Selecting a senior living community for the next phase of your life, or for the life of a loved one is a weighty decision in normal times. Psst! It’s no secret, that these aren’t normal times. But, there is finally a little hope with vaccination roll outs. With six feet apart, and virtual experiences being the norm for a while longer, creating an intuitive and authentic online experience for researching seniors and their families will help your community cut through the noise and connect with decision-ready residents. Here are three ways to uplevel your community’s online presence. 

1. Increase Visibility With Virtual Tours and Video Content

Until we reach safe vaccination levels, contactless interactions are the safest interactions for seniors and their families. But, this doesn’t mean that we should simply wait until *gestures broadly* all of this has settled down. How we research, shop, and communicate with one another has changed — and these changes are expected to stick around post-pandemic. 

We know choosing a senior living community will never be as simple as other online decisions, but seniors and their families expect to be able to learn the ins and outs of potential communities while sitting on their couch looking at a laptop together. 

Virtual tours that show various floor plans, community spaces (both indoors and outdoors) help researching seniors and their loved ones get a feel for your community. Curated video content could include interviews with current residents and their loved ones, staff members, and community traditions. Cut tours and video content down into smaller, clearly named clips, and this will allow researching seniors and their families to choose their own adventure when learning about your community. 

2. Contact Us, Contactless

Video calls are an excellent way to connect residents with their loved ones, plus these conversations are good for everyone’s mental health and wellbeing. Consider supplying your residents with platforms — like Google Nest Hub, Facebook Portal, FaceTime on iPads, or Google Hangout — to help facilitate video calls with loved ones. Perhaps you’re skeptical and wondering if seniors are tech-savvy enough for video calls. Consider this, a recent AARP study found that smartphone adoption is at 62% among adults aged 70 and older. Moreover, according to Amwell, 45% of American adults aged 65 and older have participated in video calls using FaceTime, Skype, or Google Hangouts. Seniors and their families are more prepared than we give them credit for. 

3. Virtual Sales Assistants

Seniors and their loved ones are trying to keep their balance on a constantly shifting tightrope. With pandemic protocols, concerns about seniors’ safety, work or school from home, or in-person work and concerns about virus transmission…the list goes on. All of this is to say that they may not be able to reach out to your community during your typical hours of business. Virtual Sales Assistants (VSAs) can help with this problem. They are always on and ready to provide a warm and welcoming online experience to seniors and their families. Plus, VSAs are able to instantly answer those need-to-know questions about floor plans, amenities, care levels, and safety. 

Relate to your Residents

Ready to learn more tips and tricks to take your marketing to the next level and authentically connect with decision-ready seniors and their families? Download the first report in our monthly MarTech Series focused on The Senior Living Online Experience.