Using Video on Your Web Sites

The rise in video consumption via the web over the past few years is astounding, and senior living communities can really make videos work hard for them on their sites. So what kind of video works best on the web and how much do you have to spend?

Let’s start with testimonials. Residents can tell you why they love where they live, but actual testimonials are much more compelling when you can see and hear the current residents talking about their experiences. Here are just a few more ways to enhance your web site with the use of video.

• Bring credibility to your community with videos of doctors or caregivers who work there.
• Give your prospects a better feel for the physical aspects and ambience of your community.
• Showcase your events and activities so prospects can better understand what it’s like to live at your community.
• Emphasize your special programs and bring your unique approaches to life via video.
• Increase your reach and inbound links to your web site through videos shared on social networking sites (YouTube, Facebook, etc.).

And contrary to what you may think, no longer do you have to spend a ton of money to produce videos that users will accept and embrace. The proliferation of user-generated content on the web with YouTube, etc., has created a lower threshold of acceptance for videos that demonstrate experiences.

That doesn’t mean you can’t spend more money on a high-quality marketing video you’ll use on your web site or in your sales office, but the lack of a large video budget shouldn’t keep you from considering video for your site.

Many different types of videos work well for senior housing on the web. Here are a few links to communities that are using video to set their communities apart:

Brookdale Senior Living, headquartered in Brentwood, TN, has a comprehensive video gallery with doctor testimonials, program overviews and residents talking about how they’ve been able to do things they never would have without Brookdale. Check out Jean Pettit’s skydiving video — pretty impressive!

Peachtree Hills Place in Atlanta, GA, also has a comprehensive video gallery on their web site. What we like about their web site is that they’ve interspersed the video links throughout the site, which brings certain sections to life with more than just static content on a web page.

Redstone in Alhambra, CA, utilizes a video on their home page to help prospects envision what it will be like when the community is operational.

And don’t forget YouTube. Check out what Immanuel Senior Living (on YouTube) is doing with their branded video channel.

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