Resident Frustrations, CRM Challenges and Killer Virtual Event Topics
During our latest COVID-19 roundtable, communities talked about the changing moods in their respective states and exchanged advice for successful virtual events.
Dig into the summary below. Please also join us for our next roundtable, coming this week!
Please join us for our next roundtable discussion on Thursday, September 10, at noon ET.
Aging-services expert Scott Townsley from Trilogy Consulting will join us to discuss consumer research and other insights related to the pandemic.
What Marketing Tactics Are Filling Up Communities During Covid-19?
Last week, at our sales and marketing roundtable, communities shared creative ways to drive move-ins and brainstormed solutions to their biggest reopening challenges.
Dig into the recap below. Please also join us for our next virtual roundtable, coming this week!
Please join our next roundtable discussions on Thursday, September 3, and Thursday, September 10, at noon ET.
On September 10, aging services expert Scott Townsley from Trilogy Consulting will be joining us to discuss consumer research and other insights related to the pandemic.
How to Produce Great Social and Digital Content During the Pandemic
At our weekly sales and marketing roundtable, Varsity team members Cory Lorenz, Media Director, and Cara Stefchak, Senior Social Media Strategist, joined us to share their thoughts on social media and digital media use during the pandemic.
Check out the highlights below. Please also join us for our next sales and marketing roundtable next week!
Thoughts on social media from Cara Stefchak:
Hello, everyone! Last time I joined you, I talked about content creation and brainstorming around what makes good content and best practices. I wanted to keep it more informal this time. I wanted to address some things I saw in last week’s roundtable—activities that I thought would make great social content.
Think about how a video tour or other event can be leveraged on social
I encourage you to work with whomever is filming and editing to get multiple deliverables out of a project. Engagement falls off at the two-minute mark for Facebook content, and one minute for an Instagram post. Always look at what your video is—how you can slice and dice it in different ways to provide you with legs on social media.
Design for sound off. We always encourage people to keep in mind that viewers may have their sound off. If someone is narrating the tour, include captions and include your logo early in the video to help communicate your message.
Two minutes is the longer end of things. Really, you have probably just a few seconds to get your audience’s attention. With a community tour, you probably have more leeway, but it’s still a good idea to catch their attention in the first few seconds to get them to hang on a little longer.
Question: How do you upload a longer video?
Answer: If you upload a video that is longer than one minute to Instagram, it will prompt you to go directly to Instagram TV. It will sense that it is too long for the feed, and that it should go to Instagram TV.
Question: Can you add captions to an iPhone video?
Answer: You can’t do Instagram Live or Facebook Live with captions—you have to add them post-filming. Facebook has smart captioning, and it might be able to detect your voice, but I would still go back through and make sure everything is correct.
Virtual events make great social content—whether it’s bingo, or happy hour, or having folks share a meal in their room.
Always try to remove as many barriers as possible for participation.
Prepare for the event in advance (provide the cards, markers, and step-by-step directions for logging on) to make it as user-friendly as possible.
Snap a photo of care packages/prizes outside doors, and share on social media channels. Doing so shows that, even though there’s social distancing, your teams are doing their best to keep residents engaged.
Question: Do you keep the activity in small groups of 5 or 6 or a bigger group of 30?
Answer: Smaller might be helpful depending on how much participation you anticipate. You can communicate more easily that way and have more back and forth. When you get in those larger Zoom meetings, it’s hard to jump in and speak up. Smaller breakout groups are definitely a nice idea.
Tip: It doesn’t have to be: “We need to do something for social content.”
A lot of things you’re already doing. Ask yourself: What activities do we have that could be nice to capture and share out on social? It’s a smart way to show people that life is going on, and life is still great in the community. It’s always nice when you can share a virtual event. It gives an impression of vitality and vibrancy.
What virtual events are you doing right now?
We’ve posted some of our activities on Facebook—short programs with people exercising in the courtyard.
One community wanted to have a celebrity chef do a cooking demonstration, so they sent ingredients to those who RSVPed. We’re still working on setting it up
What moments are coming up that you could build an event around?
September 16 is National Play-Doh Day. Maybe artists can create with Play-Doh. It’s an excuse for something fun. There’s never a shortage of those interesting holidays that you’ve never heard of.
Grandparents Day: What a time to highlight intergenerational connections.
Instead of having grandchildren visit, grandparents can make gifts for grandchildren, and they could be delivered.Grandparents can share advice for grandchildren, and it can be shared on social.
