Every company has a culture. It is either accidental or purposeful.

In Part 1, I laid the foundation as to why senior living CEOs should blog and talked about why blogging for residents and prospects is so important. In Part 2, I close out the discussion by talking about blogging for team members, prospective team members, and for the investment community.

Blogging for Team Members and Prospective Team Members

Every company has a culture. It is either accidental or purposeful. It flows from the CEO down to the management chain to the part-time employee that work just a few hours a week. How the culture seeps from the top to the bottom is primarily determined by the quality of managers below the CEO, down to department supervisors. 

For all of that, team members want to know who the CEO really is and what he or she is like. They ideally want to know that if the CEO walked into their building, it would be comfortable to sit down and have a conversation with the CEO, to understand their goals for the company and the team. To know that the CEO cares about them, their job, and their family.

How and Why

  1. You can’t realistically have many conversations with line staff except in very small organizations. But having occasional conversations with team members up and down the organizational ladder, then writing about those experiences can be very powerful. Again don’t be afraid to use a ghostwriter to put the right words on paper.
  2. Talk about the challenges of managing the needs of the company and the needs of team members. Tell them what you are thinking. Tell them when you are not sure you have it exactly right.
  3. Invite meaningful feedback.
  4. Be casual in your writing style. You want people not just to respect you, but to like you.
  5. Pick your content distribution channel carefully depending on what you are trying to accomplish. You might use an internal employee toolkit, like what iTacit, a Senior Housing Forum partner uses. Most often, though, use a blog that is primarily targeted at team members but is accessible by prospective team members.  They will get a feel for you and will be more likely to want to work for you. You will get a better group of applicants.
  6. Blog once or twice a month. Sometimes you can use the same content for team members and for residents and families.

Blogging for the Investment Community

There is lots of money chasing senior living projects and it is tempting to think this is not an important arena. But blogging with the investment community in mind will set you apart as an industry thought leader. It will mean having more choices when you need capital. It will also mean you have a safe place to test new senior living concept ideas with little time or risk invested.  

How and Why

  1. This kind of blogging can be more occasional. Maybe just once or twice a quarter.
  2. The posts should be bold and reflect your strengths as a leader.
  3. They should be strategically forward looking. 
    1. “This is how I am seeing our development path . . .”
    2. “I expect to see the market . . . “
    3. “We are reimagining . . . “
    4. “There is this new concept we are toying with . . .”
    5. Consider posting these articles both on your own site and at other places, like Senior Housing Forum, as a guest blogger/writer.
    6. Don’t hesitate to use a ghostwriter.

Ultimately it is all about projecting your core values to the three constituencies that swirl around every senior living company. It will make your residents and team happier and it will better position you in the company. Finally, think about alternative blogging mediums like video or podcasting.

Steve