A creative content marketing strategy can help care homes to increase their visibility and provide a positive return on investment. Gillian Davies MCIPR and David Huckerby, Founders and Directors of Conteur, explain how.
The social care sector has been, and continues to be, under great pressure due to recruitment, increased workloads and financial difficulties. Contrastingly, however, it has also been named as one of the UK’s fastest growing business sectors. According to Herrington Carmichael Solicitors quoting Experian Market IQ (September 2021), the ‘estimated worth of the residential nursing care industry was approximately £7.7bn with an annual growth of 1.4% from 2016 to 2021, and continues to grow.’
According to the report, it estimates ‘the market value worth for 2024 to 25 will be around £7.77 bn and from 2025 to 2026, in the region of £8.11bn.’
This business growth is promising for the sector, but also means that care home owners will face increased competition from others in the area. Also, as technology improves, new services and apps will continue to help keep elderly people in their own homes for longer. Care homes need to work harder to showcase their USPs.
A creative and well-thought-out content strategy can assist managers and owners to increase their visibility within the self-funding resident market. If this is not something a care home owner has considered, with the increased demand for content to stand out, 2024 is the time to implement it.
With the increasing use of smartphones and the internet, digital marketing has enabled all kinds of businesses to reach a larger and more diverse audience. It has provided an affordable and flexible approach to more traditional marketing methods. When you combine this with the rise in popularity of social media, bloggers and influencers, it’s no surprise that this is a tool many are focussing on.
But taking an isolated approach could lead to missed opportunities so it would be beneficial to consider the PESO model when thinking about content marketing for your home. The PESO model is separated into four segments: Paid, Earned, Shared and Owned media. But rather than viewing these segments as isolated activities, it shows how integrated content can work together seamlessly.
When you start viewing content as a fully integrated activity it provides a much more positive return on investment for your business. Think about how your content could be viewed by your target audience and where. Understanding your tone, brand and vision, as well as the content you produce, will ensure you really embrace that PESO way of thinking.
PR and marketing trends 2024
Businesses are already recognising that customers are much more engaged with brands that are honest and showcase their real story – a trend which is only set to grow in 2024. Users are much more likely to engage with brands that are humanised and authentic.
Value-based storytelling
This is where public relations activity can connect with audiences on a more emotional level. Every care home should be doing some kind of PR, whether you are looking at brand identity, encouraging stakeholder and community relations, managing media relations or building trust and credibility.
Storytelling takes many forms and should be an integral part of a home’s communication strategy. From social media and website content, to community news and leadership, stories will always be much more powerful than solely facts and figures. Grab your audience’s attention with stories that appeal to emotions and values, and drive action. Focus on your amazing care workers and residents; they will have some amazing stories to share.
Video content
With media platforms and audience consumption evolving, so has the need to produce consistently high quality and engaging content. If you are currently ignoring video content, you won’t be able to in 2024. It’s being used everywhere – websites; news outlet platforms; social media; and digital marketing.
Video marketing will put your care home in the spotlight. Words are good, but video brings a place and people to life like nothing else can.
According to Personify, ‘videos will account for a whopping 82% of all consumer internet traffic by 2025, while video streaming will make up 91% of global internet traffic.’
Your content can also go a long way. Use it for those valuable enquiries, but also to boost your recruitment efforts. It can help you speak to a diverse audience and effectively showcase your environment and expertise.
Click the image above to watch Conteur's Care Home Showreel.
Simplified brand messaging and short form content
Not only are consumers wanting to connect with a brand more closely, but they are also wanting simplified messaging. It’s got to be short, punchy and attention-grabbing. As a care home wanting to stand out from the crowd, consider how you do this with different forms of content across multiple platforms.
As people’s use of smartphones continues to increase, alongside new and engaging social platforms, there is a real need for care homes to consider the use of multimedia messaging.
Short form video content can convey your messaging in a fun and interactive way, but you’ve got to be creative. You’ve only got a few seconds before someone swipes to the next video or piece of content, so use that time wisely.
Crisis Comms
With the increased speed and ease of sharing content and the ability for customers to engage with it – both positively and negatively – crisis comms certainly needs to be on the radar of care home owners and managers. Social media, and the digital landscape, provides people with the power to reach audiences quickly and it won’t take long fornbad news to gain momentum.
Being prepared and knowing how to manage a crisis well can help to protect your brand reputation. How you respond will be crucial. Consider having a crisis comms strategy, positioning statements prepared and media trained staff. Even better, have an agency that knows your business well to provide you with advice and guidance.
Social media advertising
Social media continues to grow in popularity and it’s always evolving. TikTok has 1 billion monthly active users, and is set to remain huge in 2024. Instagram also remains one of the most popular social platforms, with more and more emphasis on Reels.
Social media advertising still has its place, but users are becoming more and more switched on to the content they view. It has to be authentic and raw; it has to really showcase what your care home is about.
There is also more opportunity for social collaboration. Engage with your residents’ families and friends and potential leads, and even your care team. Develop those relationships and reinvent the way you market your home.
SEO and search engines
SEO will ensure your care home’s website is more visible, providing you with more opportunities to showcase your USPs and, ultimately, improve your enquiry rate. Next year is set to see some changes as to how SEO develops.
We’ve all searched on Google for the answer to a question, or to find a service and product. This search technique is shifting. People are now more likely to turn to their favourite social media channels to find what they are looking for. Social media has become a search engine in its own right. Users want to find genuine and potentially user-generated content for the answers they are looking for.
We will also see Google providing its Search Generative Experience – a fairly new experimental search feature using AI to generate answers to consumers’ questions. Something to keep an eye on.
So, it’s important to consider all of this when looking at SEO for your business. More and more, PR and SEO are converging to become powerful tools. As content shifts to becoming more and more online, SEO PR has naturally provided a solution to getting content seen. It’s about building relationships and using keyword research to bring everything together. When you combine this with a local SEO focus you can really start to target and speak to your perfect care home audience.
Conclusion
The value of storytelling has never been more important. Care homes need to consider an integrated approach to reach their audience(s) and provide emotive and authentic content, to stand out in a saturated digital landscape.
Each and every care home has its own unique personality and a host of amazing stories to tell, it’s just a case of capturing yours and figuring out the best way to package them up and showcase them to your audience.
