One of the challenges facing today’s aged care organisation is to consistently deliver engaging and compelling content. Audiences move quickly, seeking information in order to make educated decisions and quickly see through any inauthentic content. With limited budgets and constraints, the organisation is expected to be at every point of purchase always, delivering the right message at the right time.
So how should marketers approach content marketing? By acknowledging that the best content is already there to be found, and encouraging the organisation to stream content toward the marketing department.
Aged care communities are rich in content; on any day, many lives are interacting, events are happening and stories about the past and present are unfolding. Establish systems and procedures that empower all stakeholders to suggest content and that facilitate the flow of information. The role of the marketing department then becomes one of filtering, re-purposing and organising information rather than searching and creating.
Not only does this make the job easier, but content is always more authentic when it is sourced in this way. For example, professional images of actual residents and staff are always more enticing than stock photos, stories told by the residents and families are more believable compared to a general statement about how great the organisation is.
Why would stakeholders want to contribute content at all? Because like any community, the aged care community is always proud to celebrate its achievements and attract new members who share in its values.
Here are a few examples of how content can be sourced at the facility level.
Facility meetings
- Hold facility meetings to celebrate resident and family achievements such as family milestones and resident achievements within the community. Similarly, celebrate achievements with other stakeholders such as staff, service and health providers.
- Hold sessions that empower residents/families to tell life stories. Even a biography of a resident’s life is likely to be interesting content. Older people, having lived many years often through significant events of human history such as wars and economic challenges, naturally have many stories to tell. Find out about residents’ life stories ie. career, places of residence, and achievements. Bupa, for example, displays a video of residents and families on their website.
Noticeboards
- Position noticeboards around the facility that empower stakeholders to come forward with their stories and achievements.
Digital submission
- Establish email addresses, social media posts, and website ‘noticeboards’ which empower stakeholders to come forward with stories and achievements.
Establish systems
- Train staff on content marketing such that staff on the ground are able to identify potential marketing content and ask the questions that help to bring out the story/information.
- Further, set up a regular internal meeting of persons in management positions such as facility managers and community liaison officers, where information can be further filtered and assessed by the marketing department
—
Content marketing is the process of sourcing, evaluating, shaping, communicating content and evaluating its effectiveness. To consistently source and create compelling and authentic content, aged care organisations must set up appropriate systems and procedures.
There is gold already at the bottom of the stream. A great marketing department will help it flow right into the pan.
