If you’ve read our blog before or if you are one of our senior living clients, you know that we know, just how many of you have a love-hate relationship with social media. That is… you love to hate it. Especially… Facebook. We hear all the time that senior living social media is a waste of your time and resources.
The biggest complaint we hear? That Team Zuckerberg has made it too tough for your updates to appear in the News Feed.
Our advice?
Suck it up, buttercup. You need to be there.
While your reach might not be what you want it to be (recent statistics show business page updates are sometimes reaching less than 6 or 7% of their followers), you are overlooking an important group of folks.
Who are they you ask?
Potential families and their adult children.
They are checking you out once you come on their radar as a senior living community to consider. We’ve shared ideas on past blogs about what you can and should be sharing on your senior living Facebook page.
Now we thought it might help you to see the stats that show exactly who is spending their time on Facebook. Hint: it ain’t the Snapchatting- Instagram oversharing teens like some still mistakenly believe. They’ve long since left the building.
Facebook Users Demographics
As of January, 2016 here’s who is really using Facebook — even if they never post or share a thing.
- 21% of Facebook users are between the ages of 30 and 39
- Another 16% are people ages 40 – 49 and 13% are ages 50 – 59 (yep… your adult daughters are right there friends. Almost 30% of users fall in to that range.)
- 13% are aged 60 and older
If you’re good with fast math, you know that means 63% of the folks on Facebook are aged 30 or older. These are the adult daughters, the grandkids and the seniors themselves.
What’s interesting is that despite their reputation of posting replies and updates that embarrass their family, most older adults are “scrollers.” They hop on and off Facebook multiple times a day to see what everyone is up to, but rarely share updates or comments of their own.
Boost Your Senior Living Facebook Post
If you still aren’t convinced that those engaging photos and content-rich updates are worth the hassle, there is another way to get your posts in front of more people.
You can pay to boost the post.
You’ve all noticed that option right? It’s fairly inexpensive to do and can help get more eyes on your content.
Just remember to boost posts that take people to your content… don’t boost one of the funny memes you’ve posted or a link to someone else’s fabulous content that you’ve shared. While they might thank you, it’s done nothing to help you.
Boost your best. And boost posts that take visitors to your site.
If you are one of our clients and you are struggling with this idea, give us a ring. We can help.
Finally, if you want to know what Facebook has to say about declining reach, here’s what their VP of Advertising Technology had to say about it all a few years ago.
Let’s Stay Friends
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