Senior living reputation management is crucial for any organization that wants to stand out for consumers looking for excellent care options. As a whole, the senior care industry as a whole has a great online foundation with an overall star rating of 4.05, according to customer review data. The question then becomes: how does the brand stand out from the competition?
A powerful way to optimize senior living reputation management is with local SEO (search engine optimization) efforts, and we have some tips to get your reputation management strategy off the ground. Adding these tips to your senior care action plan can bring about results that improve your customer acquisition strategy and overall success.
Be Prepared with 4 Senior Living Reputation Management Tips
The success or failure of your senior living reputation strategy rests on digital visibility and online reviews. To create a favorable standing with potential residents, you need to keep in mind the 4 B’s:
- Be Visible
- Be Empathetic
- Be Informative
- Be Thankful
Be Visible
Claiming listings on specific business review sites such as Google My Business is an easy way to increase online visibility. The sites frequently visited by your ideal customers can vary so it might be best to conduct some research before claiming on as many sites as possible.
As you create numerous online listings, make sure that critical information such as brand name, address, phone number, and website URL are correct and up-to-date. Providing inaccurate information from the beginning only detracts from the user experience and easily reduces customer acquisition efforts.
Be Empathetic
One way consumers will decide if your facility is the right choice is by how you react to feedback on your online listings; specifically, you need to learn how to respond to negative reviews in an effective manner.
Before responding to feedback, think about the reviewer’s state of mind. Once you figure it out, respond in a kind manner. Don’t escalate the issue to a point where you can’t control the outcome. There might be some pre-approved lines for you to use when responding to specific comments, but try to make them sound natural.
People want to get a response from you. Just make sure that you sound sincere and caring in every review. When done correctly, your responses to online reviews can help keep customer retention at a high level.
Be Informative
Another facet of senior living reputation management requires you to have the right information on hand. Providing correct and accurate facts in your review responses makes you an authoritative figure, which increases the trust and confidence a potential resident places on your business. Don’t try to correct everything someone says in a negative review because it might backfire on you. Instead, it’s best to find a way to resolve their issues away from the public eye.
Some solutions include setting up a private phone call, corresponding by email, or sending them to your help desk service (if you have one). This type of redirect is also beneficial when it comes to writing HIPAA-compliant review responses.
The same can also be said for your social media reputation management efforts. Engaging in a caring and informative manner with potential customers can easily make you stand out from competitors that only use their social channels to promote rather than engage.
Be Thankful
Whether your reviews are favorable or negative, it’s important to thank people for their feedback. After all, they took time out of their busy daily schedules to write feedback.
Saying “thank you” is one of the easiest things to do, but it also carries plenty of weight. It shows that you care about their feedback, and sets a positive tone for future conversations. Prospective customers can easily see your positive tone from a few exchanges, and that might be enough to convince them to learn more about your facility.
Managing the Online Reputation Cycle
Senior living reputation management is a vital part of an effective business strategy cycle. With the response methods to reviews, you create a positive reputation for your facility.
The tips above should be enough to get you started, but if you want to make it easier on yourself you can use valuable reputation management software to effectively manage the many aspects of your senior care facility. For more information on how to elevate your online reputation check out senior care action plan.
