Staying social during social distancing isn’t easy, and home care agencies need to get creative with how to connect with their target audiences and stay top of mind. One key method that can’t be overlooked or underutilized is social media, and in particular, Facebook, which is now the third most visited website in the world, with 7 out of 10 adults in America using the platform – including nearly half of all seniors age 65 and older. Older adults are the fastest growing Facebook demographic, with their usage more than doubling since 2012.

Facebook is a great vehicle to:

• Position your agency as a trusted resource and expert on aging care services in your market area.

• Provide potential customers with relevant information that helps them to age in the healthiest ways possible and find the supports and services they need when they need them.

• Build brand awareness about the in-home assistance services you provide and how your company sets a high standard for care.

• Communicate about pandemic precautions and protocols your home care agency is following to keep clients and caregivers safe.

• Showcase your brand’s personality and help customers get to know you and your team.

• Be a good networking neighbor and promote other like-minded businesses and community organizations in your market area by liking, commenting positively on, or sharing their posts on your company page.

• And ultimately, make you the top agency people think of when care is needed.

In our recent webinar in conjunction with Caring.com, the following steps were shared to help ensure you’re maximizing your agency’s Facebook presence:

• Setting up your Facebook page. If you haven’t yet created a business page for your home care agency, now’s the time to do so! Use the “Services” template, and include detailed information in the “About” section along with a call to action button so those who want to learn more can easily reach you. Adding as much detail as you can in the “About” section optimizes your page and allows you to better share your brand personality, unique differentiators, and services you offer.

• Review your settings. As the creator and primary administrator of your company Facebook page, you have significant control over who and what can post on your page. You can assign others administrative control, as well as make specific people editors. The page settings allow administrators to assign roles to determine all aspects of the page control, including creating and deleting posts, creating ads, assigning page roles and viewing insights, while page editors can do some of these same roles on a limited basis. At minimum, you should set it so that visitor posts require admin or editor approval before publishing, or only allow your assigned editors or administrators to add content to your company page. If you work with a marketing agency, give them administrative level control to your Facebook page to ensure they can efficiently manage your page. It is also prudent to set the profanity setting to “strong” to avoid offensive language.

• Ensuring your page is consistent with your brand. Your profile image should be a high-quality logo image, and the cover image should either match or complement your website’s hero image. This can include your tagline, awards, and any trust marks (Caring Stars award, Better Business Bureau, Home Care Pulse, etc.). Ensure that all images are sized correctly and are displaying clearly.

• Making the most of reviews. Reviews are crucial in today’s digital world to gain trust. If you find, however, that you’re receiving more negative than positive reviews, you can turn the “Reviews” feature off in Facebook. However, a few constructive reviews along with a majority of positive ones is to be expected, and how you handle those less-than-stellar reviews is key. Monitor your reviews closely and respond to both positive and negative reviews, quickly and professionally, demonstrating that you care and without becoming defensive. Explain your agency’s best practices, and attempt to resolve the issue, promising a better future result. It’s also a great idea to post your good reviews from other credible sources such as Caring.com.

• Posting content. Use a blend of posts that include content from your website, regular blog posts, new information that is helpful to those potentially facing a care need, positive reviews, achievements, and celebrations, and any information about and from your community and referral sources. Your posts should include photos or videos, in adherence with copyright regulations if you’re sharing any visuals you didn’t create yourself. Ensure privacy is respected by gaining approval before posting anything about a specific client or employee, and remember that Facebook is used as a place for collecting and sharing information – not often a place that buying decisions are made. Also consider Facebook ads or boosting posts to further position your agency as a leader in the industry and gain exposure to people who may not already know about your agency but are in your target market.

Using Facebook to its fullest potential for your home care agency is time-consuming, but incredibly important to maximize your reach. Partnering with a home care marketing firm to manage your social media accounts is a great way to make the most of this valuable resource while allowing you to focus on providing the best possible care to your clients.

***This blog post is related to a Digital Marketing Academy webinar focused on using Facebook pages for home care agencies, with corecubed's Amy Selle, Marissa Snook and Hilary Hull.

Available in the webinar archive as:

• Slides

• Recording