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Yes, we all want to share and interact with each other but let’s pause for a minute. Which media are best for your organization? New Media is referred to as content, which is easily accessible via many different forms of digital media. Traditional media includes television, newspaper, radio and magazines ads.
Aged Care Service Providers want to share, interact, be seen and heard in New Media as part of their Social Media Marketing. But is this an effective way for the Industry to engage with this large cohort of Baby Boomers?
2017 Statistics by Sensis Social Media Report showed that the age group 65+ used the following social networking sites i.e. Facebook 91%, YouTube 26% and Twitter 13%. The reasons for using social networking sites for this age group included
- Catching up with family and friends at 88%
- Get information on news and current events at 39%
- Share photographs or videos at 34%
- Engage with Government representative or department at 13%
Most Aged Care Services Providers have started to engage with New Media such as Twitter and YouTube, to showcase their organization to potential or future customers. For example
Arcare joined YouTube August 2011, 34 subscribers and 14,284 views of 5 videos uploaded in the past four months. Joined Twitter July 2010, 1459 Followers and 1334 Tweets.
Baptcare joined Twitter April 2009, 2307 Followers and 1230 Tweets.
Autumncare Australia joined Twitter July 2010, 459 Followers and 316 Tweets.
Uniting AgeWell joined Twitter September 2010, 1229 Followers and 465 Tweets.
If we tracked the numbers of Followers as a measure of impact and success of social media engagement, the above numbers are not impressive. So clearly New Media like Twitter and YouTube are not suitable for Aged Care Service Providers if they want to target and engage the large Baby Boomer audience. Furthermore, 93% of the age group 65+ trusted Traditional news sources such as radio, TV and print media for news compared to 3% news sources on Social Media.
If Aged Care Services Providers choose to engage with New Media as part of Social Media Marketing. It is important to:
- Define their target customers (consumer of service or non-consumer of service but advocates on behalf of the customer)
- Understand their motivations
- Identify the preferred mode of communication including channels of Social Media being used
Perhaps Traditional Media still resonate with Baby Boomers!
Reference
- https://www.google.com.aucolour box.com
- https://www.absolutemg.com/traditional-media-balancing effect/
- http://www.sensis.com.au/socialmediareport
- http://www.cio.com/article/2377257/online-marketing/7-ways-to-create-a-successful-integrated-marketing-campaign.html
- https://youtube.com/user/Arcaremelbourne
- https://twitter.com/arcareagedcare
- https://twitter.com/baptcare
- https://twitter.com/unitingAgeWell
- https://twitter.com/Autumncare_AU
scholarsmarketingchannel 
beautiful insights! It is always good to harness the power of technology, including the new media. Leveraging these innovations to further enhance information dissemination in the aged care industry brings transparency and trust to manu aged care providers.
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I appreciate your feedback, thank you very much. Looking forward to your insights with my next blog. Stay tuned!
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Interesting article. Family members at times does not have time to visit the care Home to decide if it would be suitable for their love one. Perhaps to review the content delivered via the new media to better attract the target group to address their needs.
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Hi Alvin,
Totally agree, regarding review of content delivered via new media. Thank you for your insight.
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A good background information about the aged care industry~ especially for the data statement part<
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Hi Yang,
Thank you! I hope services providers are looking at the data to know where to invest as part of their Social Media Marketing strategies.
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You truely know your stuff in the aged care sector. Very informative. a great read.
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Hi Rey,
It is a very interesting sector and the target market segment (Baby Boomers) are more interesting and l feel more research is needed for this cohort. Thanks
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I am a baby boomer, and though I am at least 20 years away from needing supportive care, I found this information very helpful and thought-provoking,
and much more user-friendly than twitter etc
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Hi William,
Thank you for your input. By the way, if you had a choice what will be your preference to engage with an Aged Care Service Provider?
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Hi Euphemia Harahwa,
Enjoy reading your article!
Regarding to the motivation of social media promotion by Aged Care Service Providers, from my point of view, non-consumer of service but advocates on behalf of the customer, like their children or grandchildren who is the active user of social media, they almost represent their parents to make the purchase decisions because elderly people are difficult to involve.
Elva ( Jie Ma)
Thanks～
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Hi Elva,
Thanks for your comment. I think more research is needed targeting this market segment (Baby Boomers) to understand how best to engage with them.
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Not knowing much of the Aged Care industry, I found this an interesting read. I am of the belief that it is the children and grandchildren of the baby boomers that are the target audience of New Social Media for these organisations; as they will be making the decisions and assisting their parents in finding suitable aged homes. However, I think there is a definite need for organisations to have a Social Media footprint for families and loved ones to keep up to date with the goings on in the facilities where their parent/grandparent resides. I would be interested to know if those Baby Boomers that are utilising social media platforms are those that recognise their needs as they age, those that generally live in retirement villages and thus are often those making informed decisions as to where and what assistance they will need as they grow they older.
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Hi Felicity,
Thank you for your comment. I think further research is needed for this cohort (Baby Boomers) to fully understand to what extended are they utilising social media. Also if they engaged what content will be relevant for them in terms of assistance they will need as they grow older.
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Hi Euphemia,
A very interesting topic. In fact, numbers of Chinese aged care service Providers are using the new media to communicate with their target segments, and it seems very effective. For example, my mum and her friends are aware of these providers through social media platform (e.g., subscription accounts from the online chat application) or the other friends’ posts on the social media. And they will search, discuss and filtrate the suitable information. Therefore, before the age care industry using the new media, they should understand the target segment’s usage condition of the new media.
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Hi Serena,
Thank you for sharing about Chinese Aged Care Service Providers and how they are engaging with this market segment. I will look into it further as part of my professional curiosity!
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A very interesting read. I wonder if the aged care service providers you gave as examples use Facebook to engage with their customers as it’s clearly the most social networking site they use according to the data. I like that you included recommendations for service providers about how to use New Media.
Cheers!
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Hi Areej,
Thank you for your comment. My point was because New Media is the it thing, it does not necessary mean Providers have to be on all the platforms to be seen or heard. They have to make a choice depending on their market segment and ensuring they will get a large audience. Yes, they do have Facebook and l hope to take it further in my next blog. Stay tuned!
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As a Baby Boomer, I found the information regarding New Social Media for advertising of interest. The percentages regarding Baby Boomer’s using Social Media did not surprise me as I am one myself who does not have a Social Media account with Facebook, Twitter or YouTube. I am more inclined to use traditional advertisement regarding Aged Care and in general prefer to speak with those that work at the establishments or within the Aged Care sector to ensure that the information that I am receiving is valid. I often use Google for research and would use this should and when I begin looking for Aged Care places or information.
I understand that the New Social Media is a way of advertising for many businesses, however, I feel that this form of advertising is targeting late Generation X and subsequent generations.
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Hi Paula,
Thank you for your insight and interesting views. I think it is important for further research to fully understand Baby Boomers as a market segment for the Aged Care Industry. There is a lot the Industry can learn and prepare in terms of services.
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Very interesting read. Sorry for getting to it late. It would be an interesting thing to study if the rise of older generations user on Facebook coincides with younger users opting for other forms of social media as they do want their social media (social personality) exposed in front of their parents/relatives.
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Hi Bandishsmm,
Totally agree, more studies will be good to fully understand this market segment in terms of their Social Media use and willingness to engage.
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