Is anyone addressing COVID concerns directly in social content? If so, what response have you gotten?
I follow a lot of clients and I haven’t seen much lately.
We’ve been sharing our COVID status and policies via Constant Contact. People are sharing how grateful they are that we are taking care of the community. We’ve been COVID-free since June 1.
Have you purposely not put that content on social? No, we just haven’t thought about it, but I guess we also haven’t wanted to brag about being COVID-free because that could change tomorrow.
Question: A lot of people I know had their Instagram accounts hacked. How can we stop that?
Answer: Update your passwords. (Since our personal Instagram is our gateway to community sites, it’s even more important to make that more secure.) Another person said, “I recently had my accounts hacked. There’s a link you can use to report to Facebook that this isn’t you.”
Cory Lorenz presented an Enquire data slide showing recent media trends:
Cory: Social media inquiries are up year to year, and email is up huge. Conversely, direct mail is taking a hit, and out-of-home and paid referrals are way down. We’re curious whether this looks accurate to you for your specific communities. Are you seeing the same trends?
Internal referrals are down a little, but we’re working on a new testimonial campaign
We’re getting more leads from the internet and email; direct mail has flattened out.
We’ve cut way back on direct mail and advertising—it’s expensive in big-city markets. Most of my referrals are coming fromfriends, family and other people who are aware of the community.
We are getting more internet advertising referrals, and paid professional referrals are down. Since you can’t have events anymore, that’s one reason direct mail is taking such a hit.
Please join our next roundtable discussion on Thursday, August 27, at noon ET.
Communities Describe Today’s Sales Environment in One Word
As communities gathered virtually last week, most people seemed to be feeling frustrated, finding that prospects of late are need-driven. On a positive note, salespeople realized they aren’t alone, and it was comforting to know that others are in the same boat.
Check out the highlights of our discussion below. Please also join us for our next sales and marketing roundtable, coming up next week.
J
Join the next sales and marketing roundtable on August 13!
Please join our next roundtable discussion on Thursday, August 13, at noon ET.
Last week, communities swapped ideas about marketing during challenging times. Varsity partner and WildFig President John Bassounas joined our roundtable to share his thoughts on the importance of using data to drive decisions.
Check out a recap of our discussion below. Please also join us for our next roundtable coming up this week.
Recap of John Bassounas’ discussion on data and analytics:
We believe that:
The future belongs to organizations that embrace a data-driven approach.
A comprehensive data strategy is at the core of a winning organization.
Analytical applications transcend disciplines and drive efficiency across the entire organization.
First-party data, plus open-source data, has significant potential to transform strategy and drive positive outcomes.
Why be data-driven?
Consistency
Longevity
Awareness
Responsiveness
Reason-based decisions
Dynamic feedback
What are common obstacles to using data?
Lack of strategy
Poor objective mapping
Resource limitations
Lack of integration—data is in silos
Poor collaboration
Technology crisis
Situational awareness
Skill deficits
Organizational culture
No adaptive response
Scalability issues
Institutional bias
Analytics continuum
Keep things simple—ask what questions need answers, and what data can help provide insight?
It’s valuable to look at data through a descriptive lens.
The more forward-looking the question, the more value it has for the organization.
Who is responsible for analyzing the data you collect?
We have a web partner that does Google Analytics, and a digital marketing person on staff who pulls data. I was also a market analyst, so I do a lot of the analyzing myself, through Enquire. We’re not currently using open-source data.
Once you collect and analyze the data, it’s important to get it to the right person, and teach them how to act on it/make it actionable.
Situational awareness
For example, we take fall data and present to a fall committee, which can make the findings actionable and integrate changes seamlessly into day-to-day behavior.
Fall data may inform decisions about ramps, bars for walking, needed staff, etc.
Frequent fallers may have decreased engagement in wellness programming, and there may be an opportunity to re-engage them.
Allows for proactive vs. reactive decision making
We are in a position to predict the likelihood of a person contracting COVID-19 when they onboard to a community.
If you’re interested in seeing data and analytics examples, or tools that we use, please let us know. We would be happy to share any of the tools and walk you through the process in more detail. This is an opportunity for differentiation, growth and efficiency, and we would love to share more information. Contact John Bassounas directly, at JBassounas@VarsityBranding.com, or contact Derek Dunham at DDunham@VarsityBranding.com.
