Five Ways You Can Use AI to Help With Senior Living Marketing

Artificial intelligence is increasing the pace of senior living marketing, from automating content creation to improving ad targeting. Our adaptable team at Craft & Communicate will get you up to speed for a more efficient workflow.

Here’s a glimpse into the ways AI helps senior living marketing, along with some warning signs you should look out for to avoid the technology from taking your marketing off track. Like any tool, AI has its limitations, but human expertise will make the most of its potential!

Popular Senior Living AI Marketing Tools

1. Time and Cost Savings in Content Creation

AI writing subscriptions like Jasper and free resources like ChatGPT quickly generate content such as SEO-friendly blog posts, social media captions, and newsletters, freeing up resources for busy marketing teams. It’s able to create frameworks or first drafts for topics relevant to senior living, such as Tips for Choosing Assisted Living or Benefits of Memory Care.

You’ll want to guide your AI content based on several principles:

• Although AI-generated content saves time, when not trained to produce on-brand writing or edited by humans, it often lacks the depth and emotional nuance needed to connect with families making tough decisions about senior care. It may feel generic and impersonal, which could distance potential residents or their loved ones from your community.
• Human review and customization are essential to ensure the content is accurate, ethical, reflects your team’s unique goals, and attracts the people you want to move into your community.

For more specific guidance, you can follow three steps:

1. Put together a style guide that outlines the voice, tone, and key messaging for your senior living community.
2. Before using AI-generated content to brainstorm ideas or begin drafts, review it for accuracy and personalize it by adding stories or examples that align with your community’s values.
3. Then, assign a team member to thoroughly edit AI content for emotional depth, ensuring it speaks directly to families’ concerns.

2. Increased Ad Performance

Google Ads’ AI-powered Smart Campaigns and Performance Max can optimize your senior living community’s ad targeting and budget management; so can similar ad types in Microsoft and on social media.

Google Ads’ AI management and similar software can help you reach people who otherwise wouldn’t see your ads, but it’s not flawless — especially in senior living. Keep some concepts in mind when your marketing team is setting up ad campaigns:

• Remember that although initial setup is relatively simple, you’ll want to set aside more time than usual for maintenance.
• AI in advertising is highly dependent on the quality and amount of data it’s accessing.
• In our industry, where decision-making processes are deeply personal and vary greatly from family to family, AI ad algorithms might misinterpret signals and place ads on irrelevant websites or apps, leading to missed opportunities or ad budgets wasted on the wrong audiences.
• Due to their lack of control over their targeting and ad placement, these campaigns tend to limit the effectiveness of your original targeting strategies, attracting more spam and unqualified leads.
• They sometimes lack transparency, making it difficult to understand why certain ads perform better than others, limiting your ability to make strategic adjustments.

To avoid AI ad shortfalls:

1. Regularly audit your Google Ads with AI or other kinds of AI advertising to ensure targeting is on point.
2. Use exclusions to filter out irrelevant demographics or low-quality leads.
3. Test ad variations manually to gather insights that technology may overlook, then adjust settings accordingly.
4. Set a system for evaluating key metrics — such as click-through rate and lead quality — so you’re able to pivot strategies when necessary.

3. Instant Engagement for Capturing Leads

AI chatbots and auto-responses for social media, as well as email, can provide 24/7 engagement, answering basic questions, scheduling tours, and sharing information about your community’s services. You’ll ease the workload on your team, allowing them to focus on more complex inquiries.

Chatbots are often limited to pre-programmed responses, which sometimes feel cold or insufficient for people navigating emotional decisions like choosing senior care.

Potential issues:

• Suppose automatic responses fail to handle more complex queries, and there is no immediate option to speak with a real person. In that case, prospects may become frustrated and leave the conversation, costing you potential leads.
• They don’t always recognize when to escalate an issue to a real team member, creating gaps in customer service.

We encourage you to take the initiative of enhancing responses with this process:

1. Program your AI chatbot with detailed, thoughtful responses to frequently asked questions that reflect the complexity of senior care decisions.
2. Create escalation protocols where more nuanced queries direct users to a live support person right away.
3. Ensure that real-time chat or phone options are clearly displayed so prospects don’t feel abandoned during the process.

4. Predictive Analytics for Personalized Marketing

AI analyzes past interactions to predict which prospects are most likely to convert, allowing you to further customize your marketing efforts. For example, you might use AI to trigger follow-up emails or personalized ads when someone shows a high interest in a particular service, such as memory care.

Here are some downsides of automated personalization to consider:

• Automated predictions are based on historical data and algorithms, which can sometimes lead to inaccurate assumptions. A prospect’s behavior might change suddenly due to personal circumstances, which AI doesn’t always consider.
• Additionally, over-reliance on AI-driven personalization could result in marketing that seems too detached, reducing the human touch that is once again crucial in senior living marketing.

Use AI predictions as a guide, not as a sole decision maker, by taking a few actions:

1. Pair automatic predictions with human oversight; use your team’s knowledge to cross-check and verify such assumptions.
2. Manually adjust messaging for prospects who may have changing needs, such as shifting from independent living to assisted living.
3. Regularly review AI-driven responses and plan to continually improve them.

5. AI for Social Media and Website Management

Social media tools using AI like Sprout Social or Hootsuite help senior living communities manage social media more efficiently by suggesting optimal posting times, content ideas, and engagement strategies based on past performance.

Similarly, website auditing tools such as SEMRush and Moz offer AI-powered insight into technical website structure and keyword rankings, aiding SEO teams in their efforts to update existing website content and set up new webpages that rank well in search engines like Google.

If you’re using these types of tools, remember the following:

• AI might recommend generic or repetitive content that lacks the authenticity necessary to build trust with potential residents and their families.
• Its recommendations are based on past data, missing out on timely, sensitive topics that require a more real-time approach.

Do the following to supplement AI suggestions with real-time engagement and fresh ideas:

1. Use AI tools for scheduling and content recommendations, but don’t rely solely on them.
2. Engage in real-time by responding personally to comments and messages.
3. Continue to use original content ideas such as resident stories, community events, or timely issues like health or safety tips artificial intelligence might not account for.
4. Keep an eye on AI’s recommendations, but adjust for current events or trends.

There Are Limitless Ways to Pair AI with Human Insight

AI is undoubtedly enhancing senior living marketing efforts by automating tasks, improving targeting, and optimizing content. However, the emotional and personalized nature of senior care decisions means that AI should be a complement to — not a replacement for — human insight.

Craft & Communicate combines AI technology with the human touch, ensuring that your marketing is both efficient and deeply empathetic.

How Will AI Help Your Senior Living Community’s Marketing?

Ready to explore new possibilities for artificial intelligence in your marketing strategy? Contact our full-service agency today for a personalized approach that balances AI’s capabilities with human creativity.