By Joanne Kaldy

How well is your senior living community represented online? Are you maximizing opportunities from referral platforms? Have you heard of the modern ‘drive-by’?

Nowadays, 75% of adults aged 55+ are turning to the internet to research local businesses, including exploring their options in senior living and paying for senior care. They’ve gone from driving by your community when suggested to them by a friend, family member, or healthcare professional to doing a virtual drive-by simply by turning to their favorite search engine from their smartphone, tablet, or computer. What will they find online about your community?

SeniorHousingNet.com

Millions of people have been finding Caring.com (a Senior Living Foresight partner) in their search results and getting highly relevant information and referral for assisted living, memory care, in-home care, and more. Caring has primarily served the baby boomer adult children, typically the adult daughter or daughter-in-law, but with recent acquisitions and growth of their referral services, they’ve directly helped more of the seniors themselves. With Caring’s latest acquisition of SeniorHousingNet.com this month, they’ve again expanded their senior housing audience and offering to include 55+ active adult communities.

In making this announcement, Caring CEO Jim Rosenthal said, “For over a decade, we’ve provided a comprehensive range of senior care information for families caring for senior loved ones. We look forward to extending our expertise and support to more baby boomers, retirees, and active seniors seeking 55+ communities.” He added, “Acquiring SeniorHousingNet.com also enables us to expand digital marketing opportunities for our partner network of senior living communities and in-home care agencies, as well as SeniorHousingNet.com’s current advertisers.”

More than ever, consumers are counting on trustworthy, comprehensive, and easy-to-use sources of information about senior living to support their decisions about the right community for them or a loved one. Websites such as Caring.com and SeniorHousingNet.com are instrumental tools for them. Caring’s team of highly trained, empathetic Family Advisors also provide information and senior living community suggestions by phone. All of these services are free of charge for seniors and caregivers, helping them research and select senior living options matched to their unique situations.

Expanding to Serve Better

This acquisition of SeniorHousingNet.com is just the latest of Caring.com’s many moves in recent years to grow its platforms and offerings and expand its portfolio:

  • Two years ago this month, Caring.com was acquired by Caring Holdings, LLC, a group of investors with significant experience and expertise in digital customer acquisition. The move enhanced Caring’s competitive position in the marketplace, ensuring that families have more choices in getting help to find senior living communities. At the same time, the communities gained a competitive advantage of access to more prospects.
  • In July of 2018, Caring.com introduced Jim Rosenthal as its CEO. He brought with him extensive experience managing businesses for growth in marketing and content-driven businesses such as media, entertainment, consumer products, and education. His strategic and creative entrepreneurial leadership has enabled Caring.com to build on its achievements and accelerate its growth.
  • In December of 2018, Caring.com expanded its portfolio with the acquisition of PayingforSeniorCare.com, a well-established, credible content site that provides financial information and resources to assist consumers to understand, plan for, and cover the costs of senior care. With this transaction, Caring increased its offerings to include trusted financial information, resources, and interactive tools to help seniors and their families better plan and prepare for how to select and pay for senior care.
  • In March of this year, Caring.com acquired SeniorAdvice.com, a website with a comprehensive directory of senior living communities and senior care options (with consumer reviews) and the SeniorScore index, a proprietary tool using local data to grade the senior-friendliness of U.S. regions and cities. This expanded the potential for Caring and its partners to reach more consumers researching senior living.

All of these initiatives have supported and strengthened Caring.com’s commitment to helping family caregivers and seniors with their senior living and senior care needs, relieving stress, and saving time and money while providing a trusted, reliable source of information and referral. In addition to providing the highest quality content, Caring has one of the largest senior living and senior care directories in the U.S., with tens of thousands of business profiles, about 250,000 consumer reviews, and a toll-free consumer referral helpline. When it comes to digital marketing, Caring is truly the platform that senior living communities need to be on and represented well therein.

Get In Touch

If you’re not already listed with Caring and taking advantage of their digital advertising opportunities, get in touch with their team now: [email protected] or (855) 897-2433. 

Already listed and need help addressing consumer reviews? Caring’s reviews team can be reached at: [email protected] or (650) 762-8190. They also have a free webinar about online reputation management coming up in June.

Last month, we covered their services for partner communities during the COVID-19 crisis. Communities in their partner network can learn more about optimizing their account by contacting [email protected]. Senior Living Foresight’s Steve Moran is also joining in Caring’s Digital Marketing Academy for a webinar about best practices for community tours, including tips for virtual tours. The session is so popular, all seats are now taken, but the recording and slides will be available for anyone in the industry starting Friday, May 29th on the Caring partner blog which you can access here.

More information about Caring and their services are also available on their blog.