Join the next sales and marketing roundtable on July 9!
Please join our next roundtable discussion on Thursday, July 9, at noon ET.
As more areas open up, communities met virtually for roundtable #14 to discuss this week’s reopenings and answer one another’s questions.
Check out the recap of our discussion below. Please also join us for our next sales and marketing roundtable, coming up this week.
Questions from attendees:
What can our resident panel talk about in an upcoming Zoom call?
Ideas discussed:
Ask residents to share what they’ve been up to on campus (and the fun they’re having)
Talk about dining and activities
Discuss safety protocols in place
Talk about how the administration communicates with residents and keeps them engaged
Were you respected as a resident and individual?
How did the community try to keep life as normal as possible?
Do you have any regrets or wish you were still at home? (Use caution on this one; make sure you know what the resident will say)
Contrast social engagement vs. social isolation
One participant asked about struggling with visually interacting with prospects since they can’t meet in person. How do residents interact with people? Is a Zoom meeting better than a Zoom webinar platform?
Ideas discussed:
Webinars are good for larger conferences, and meetings seem to be better for more personal interactions with fewer than 10 to 15 people
Zoom meetings allow for breakout rooms and more personal conversations
Strive to book a private Zoom meeting in the days following a presentation to have a more personal conversation
We will explore this topic more in next week’s roundtable.
Join the next roundtable on July 2!
Come kick off the holiday weekend at our next roundtable discussion on Thursday, July 2, at noon ET.
You don’t have to be a client to join — all are welcome. For call-in information, email DDunham@VarsityBranding.com.
Quarantine Frustrations, Salon Openings and Virtual Venues
Last Thursday, communities came together to talk about the need to market their communities differently in the current environment.
You’ll find a recap of the discussion below. Please also feel free to join our next sales & marketing roundtable, coming up this week.
Join the next sales & marketing roundtable on June 11!
You are welcome to join our next roundtable discussion on Thursday, June 11, at 12 p.m. ET. Our Senior Social Media Strategist, Cara Stefchak, will share social media trends and best practices against the backdrop of Covid-19.
You don’t have to be a client to join — all are welcome. For call-in information, email DDunham@VarsityBranding.com.
As social distancing continues, communities came together for roundtable #9 to share their ideas and challenges. Robinson Smith, creative director at Varsity, joined our discussion to share insights on brand-centric messaging during quarantine.
Check out the takeaways below. You are also welcome to join our next sales & marketing roundtable, coming up this week.
Insights from Rob’s discussion on creative messaging:
Rob shared this video, which essentially highlights how painfully similar much of the COVID-19 advertising is.
Every commercial is exactly the same, with catchphrases like: “uncertain times,” “home” and “together.”
Brands want to let you know they were there for you in the past, are with you now and will be with you moving forward. While these messages of hope and empathy are important as we move forward, it’s critical not to lose sight of the brands we’ve worked so hard to establish. We need to make sure we’re not abandoning them, especially as normal community marketing will not return for quite some time.
While all communities want to communicate that they care about the safety of their team members and residents, they also should make sure that they are talking about their BRANDS and are leveraging the messages that they have put out into the marketplace and established over time.
At Varsity, we talk about branding and brand personalities in terms of archetypes. The caregiver archetype is typically the archetype of industry, so it’s not a long-term solution for individual community branding as we go forward. Communities need to be intentional about expressing their own voices — explorers, magicians, lovers — and make sure that the things that set them apart from competitors are being stated in true, unique and compelling ways.
Join the next sales & marketing roundtable on May 28!
We thank everyone for participating, and we invite you to join the next session on Thursday, May 28, at 12 p.m. ET.
Jackie Stone, Varsity VP of sales, will be joining us for part of the session to share her insights on virtual event topics and processes.
You don’t have to be a client to join — all are welcome. For call-in information, email DDunham@VarsityBranding.com.
Response to our COVID-19 conversations continues to be enthusiastic, so we held Sales & Marketing Roundtable #3 last week. For those who weren’t able to make it, the high points are below.
We’re gathering for our next virtual discussion this week, and all are invited to attend.
Join the next roundtable on April 16!
We thank everyone for participating, and we invite you to join the next session on Thursday, April 16, at noon ET, for a sales & marketing discussion.
You don’t have to be a client to join the conversation — all are welcome. For call-in information, email DDunham@VarsityBranding.com.
J
