We were recently asked to do a social networking plan for a client in the senior living industry. My first question was: What are your social networking goals?  Are you trying to direct more traffic to your site/location, in the end getting more clients? Increasing resident & family communication/retention/satisfaction? And/or communicating more effectively with company employees? These are all things that can be accomplished using social networking.  But where to start?  I say start small, one step at a time, so you do not become overwhelmed.

Facebook: Create a personal profile & get comfortable using it. Find friends, connect & communicate with them. Find brands you personally like (cosmetics, restaurants, retail stores, etc… and “Like” them so you can see how they are using the tools. Check out your competition. Do they have a page or a group? How are they using this tool?

Foursquare: Do the same here, checking out your geographic area. Is this one worth your time?

LinkedIn:  This is more a business referral tool, but there is a lot of information being passed around, so it’s a great place to keep up with what’s going on in the industry. Remember that the people you do business with are a great referral source and may need your services for themselves or a loved one someday, so create a profile to start. The more you complete on your profile, the better your chances of being found when someone does a search. Then use their tool to find your business contacts to “link” (you can always request a link from myself & Luke Jansen at New LifeStyles). As you find people you are associated with, check out the groups listed on their profile. If the group is interesting to you, join. Then do some searching for other groups in your geographic area, industry, hobbies, etc… Once you are accepted to a group, introduce yourself, listing what you do. Then you can keep up thru email notices & comment when you see something of interest. This is a great place to ask for professional advice, referrals, etc… also a great place to get referrals from people you have business relationships with, such as vendors as well as residents & their families. If you see a need, you can always create your own group to communicate with them directly.

Twitter:  Create a personal profile & then look for people/businesses you like/admire/want to keep up with like business colleagues, friends, public figures, etc…  As always, check out your competition. Do they have a presence? What are they doing? What posts do you like & find useful? Which don’t you like? Figure out if this is the place for you. Are your residents &/or their families &/or your employees using Twitter? If so, is this a good place to communicate with them? You can make lists & send them direct messages which can be passed on as needed.

There are numerous other sites out there, but this is a good starting point.

Click here to read part 2