Nick Bonitatibus, Owner and Founder of the Digital Champions, discusses the unique challenges of using social media as a marketing tool in home-based care, and common mistakes agency owners are making with their digital presence.
Nick Bonitatibus, Owner and Founder of the Digital Champions, discusses the unique challenges of using social media as a marketing tool in home-based care, and common mistakes agency owners are making with their digital presence.
Amanda Sternklar (00:10):
Hello. Hello. Thanks everybody, so much for joining us.
Linda Leekly (00:12):
Hi everyone. Linda Leekly here, chief Clinical Officer at hcp.
Amanda Sternklar (00:16):
And I'm Amanda Sternklar, our director of marketing,
Linda Leekly (00:20):
And you're listening to Vision, the podcast for leaders and forward thinkers in the care industry. And today we're gonna talk about what makes social media marketing in our industry so uniquely challenging and how you can navigate those complexities and to tackle this subject. There was only one person we could ask <laugh> the expert on this. So we are so lucky to be joined by Nick Bonnets from Digital Champions. Nick is dedicated to helping home care organizations implement social media and video marketing strategies to generate consistent leads and brand awareness. Over the last seven plus years, boy Nick's helped thousands of companies like yours improve their online presence with his digital marketing techniques. So Nick, thank you so much for joining us today.
Nick Bonitatibus (01:12):
Thank you so much for having me. It's an honor to be here. You know, I always appreciate it and love an opportunity to talk about this stuff cuz I, I love to talk about it as you'll see throughout today's episode
Amanda Sternklar (01:26):
As you know, I'm also pretty obviously a big fan of digital marketing. I think we may have to be reigned in a little bit during this episode, but I'm really, really excited for this conversation. <Laugh>,
Nick Bonitatibus (01:36):
Yes, Amanda and I had a 30 minute meeting that lasted two hours, so it was just us talking,
Amanda Sternklar (01:41):
Just a couple things to say about about social media marketing, but I hope that'll be of benefit to everybody listening. Well, hey, to start us off, Nick like Linda mentioned in our intro, agencies in our industry have a pretty unique challenge with social media. Can you talk a little bit about what that is?
Nick Bonitatibus (01:58):
Yeah, absolutely. What's so interesting and unique about the home care industry compared to other industries is most of the time you have like one target specific audience and one problem that you're looking to solve, which offers a very unique position because with home care you're targeting three different audiences. So, you know, having to do two is one thing, but now you technically have three different audiences when you think about prospective clients, referral sources. And then the big one, which is a big focus, is caregiving and, you know, finding those caregivers. And you know what, a lot of times, and one of the issues that I often see is that people spend too much time focusing on one particular area and then that harms the other audience that may be following. And so that's what really creates that unique challenge and really creating a streamlined message where we can strategically talk to all three so that we can better utilize our social media.
Linda Leekly (02:57):
So I assume there are tips for where you're not needing to create three social separate social profiles, right? To target these audiences.
Nick Bonitatibus (03:06):
Yes. And I have gotten that question before, like should I just create another social media like you? I mean, the first answer is you could, but that would just be a lot of work. You know, I know for most agency it's hard enough to just manage one, let alone trying to manage, you know, multiple accounts. And so the key strategy is really focusing on how can we create content that's going to be valuable for all three and create the brand awareness that we want to create. And so the thing that comes to social media, and this is another you know, big mistake that I see and I think it's important to mention before I get into some of the tips, cuz you always gotta start with when it comes to social media, what not to do before getting into what to do. And you know, one of the things I see, one of two things is one, agencies are like, we're hiring, we're hiring, we're hiring, we're hiring.
Nick Bonitatibus (04:00):
Which just so we're clear on this, you know, and again, this is an educational resource, is that when we do this on our social media, for the most part, the only people that are seeing our content is our existing followers. For the most specifically, if you're doing, let's say, post on Facebook. And so the likelihood that some random caregiver that has no idea who you are that is gonna find and see your we're hiring post is not an ideal strategy. Okay? And the same thing works from the client side of things that if we're just like constantly posting about our services, we're not strategically leveraging what social media is built for in understanding that social media is a channel, right? They call it social media channels. And so we don't want our social media channels to be a commercial all the time. And that is what so often happens.
