6 Ways Home Care Providers Can Use Social Media to Improve Client Engagement

There are many business benefits of social media, from hiring to marketing. When it comes to home care, establishing a strong social media presence can build trust between providers and their home care clients and clients’ families.

Like online reviews, social media content often influences one’s decision to engage with a brand or buy their products or services.

In this article, we’ll explain six ways home care providers can use social media to improve client engagement.

Connect with your target audience and clients

Pew Research’s social media fact sheet shows that 69% of 50 to 64-year-olds and 40% of those above 65 use social media. Therefore, home care providers don’t have to rely solely on traditional marketing methods to reach their potential customers.

Social media is more focused on building communities and establishing an online brand presence than traditional marketing. It provides a great way to improve your reputation and attract new clients. 

Home care providers can connect with their target audience and ideal clients by choosing the right social media platform. For example, 41% of Facebook users are 65+, meaning home care providers who want to reach their clients must begin with Facebook. 

On the other hand, you can reach the adult children of your clients on platforms such as Instagram. However, Instagram is driven by visual content, and if you don’t have a regular influx of photos, it could be difficult to maintain good engagement. 

Overall, home care providers must have the right strategy and specific goals concerning their target audience to improve client engagement.

Provide customer service

Most people use social media as a convenient tool to gather information about a business. 

According to Ledgeview Partners, “globally, 54% of people had a more favorable view of brands that responded to customer service questions or complaints on social media”.

Social media provides quick customer service, whether engaging with new potential clients or responding to existing customers’ inquiries. Besides, handling a request by social media is 12 times cheaper than handling the same request by phone. 

Strengthen client relations

Trust is the foundation of any relationship. As a home care provider, you often need to maintain a relationship with both your client and their loved ones.

Social media can contribute to these relations by increasing trust and client loyalty to your agency. Offering incentives for your clients to follow you on social media is important to maintain your communication with clients and their loved ones online and offline. 

Sharing inspiring content on social media, such as your agency’s accomplishments, client testimonials, and what you do to give back to your community, increases your clients’ trust in you. It also encourages your clients to provide feedback and share their opinions with you.

Feature the faces behind the work

Home care providers can use social media to reflect their company culture. Unlike traditional marketing, social media allows businesses to share “behind the scenes” content, and you can use it to humanize your brand and build trust. 

By sharing content about your caregivers, your company’s achievements, and open opportunities, you invite more people to engage with your brand. For example, featuring content about your caregivers helps your clients learn more about them.

Plus, seeing the faces who provide the home care services helps your audience make a human connection with your brand.

Celebrate patients and their stories

Another way to improve client engagement using social media is by reaching out to clients who would like to share their stories with your community.

Following HIPAA guidelines, you can shine a light on relatable experiences that your clients go through or their accounts of working with you.

Social media brings people with similar experiences together, and your clients can engage with your brand more by interacting with your community. 

You can also reach your client’s friends and followers when you share their stories via social media because they are likely to share your content.

Be a source of reliable information

Nowadays, the internet seems to have all the answers we are searching for. Yet, learning something from a reliable source is becoming more important every day.

Establishing your business as a reliable source of information in home care is a powerful way to increase client engagement. We have already seen real-life examples during the Covid-19 pandemic when social media platforms allowed brands to share the latest advice regarding their premises or services.

For example, keeping your clients informed on the latest healthcare trends or home care treatments can build your authority as a provider. When clients trust you more, they engage with your social media pages for information.

Investing in social media benefits your clients as well as your home care business. Home care providers who put effort into educating the public about home care, informing their clients and their families, and providing additional solutions via social media benefit from improved client engagement, attracting more talent, and winning more referrals.

Smartcare software provides powerful marketing solutions for home care providers.

Please give us a call or request a free demo to see how our software can help you improve client engagement.