Home care agency owners and operators are typically steadfastly focused on improving their services with the overarching goal of adding to their customer base. This hard work convinces prospective clients to choose one home care agency over competitors. However, even if you are uber-busy, it is in your interest to create social media pages for your home care agency and regularly update those pages. Here’s why.
Social Media Boosts Your Reputation
Nowadays, people are socializing with others more on Facebook and other social media platforms than they are in-person. Home care agencies that do not have pages on these increasingly important platforms neglect them at their own peril. The bottom line is an active presence on social media establishes the foundation for a growing community. As long as you update your social media pages, respond to questions, address concerns and interact with your online audience, this e-community will grow.
In fact, some members of your social media audience will share your home care agency’s posts with friends in their online circle, helping you build your community all the more. Just be sure to provide your social media followers with insightful and helpful information that engages them to the point that they consider “liking” or sharing your content with others, possibly helping your posts go viral and expediting the growth of your home care agency’s online audience all the more.
Social Media Helps Your SEO Push
There is a common misconception that only the keywords, key phrases and local identifiers used on your homepage matter in the context of search engine optimization (SEO). However, your social media is also important in the context of SEO. Weave keywords, key phrases and localized information into your social media content, hit the optimal keyword frequency of 1% to 2.5% and your home care agency will receive a SEO boost. This is exactly what your business needs to connect with that many more locals in need of home care services.
Keep in mind, SEO is the gift that continues to give, steering online traffic in your home care agency’s direction today and also in the weeks, months and years ahead. The bottom line is Google’s search engine is complex to the point that it crawls through social media sites to the extent that it will display home care agency social media profiles on the initial page or two of search engine results pages (SERPs). Just be sure that your home care agency has created and completely filled out profile information in Google My Business, Yelp and additional web-based listings to enhance your SEO all the more.
Educate and Inform Prospective and Current Clients
Your home care agency’s social media pages should help potential customers as well as current customers better understand your services and unique value offering. This is your opportunity to brag, detail the merits of your services and inform potential and current clients about how you can help improve their quality of life. Update your social media page with new information about your services, local events, information pertaining to health and your online following will increase, converting that many more prospects into paying customers.
Legitimacy
A presence on social media that informs locals about your home care agency and services makes your company that much more legitimate. This is your opportunity to establish your business as an authority in your industry, develop a rapport with potential clients and make a convincing case for them to pay for your services. Share your insight, knowledge and expertise on your social media platforms, position your team as legitimate professionals and your online audience will be that much more likely to pay for your services.
Social Media is a Branding Opportunity
Home care agencies must recognize social media provides an invaluable opportunity to establish and reinforce their brand. These platforms let you share your business’s personality with others, share images of your facility and staff, share posts with helpful information and provide a look at what your home care agency is really all about.
Continue to post to your social media accounts on a weekly basis, let locals in your community get to know your team and your brand recognition will grow as time progresses. The overarching aim is for those in your area to immediately think of your agency when the subject of home care arises.
Social Media Connects Your Home Care Agency to Your Local Community
Most people in your local community use at least one social media platform, whether it is Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or another site. Can you imagine not having a profile on these platforms and missing out on the opportunity to establish relationships with locals in need of your services? Don’t let competing home care agencies forge such important relationships with potential clients in your area while you miss out. Join Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media platforms, interact with locals on each platform, update your home care agency’s social media pages with regularity and your business really will be that much more deeply connected with locals. This meaningful connection is essential for converting prospects into loyal clients, many of whom will share your social media posts with those in their online circles and also provide invaluable word-of-mouth references to others in your community.
If you do not have the time, effort or personnel necessary to interact with social media users in your community, you should still have a profile on the many different social media platforms. It will certainly cost money to hire a part-time social media specialist to manage your accounts yet doing so makes financial sense in the long run. An active presence on social media has the potential to pay dividends that are exponentially greater than the cost of a part-time social media specialist. In fact, some home care agencies have full-time social media specialists to manage social media accounts, setting the stage for the agency to establish that many more connections with locals who need home care service, will need such service in the future or know someone else who might require home care assistance.