CEO, Big Buzz
Big Buzz is a marketing agency delivering a steady stream of move-in-ready leads to teams serving the senior living industry. For more than 15 years, Big Buzz has helped senior living marketing and sales teams nurture leads to increase occupancy, grow and scale. CEO Wendy O’Donovan Phillips is the author of the book Flourish!: The Method Used by Aging Services Organizations for the Ultimate Marketing Results, has been published in McKnight’s, has been a regular contributor to Forbes, and has been quoted in The Washington Post, ABC News and Chicago Tribune. The Big Buzz leadership team regularly lectures in front of audiences ranging from 25 to 3,000 attendees, including at Argentum and various LeadingAge chapters. Agency awards and accolades include recognition for excellence by the American Marketing Association, Gold Key Award Winner by the Business Marketing Association, HubSpot Academy Inbound Marketing Certification, and Top Advertising and Marketing Agency by Clutch. www.bigbuzzinc.com
Articles and Webinars
by Expert Contributor
by Expert Contributor
Articles and Webinars
In a recent study, Big Buzz surveyed more than a hundred senior living executives to uncover insights into how they achieve higher marketing outcomes through team alignment. Your peers identified in our study these seven best practices for team alignment:
Establish common values and culture. This ensures that all team members adhere to the same code of conduct and standards, fostering team cohesion and cooperation. At each quarterly session, have team members read aloud for the entire group your organizational mission, vision and values. Encourage folks to share about how another person on the team embodied the organizational values or culture. As Alicia Marie of PeopleBiz, Inc., says, “Culture is what you say, do and reward.” Dust off the document and make it come to life with regular discussion.
Offer incentives and rewards. This can be done through team bonuses, recognition programs and promotion mechanisms. By providing tangible rewards for achieving team goals, organizations like yours can motivate and engage their employees. And remember, even a simple verbal acknowledgment in front of a high-performing team member and her coworkers can be received as a remarkable reward.
Establish effective communication channels. By developing independent communication software or platforms, organizations like yours can facilitate daily communication among team members, ensuring everyone stays informed and connected. A favorite of ours is Slack. Carry that same crystal clarity into your meetings with the L10 meeting format.
Encourage ongoing training and development. By providing necessary training programs and continuous learning opportunities, organizations like yours enable team members to acquire new skills, grow professionally and remain competitive in their respective fields.
Provide feedback and assessments. Gathering feedback and conducting assessments of the team’s current state allows organizations like yours to identify areas for improvement and address any issues or challenges hindering team alignment. Regular feedback and assessment help foster continuous improvement and enhance team effectiveness. Initiating a voice-of-the-employee survey before your quarterly meeting will allow you to share data and trends that emerge from your study.
Clarify goals and expectations. It’s crucial for organizations to ensure that all team members are aware of your organization’s goals and expectations. This clarity helps align individual efforts with the larger organizational objectives, promoting a shared sense of purpose and direction.
Establish consistent rules and procedures. To maintain team alignment, organizations like yours establish consistent rules, policies and procedures. By ensuring that all employees understand and follow these guidelines, organizations can create a unified and efficient work environment. But don’t spend too much time here – even 15 minutes of reminders about structures in your quarterly meeting can go a long way in promoting adherence to company policies.
These best practices, when implemented effectively, can significantly contribute to team alignment and enhance overall organizational performance. And we wish you all the best in achieving higher marketing outcomes by aligning your team!
Get your copy of the complete eBook.
