How to Generate Leads for your Senior Living Community 

The website’s launched, social media accounts are activated, your food’s great, and your team members are welcoming.

But there’s a lingering challenge: your leads aren’t coming in so easily. 

You’re not alone. Senior living communities all over North America are fighting the ongoing struggle with low occupancy rates and staffing shortages. 

But with a quickly increasing portion of Americans desiring a retirement lifestyle, many are left dumbfounded trying to solve the occupancy puzzle and generate solid leads. 

With the product of “senior living” changing, this also requires marketing efforts and approaches to change. It can be difficult to understand the best approaches, platforms, apps, and practices to promote your community both online and off. 

So how do you improve occupancy and generate new leads for your senior living community?‍

1. Earn Trust 

A quick Google search of “senior living near me” will likely result in pages of similar-looking websites. 

A home page is your virtual front door. It’s important to ensure that your community - whether active adult, independent living, assisted living, or memory care - has a realistic display of the best characteristics of the community. This should include actual photos of the communities’ exterior, images of happy residents, feature shots of the amenities, and a summary of what to expect when living at your community.

While virtual first impressions are undoubtedly important, this can feel more like booking an Airbnb for an adult child with an aging loved one. 

So the key is earning trust and making your community stand out in this increasingly competitive industry. 

Video Marketing

Video marketing is an engagement-driven approach to building community awareness and reaching your target audience. There are countless ways to approach it: 

• Launch a social media marketing campaign using short-form videos 

• Create a podcast or YouTube channel to discuss relevant topics

• Share resident experiences through digital storytelling

• Plan a community-wide content shoot to engage social media audiences 

And with nearly 90% of marketers satisfied with video marketing’s ROI, video marketing is nearly guaranteed to be a helpful addition to your budget. 

Did You Know? 

The average adult son or daughter of a senior today (Generation X) is between 41 and 55 years old.

Baby Boomers and Generation X, reported 10% increases in smartphone usage between 2012-2022. Millennials reported little change. ‍

2. Check your Reputation

For better or worse, your online reputation is vital to the success of your community. So it’s important to maintain a positive online image.

Comments and interactions made online are difficult to remove, and a poorly worded response to a negative review can jeopardize a community’s reputation indefinitely. 

What’s the solution?

Social media managers are responsible for managing a community’s online presence. They’re becoming common additions to marketing teams in the last few years. They not only keep your social uploads consistent and packed full of relevant content, but can also respond to messages and inquiries from possible leads. 

Having an industry-knowledgeable marketing agency is a huge benefit to community teams when it comes to brand reputation and engagement online.  

Did You Know?

YouTube is the second most widely used search engine after Google.

Facebook and YouTube are Generation X’s preferred social platforms. 

3. Offer Free Value with Gated Content 

What do people enjoy more than a freebie?

A downloadable freebie you can get in seconds. 

One strategy for generating leads for your community is by offering a free download, also known as gated content. 

Visitors exchange their email addresses for a no-strings-attached eBook, brochure, magazine, infographic, article, whitepaper, etc. and you’re provided a growing list of leads to nurture. 

These content pieces create trust in your community and keep possible converts returning to your content. They should solve specific problems, be easy to digest, and offer high value to the reader.

For example, an eBook, Top 5 Tips to Discussing Senior Care with your Parents, or New Ways to Supplement Your Retirement Income, could go a long way in gaining traffic to your website and social channels. 

4. Create Amazing Content 

Marketing in a senior living community was once more straightforward. And while television ads and local newspaper articles remain, it’s becoming nearly impossible to stay competitive without producing value-driven online content that connects with your audience. 

It’s All About User Experience (UX)

It takes much time, resources, and planning to create a community that leaves a lasting impression. 

From furniture choice, to meal options and lighting, communities must provide residents a memorable living experience with high quality care. 

But did you know your guest experience typically begins online?

Both your website and social media’s colors, typography, font choice, and even load time have impacts on how your audience feels, and ultimately their decision to tour or move in. 

This is called the user experience, or UX for short. 

Take Apple.com for example. There’s a reason behind their mostly black and white, minimal website with boring fonts…it’s been optimized to reflect the preferences of their audience, and it converts. 

Approaching your content with user experience in mind can help attract new leads and be accessible to a wider audience pool. 

Recruiting help from senior living marketing partner is a great option to streamline content creation specifically for seniors and aging adults. 

User Experience Considerations

• Is your content accessible to those with hearing or sight impairments? 

• How easy is it to book a tour through your social channels?

• Are you offering gated content? 

• Is your website’s display clear and concise? 

5. Multiple-Channel Promotions

The more places people can find your community online, the better. 

But it seems like every day there’s a new social media platform to join, a channel to subscribe to, or a keyword to research. 

And in a busy community, this takes away from time spent providing great care. 

But consistency is key. And staying active in the long run can drive traffic both to your website and community. 

More for Less

Recycling your content across a variety of services and platforms can help your community reach more people faster without an enormous marketing budget. 

Here’s an example. 

Has your marketing team written an amazing blog to draw traffic to your website? Recycle it into a video script and share it on Facebook and YouTube. From there, edit videos down and create short memories to share on Instagram and TikTok. 

With 80% of adults reporting getting their news from a smart device, creating content across multiple platforms is a great way to become more visible and accessible online. 

There are countless ways to deliver content, each with its own unique benefits.

• Case Studies

• eBooks

• Magazines

• Social Media Posts

• YouTube

• Instagram Posts

• Videos for TikTok

Be Great 

Generating leads to your senior living community requires a creative tech-driven approach. Become more visible online by creating consistent, value-driven content that speaks clearly to your intended audience. 

Do you want to learn more about an industry specific marketing agency? Schedule a meeting with Sara Mitchell, President of Solinity Marketing.