Health plans, take note: Facebook is a great place to get in front of your senior audience, especially if you take advantage of both Facebook pages and Facebook groups! But what’s the difference between the two?
A page is the online representation of an organization or business. All of the content on a page is posted by the organization itself, which has its merits and challenges. The organization can control exactly what goes out on the page, but it has to be careful not to post too often (more than once a day or so) to avoid tiring out the audience. Plus, each post may not generate as much conversation and engagement as user-generated content typically does.
Once you have a Facebook page for your health plan, you can use that to create a Facebook group.
Groups can be created by pages or individual users. The content in groups is generated both by the administrator (the organization or person who founded the page) and by users. This means that the admin has to let go of some control over the page (but not completely – there is the ability to moderate comments and approve members’ posts before they are published). The positive side? The users themselves keep the page populated with highly engaging user-generated content, and admin can glean valuable intel from the ongoing, organic conversations!
Groups are a budding opportunity for health plans, and some senior-focused organizations are already trying them out. After all, more than 55% of Americans aged 55+ are on Facebook, and more than 1.8 billion people are in Facebook groups.
It’s worth noting that these group members aren’t just passive viewers, but an active, engaged audience. Top groups have engagement rates of around 80%, which is astounding compared to the average Facebook feed post engagement rate of less than 1%. Facebook groups are a huge content marketing opportunity and provide an online platform for brands to build a community, foster conversations and keep your value top of mind with your members.
Want to see what this could look like for your brand? Here are four Facebook groups proving their ability to engage seniors.
This community of more than 18,000 provides support for both seniors and their caregivers. The daily posts from both users and administrators share fun activities to try and offer advice for making the most of retirement. This is vital – the group is not only a place to gather and make friends, but it’s a resource for members who want to learn, give support to each other and grow together.
Takeaways: Make your group a go-to source of information for seniors! Give details about plan benefits and events and encourage your audience to share relevant news and advisories for seniors. Soon, your group will be the place users go to share and read the latest news impacting seniors.
Your Michigan Medicare Team – Giardini Medicare
This smaller community is run by the staff of Giardini Medicare, an insurance agency in Michigan. The group is small with under 300 members and receives about one user-generated post a week. This group is focused on a niche – Medicare–eligible Michiganders – allowing admin to have a deep understanding of the local health plan options so they can answer all questions members have.
Takeaways: The group doesn’t have to be big and busy to be effective! An intimate group will help members feel comfortable asking questions in a more private environment, rather than on the public Facebook page.
Seniors Only – Active, Online Group for 50+
This group of nearly 10,000 members had 1,500 new user-generated posts in the past month – that’s an average of 50 each day! How do they cultivate such an active and robust community? It starts by creating a safe space, which this group does by requiring members to confirm they are over the age of 50 before joining. This ensures that those joining aren’t bad actors, rather, they are members of the community who want to connect with peers they can relate to.
Takeaways: Discuss keeping the group closed to health plan members only. You can create a safe, welcoming environment by checking those requesting to join the group against your member roster.
Medicare Q&A with Boomer Benefits
Got questions about Medicare? This group is an accessible, welcoming place for seniors to get the answers they need. It’s managed by Boomer Benefits, but any Medicare recipients (whether they’re Boomer Benefits clients or not) can join the group of 60,000 strong. It makes it easy for everyone to learn more about their coverage and benefits somewhere they are already spending time – on Facebook!
Takeaways: On the other hand, consider opening your group to anyone. There are pros and cons of an open group, but one positive aspect is that it will make prospects aware of your plans and benefits in a low-stakes way while they’re deciding whether to sign up.
Facebook groups are one of the best ways to foster community and culture with your members in a safe and fun virtual environment. If you do it right, Facebook groups are not only a way to entice prospects and engage current members, but they provide real value to the audience, as well. Using few resources, health plans have an opportunity to bring together consumers at similar life stages and with similar challenges to support each other, build friendships and develop a virtual familiarity and relationship with the payer.
Got questions about how to create and optimize a Facebook group for your members and prospects? Reach out – our social content managers would love to discuss ideas!