Big Buzz is a marketing agency delivering a steady stream of move-in-ready leads to teams serving the senior living industry. For more than 15 years, Big Buzz has helped senior living marketing and sales teams nurture leads to increase occupancy, grow and scale. CEO Wendy O’Donovan Phillips is the author of the book Flourish!: The Method Used by Aging Services Organizations for the Ultimate Marketing Results, has been published in McKnight’s, has been a regular contributor to Forbes, and has been quoted in The Washington Post, ABC News and Chicago Tribune. The Big Buzz leadership team regularly lectures in front of audiences ranging from 25 to 6,000 attendees, including at Argentum and various LeadingAge chapters. Agency awards and accolades include recognition for excellence by the American Marketing Association, Gold Key Award Winner by the Business Marketing Association, HubSpot Academy Inbound Marketing Certification, and Top Advertising and Marketing Agency by Clutch. www.bigbuzzinc.com
Social media is your organization’s open house happening online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We surveyed 100 marketing professionals in senior living to discover how social media marketing is used in the industry to attract older adults to communities, why it is important, common processes and best practices. We have overlayed with your peers’ survey data a few of Big Buzz’s tools and approaches to streamline social media marketing and bolster results. The following is an excerpt of the full eBook.
A Simple 8-step Approach to Social Media Marketing
Set goals. Of all our survey respondents, 49% said they set goals pertaining to social media. Over time, all posts should follow a path that aligns with various points in the conversion process as well as high-level business objectives the organization seeks to reach. This path make clear what types of posts should appear day by day as well as a call to action and measure for each post type. For an infographic showing the path, download the full eBook.
Complete research. Review brand standards, gather survey data and review past social media initiatives and analytics to determine what actions increase followership and engagements and which do not. In our study, 75% of respondents take this step.
Review brand standards. When asked, “How often does your organization consult a brand standards guide when creating social media posts?” 54% of our respondents said monthly and 41% said quarterly. Both are a good cadence for refreshing the mind on the organization’s brand pillars when planning social posts. It is entirely appropriate to integrate brand messaging into posts in the Awareness area of the Conversion Process in the Content Path, ensuring it truly differentiates your organization.
Create the calendar. Most our survey respondents said they develop a new calendar either quarterly or monthly. We recommend quarterly development for organizations posting about four times weekly and monthly development for those posting up to seven times weekly. In fact, 66% of your peers said they ideate and align as a team on the overall social media marketing strategy. For a template you can use for your calendar, download the full eBook.
Create the posts. For each post, ensure the creation team includes an image or video with alt text to describe visuals for people who have trouble seeing them. Be sure every post includes attention-getting or educational text. Include relevant hashtags every time. In our research, we found only 51% of your peers include calls to action (CTAs) on all social posts. Recalling that people take action only when we call them to action, it’s imperative every post include a CTA and link.
Distribute posts. Are you posting adequately on the right social media outlets? Only a strategic marketing plan specific to your organization’s enterprise goals and business objectives can answer that question. To prevent posting across too many channels, expending resources and leaking returns, be sure to have researched which social media outlets your target audience frequents most and focus time and budget there.
Analyze results. While only 49% of survey respondents included data analysis in the social media process, it’s a critical indicator of success or areas in need of improvement. There are a dozen or more data points that social media marketers will measure, but your team likely will gain a clear high-level picture by measuring and reporting on just four metrics: reach, engagement rate, click-through-rate (CTR), and conversion rate.
Optimize and evolve. In analyzing and reporting on results over time, your team will be in good position to replicate more social media efforts that are paying off and improve or retire efforts that are not.
Big Buzz is a marketing agency delivering a steady stream of move-in-ready leads to teams serving the senior living industry. For more than 15 years, Big Buzz has helped senior living marketing and sales teams nurture leads to increase occupancy, grow and scale. CEO Wendy O’Donovan Phillips is the author of the book Flourish!: The Method Used by Aging Services Organizations for the Ultimate Marketing Results, has been published in McKnight’s, has been a regular contributor to Forbes, and has been quoted in The Washington Post, ABC News and Chicago Tribune. The Big Buzz leadership team regularly lectures in front of audiences ranging from 25 to 3,000 attendees, including at Argentum and various LeadingAge chapters. Agency awards and accolades include recognition for excellence by the American Marketing Association, Gold Key Award Winner by the Business Marketing Association, HubSpot Academy Inbound Marketing Certification, and Top Advertising and Marketing Agency by Clutch. www.bigbuzzinc.com
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