10 Steps to Creating an Effective Social Media Strategy for Your Home Care Business
Caoimhe Walsh
Social Media for Home Care Businesses: Why You Shouldn’t Overlook It
Many time-squeezed home care provider businesses neglect their social media profiles. However, when used strategically, social media can play an important role in marketing for home care businesses.
Social media provides you with a free way to communicate with a huge audience: nearly 40% of the world’s population uses Facebook. Two out of every three Facebook users visit a local business page every week.
Through social media profiles, your home care business can increase its visibility among participants, share business updates, show what your brand stands for, encourage reviews, answer client queries, strengthen your relationship with your existing clients and provide essential contact information for your company.
Social Media Marketing Strategies for Home Care Agency
1. Define Your Resources
How much time do you really have to spend on social media? How social media savvy are your team members? Can you edit photos, create graphics or shoot videos? And, what’s your budget for paid social media promotion?
Knowing how much time and money you can dedicate to your social media marketing will help you decide where to focus your efforts. You’ll be able to create a more realistic strategy instead of stretching yourself thin.
2. Create Your Big-Picture Goals
Marketing for home care business purposes should always be goals-driven. Is your objective to drive new enquiries? Improve your brand recognition? Provide updates for your existing clients? Create a list of objectives and list them by priority.
3. Understand Your Audience
Which target audience will best help you achieve your big-picture goals: potential new clients? Participants’ family members and loved ones? Your existing customers? Or support workers?
4. Choose Your Platforms
Your choice of platform should be determined by your available resources, your big-picture goals and your understanding of which platforms your target audience uses most.
Some of the most valuable social media platforms for home care agency include:
Facebook: The world’s biggest social media platform
Facebook Groups: Ideal for driving community engagement
YouTube: Useful for video guides and interviews with happy clients and staff
LinkedIn: Well-suited to recruiting caregivers
5. Outline Measurable Goals
Now that your home care social media strategy has started to take form, it’s time to define your quarterly goals. Ask yourself:
How will you measure success? Is it by followers, engagement levels or website clicks?
What’s a reasonable target for the next quarter?
6. Create a Content Strategy and Calendar
Social media for NDIS businesses doesn’t have to be as slick as a fashion brand’s.
However, your social media marketing strategies should still be adapted to the platform and your audience. And, most importantly of all, keep your goals in mind: you want to provide value for your followers while moving towards your quarterly targets.
Once you’ve decided on your content strategy, create a calendar to keep you on track.
7. Respond to Your Followers
Make sure you’re checking your profiles and responding to any messages or comments. This will strengthen your relationship with your community, build authenticity and encourage further engagement.
8. Measure Your Performance
Most social media platforms provide data about your followers and their interactions with your content.
You can also check Google Analytics to see how many of your website visitors came from social media, along with what pages they viewed and if they clicked any buttons such as “Call now”.
9. Adjust Your Approach
Your home care business social media strategy should evolve based on your performance, changes to your available resources, platform algorithm updates and industry developments. Schedule regular meetings to discuss your performance to date and tweak your strategy.
10. Use the Right Tools
Social media can be time-consuming, but these essential tools will help you take control of your schedule.
Unsplash, Pexels, StockSnap: Use these image banks to find free, eye-catching images.
Canva: Create attractive posts with Canva’s suite of beginner-friendly graphic design tools.
Hootsuite, Sprout Social: While not free, these platforms automate your posts so you can publish at the ideal time without staying glued to your phone.
Discover the key to boosting your home care business's marketing potential in 2024. Learn essential strategies and build strong referral networks to maximise your visibility and reach. Read our Ultimate Guide to Marketing Your Home Care Business to elevate your marketing game effectively.
ShiftCare’s home care software won’t market your home care provider business, but it will help you manage your relationship with clients and their loved ones; streamline your rostering, accounting, invoicing and compliance processes; manage client and support worker documentation; track funds usage; and more.
ShiftCare users find that they save hours of admin time every week. Discover how much time you could save with NDIS software. Try ShiftCare for free.
Why is having a social media strategy important for my home care business?
A well-planned social media strategy helps you reach your target audience, build brand awareness, and engage with potential clients. It ensures you consistently share valuable content that highlights your services and builds trust within the community.
What key steps should I follow to create a social media strategy for my home care business?
Start by defining your target audience, choosing the right platforms, and setting clear goals. Focus on creating engaging content, scheduling posts consistently, and tracking your performance to make necessary adjustments.
How can I measure the success of my home care business's social media strategy?
You can measure success by tracking metrics like engagement (likes, shares, and comments), follower growth, and website traffic generated from social media. Regularly reviewing these insights helps refine your strategy to better meet your goals.