the opportunity to reach out to users/prospects and connect with them in a positive manner.  Superior customer service in a time of turmoil will show prospects how you would handle any potential issue they might encounter once they move into your community. 
7. Review your process and/or technology platform to ensure technology failures don’t keep occurring.

One thing I know for sure is that we won’t let Ryndell post another blog with the title, “We have ourselves a situation”…

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