As senior living communities seek effective ways to “make their case” to aging senior adults and their adult children who are increasingly involved with “shopping” and selection decisions, video can be a valuable addition to your tactical marketing arsenal.
Adult daughters of aging parents, who comprise roughly 70% of on-line senior housing searchers, have higher expectations for the types of information and media options found on senior living websites today. With advances in e-communications technology in recent years and the proliferation of video on commercial sites, consumers today not only want but also expect high quality videos. They typically find them to be a more appealing, interesting and compelling source of information than the static printed word.
Benefits and Advantages of Video
As a communications medium, video offers you and your prospective customers several functional benefits as follows:
- A Visual Experience – Consumers like things that are visual and are attracted to them. Also, seeing and listening is less “work” for busy consumers than taking the time to read something.
- Expression of Personality and Emotion – By virtue of these capabilities, video can be more personalized, attention-getting and influential.
- Search Engine Rank – Video can also improve your search engine rankings. Search engines factor in the presence of video on a page when determining where the page ranks.
- Site Visit Duration – Because video enhances the overall website experience, visitors tend to spend more time engaging with your brand and considering the solutions you offer them.
- Flexibility – You website video can also serve other useful functions such as embedded e-mail and social media such as Facebook.
Ideal Video Applications
Video has become very cost effective and provides an ideal means of bringing your website to life and adding interest and contextual depth to your site. Video lends itself very well to:
- Personalized welcome messages from administrators, medical directors and care professionals
- Discussion of mission, service culture and differentiating features and amenities
- Demonstration or “problem-solution” marketing where you can clearly illustrate how your services meet the specific problems and needs of seniors and their families
- Testimonials from residents and their adult children
- Facility tours
In his recent article, Why Should Marketers Care About Creating Videos? Gary Lipkowitz offers that, “As the means of production, video delivery infrastructure and video viewing habits have evolved, the level of video watching online has soared. As marketers, we are greatly interested in the habits and expectations of our customers. We need to deliver our information in a manner and in a medium in which it will be noticed, consumed, and appreciated.”
Mr. Lipkowitz shares the following compelling evidence to support the view that video is effective and adds value to your website:
- Having video on a website’s landing page makes it 53% more likely to show up on the first page of Google searches.
- The average user spends 88% more time on a website with video than a website without one.
- Email opt-outs can be reduced by as much as 75%.
Today, video productions do not require a large budget. They can be created more cost-effectively than ever before with improved technology. However, as with any other communications initiative that will represent your brand, your videos should be well conceived and effectively created. Be sure your online videos have the professional look and feel that will engage visitors and enhance the value of your brand.
Implications for Senior Living Providers
Today, video is both an important and expected element of your website and social media marketing strategy. It can help you to tell your community’s story in ways the written word and pictures cannot. If your community requires additional support to develop or optimize your video experience for your customers, be sure to choose an organization that operates exclusively in the senior living space and has the specialized expertise and experience in senior living marketing required to succeed.