According to DataReportal, “marketers can reach roughly 12.8% of all the people on Earth using ads on TikTok today.”
While people under 30 years of age make up the largest percentage of TikTok users, Boomers are continually discovering the popular social media platform, adding crossover influence for all generations to learn from each other.
Your community can have a powerful influence on TikTok, too. And as marketers, it’s our job to keep up with new ways to engage our leads. Creative videos grab the attention of people you might not normally reach through other channels. Plus, they get other seniors interested in your community’s dynamic through a behind-the-scenes glimpse at daily life. Your current senior residents also benefit emotionally, mentally, and physically from actively participating in fun, imaginative short form videos.
Follow our simple guide to get started!
Create a community TikTok account.
This is probably the hardest step—getting started! But your brand is worth it.
Senior living communities are showing up in this space as a fresh alternative to other youth-led accounts. Start your own page by sharing little community slice of life clips. Try featuring:
- Resident foodies trying out new items on the menu
- Social groups and activities
- Senior interviews ranging from shared wisdom to favorite jokes
- Residents showcasing their talents, like playing an instrument, gardening, or dancing
- Fashion Fridays
- Pets! And more pets!
- Energetic team members interacting with your residents
Pro tip: Brainstorm with your residents about what to feature next. Here are some other ways to make your content sing.
Develop your unique brand.
What makes your community stand out? What’s special? What will people finding interesting?
Find an angle, aesthetic, voice, or possibly a few resident spokespeople to differentiate your community from others. You can become a trusted advisor just by showing up consistently on social media.
Pro tip: Stay inspired by other TikTok accounts, but don’t let a really good video hinder you with creative envy. Create authentic content you love and people will notice. You might be surprised at the amount of senior influencers on the platform.
Stay educated on creation tools.
Ultimately you want your account to get discovered, so make sure you are doing tik toks that are “trending” or use sounds that are trending. You’ll know it’s a trending sound or video if you see a lot of people doing remixes to the sound. What effects and camera tricks are trending videos employing? Use your imagination and read about TikTok creation elements here.
Pro tip: A montage with catchy music is always a winner. Think of fabulous residents to feature, get the footage, then edit to include an charming collage of stories.
Use the Promote tool to convert your video to an ad.
Akin to standard marketing strategies, this TikTok feature allows you to track data. Their website states:
“Promote lets you track basic information on your video as a result of your Promote campaign, such as:
- The number of your video views.
- The number of likes, comments, and shares for your video.
- How many people visited your website link.
- The age and gender of the people interacting with your video.”
You can even pick a goal for your promotion. According to TikTok, the following are some options to narrow your focus:
“Choose a goal for promoting your video, then tap Next at the bottom. You can choose from:
- More video views. This helps get more people to watch your video.
- More website visits. This guides more people to your website.
- More followers. This helps you gain more followers.”
Step-by-step instructions on using Promote are located here.
Pro tip: Mix things up by frequently adding fresh content with personality, including sound effects. TikTok has a user Commercial Music Library with over 500,000 sounds available for your promotional video.
Set your budget while setting up your ad.
TikTok will help you determine the amount of money you want to spend on your video ad while in creation mode. You can always start with a more conservative budget, study the outcome through the analytics feature, then choose other options based on your findings for the particular video you’re running.
Pro tip: Interact with your followers and build your fanbase by genuinely connecting with them through comments and video content they request. Find ideas on how to engage with your audience here.
Everyone’s loving TikTok right now, not only as entertainment but as a powerful marketing tool. Here are some videos from accounts we love. Follow the links below and enjoy!
It’s a big YES to this peek into senior living life at Arrow Senior Living.
Love this colorful, fancy footwork at Redwood Heights Senior Living!
Tune in to this team member and entertainer at Senior Living Moments. Well played, Chris. Well played.
Making a memorable life at Independence Village is one to definitely add to #goals.
Fashion show, anyone? Check out these gorgeous ladies of Tuscan Gardens Senior Living.
This daily reminder from Allegria Senior Living is everything.
