Think about some of the misconceptions older adults have about senior living.
One of the most common myths is that the food is bad, right?
Seniors have outdated ideas about the quality of the food in assisted living and independent living communities. Most of today’s senior living providers have on-site chefs or corporate chefs who create nutritious, inviting menus and meals. Meals are more of a dining experience than a cafeteria one.
Creating a content strategy for food can highlight your dining services program and give you an edge over your competitors online.
Cooking Up a Senior Living Content Strategy for Food
So how can you get started? What are some of the elements of a food content strategy?
Here are just a few things to consider:
- Videos that feature your community chefs: Short and sweet videos on topics that highlight the chef, their skills, and their commitment to well-balanced, visually appealing foods. Your chef can become an influencer and a face of your community, much the same way a well-respected medical director or well-known local Alzheimer’s expert is.
- Ways to encourage user generated content (UGC): This might seem like a long shot with an older audience, but it really isn’t. Research shows almost half of all adults aged 65 and older have smart phones. For seniors with college degrees, that number is even higher. Encourage residents and their families to snap pics of meals and the food at community events to share on their social media channels.
- Resident vegetable gardens: We know some of you have resident veggie gardens with produce being used by chefs at the community. Sourcing foods locally is a focus in many senior living communities, and it doesn’t get more local than this. It’s is such a great story to tell on your blog and social channels. Many of you are doing it off-line, but these stories are just as powerful online.
- Food pics on social channels: While many senior living providers are at their wits end with the constantly changing social media algorithms, food pics (aka food porn) continue to earn lots of views. Share recipes and photos on your senior living blog. Then post the photos on your social channels. Don’t focus solely on Facebook, either. Set up boards on Pinterest and add pins from your blog. Those individual pins with links back to your blog. You get the advantage of exposure and inbound links.
- Digital cookbook or recipes: Food also makes a great topic for a lead magnet/premium content piece. It might be a cookbook packed with tips for eating well during retirement and photos of meals at your community. Or it could be something as simple as a seasonal recipes guide. The recipes could be un-gated content while a meatier cookbook is gated to allow you to capture email addresses.
These are just a few of the unlimited ways you can use a solid food content strategy to promote your senior living community and overcome the myth about bad food.
Shoot us a note if you need help putting your strategy together!