Charlotte life plan community innovates outreach with digital communications platforms

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Dec. 31, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- For decades, retirement communities appealed to prospective residents through traditional methods of marketing. A fixture of their communications strategies was pricey in-person informational luncheons that involved catering, printed and mailed invites, plus years of reliance on expensive four-color brochures. All that changed when Covid came along and in-person events stopped abruptly.

Southminster, a life plan community in South Charlotte, took a hard look at its existing marketing approaches and saw they were generating somewhere around a 2-4% return on those efforts. One thing became immediately clear: adopting a stronger digital presence would not only be more cost-efficient, but also produce better results.

Today the sky's the limit on what executives at Southminster feel they can accomplish. The community has hired Elizabeth Banks as its new Content Creator, building on the community's success in promoting residents as "Granfluencers" on TikTok and elsewhere on social media. Earlier this year, a TikTok video of Southminster's Halloween Costume Contest racked up seven million views!

"I am totally focused on managing Southminster's social media platforms, including Cubigo content and will assist with public relations and blog content on our website," Banks said. Cubigo is a cloud-based platform that transforms the quality of life for older adults across the world. At Southminster, it connects prospects, residents, families, and staff through a comprehensive suite of services like Activities, Maintenance, Housekeeping, Dining, Transportation, and more. Overall, the platform increases the ability to communicate important information real-time, thus improving resident experience.

Southminster also partners with a focused public relations firm to reach reporters and publications as they gather information from digital and online sources. "One of our recent media releases focused on the fact that there's a lot of competition for exceptional apartments on life plan campuses among baby boomers," said Stewart Wiley, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Southminster. "Many people join two or three lists at prospective life plan communities, so when they are ready to move, they have more options. Getting on 'the list' gives you access to perks even before you move in."

Focused PR efforts in 2024 alone encompassed promotion of the Southminster Olympic Games, a Parkinson's play, and partnerships with Memory and Movement Charlotte, a new School of Excellence in Dementia Care and other topics through outreach to members of the media. The website Southminster.org continues to evolve and grow to meet the needs of both residents, prospects and the greater community, while email campaigns and digital marketing help educate new audiences.

According to Susanne Shaw, Southminster's Communications and Public Relations Manager, the leadership team's expanded approach is making a major difference. "Since 2022, when we hired a full-time social media specialist, we've seen a dramatic increase in our social media followers and engagement," she said.

For example, from January to March 2023, Southminster picked up 54 new Instagram followers achieving a reach of nearly 21,000 people, along with its reach of nearly 10,000 on Facebook. By September 2024, even non-Facebook followers had topped 5,200 with an organic reach of 309. Overall, social media is ideal for showing what life in a life plan community is really like, breaking outdated stereotypes about nursing home residents and activities. It also encourages engagement with the community's website as data confirms. Since 2022:

1) Leads generated from website inquiries has increased 27% growing from 35.7% to over 45.4%.

2) Deposits made to join the future residency list, The Compass Club, have increased 87% over the same period.

3) Web inquiries converting to Compass Club depositors have grown from 2.8% to now averaging 6.8% per year, each of the last three years.

Get in touch and find out more about how a retirement community dedicated to life enrichment is leading the way to reach seniors, their adult children and even their grandchildren in all the places they live in our digital world.

About Southminster
A leader in the field of aging, Southminster is a non-profit, charitable Life Plan community, providing innovative living solutions to aging across a full continuum of care. Dedicated to overall well-being, Southminster embraces living life with purpose by valuing independence and privacy, inspiring creative passions, encouraging lifelong learning, and motivating each individual's plan for wellness to its highest potential. For more information on Southminster, please visit www.southminster.org.

Contact:
David Jewell
The Jewell Agency
704.996.0165
[email protected]

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SOURCE Southminster