Nick Bonitatibus (04:59):
It's like, sell this, we're hiring, we, we have this service, we have this service, we have this service. And then so your social media is basically just commercials 24 7 all the time. And so what we really want to think about is how can we create content that adds value to what we are sharing within the industry? And when it comes to home care, there are so many things that are unknown about even like going to the simple basics of like, what is home care? You know, what's the difference between home care and home health, right? All these different aspects that go into leverages. And then you can get into more specifics. If you wanna start to brand yourself as an industry leader in a particular area, you may focus on dementia. Oh my gosh, there are so much con there's so much content that you can create.
Nick Bonitatibus (05:54):
I'm sure you guys have heard of Tepa Snow, right? She's amazing. You can do that same thing in being that resource, providing that value. And where this becomes really influential in our target markets is when we can brand ourselves as an industry expert, as an industry leader in the industry, we are showcasing that we know what we are talking about. And if you're educating people on, again, just using the dementia as an example, now you're, you're providing resources for somebody that may be struggling with dementia. One of their parents, you know, one of their family members is struggling with dementia. Now you're pro providing resources that can help them. A caregiver who's providing care for someone who has dementia, now you're providing that same resource for them. Referral sources want to know that you are the expert and you know what you're talking about. So then creating content around dementia, then brand yourselves as dementia expert. When they have dementia patients, they will refer you. And so that's kind of the quick version. Even though that may not have been that quick to how we can really leverage and create content around targeting those three different audiences.
Amanda Sternklar (07:06):
That's awesome. Thank you. Speaking of, of Tepa Snow specifically and some of the larger creators that, you know, we see online talking about these topics, when we start talking about social media, a lot of the conversation turns to, well, how do we go viral? And is that something that you think should be a goal for agencies and why, why not? You know, what kind of results are we really looking for?
Nick Bonitatibus (07:31):
Yeah, I love it. It's a great question because the thing is, when it comes to virality, most of us, myself included, I just want it because it's the vanity that comes with it. My ego to talk myself up, like, oh, look at all these views I got. How great is this? That lasts about five seconds and then you realize that your video that got a lot of views didn't actually yield any results to what you're trying to accomplish. And so I think that's the big thing is that often people think that if they go viral, that that will lead to results. But that's not the case at all in many cases. And, and there was an article that was written a few years ago that I shared that there was this woman, she has like 20 like a million followers on Instagram and she couldn't sell 26 t-shirts.
Nick Bonitatibus (08:18):
And so it was a perfect example of that. Just because you have followers or you have reached does not mean that you are getting them to do the things that you wanna do in, in this case, right? Purchase, you know, services from you and, and get home care assistance. And so the key to really understanding and leveraging social media is understanding that we need to have some form of lead magnet that we are generating and getting people onto our lists. And, and this can sometimes be a little bit more complex, even with my own, you know, clients. I try not to bring this out immediately because I'd rather them just start like showing creating content consistently. And then you can start to build out these things. But the reason why this becomes so valuable is understanding one, so just to go into a little bit of, of like what a lead magnet is in some cases, because more often than not, the only way that your agency is getting a lead is for somebody that says like, I'm contacting you about services and that's your lead.
Nick Bonitatibus (09:22):
That's, that is one small margin of potential leads that exist because now you're that audience right there. Those are hot. They said, I wanna learn about your services. We are missing out on a huge part of the market, which is like more, maybe people that are following don't really know who you are. Cold people discovering you for the first time that aren't really looking for services yet. And so when we have a, a resource, whether it be a digital download, an ebook right, or a video training, we're now able to leverage and utilize that in all of our external marketing within our social media where we're driving people to this lead magnet. And what we're able to then determine is that if somebody opts in, we can see through our CRM that hey, they opted in at this point and then they signed up for services six months later.
Nick Bonitatibus (10:15):
Right? And that's just really understanding how, you know, the customer experience works in general. Like yeah, you may have somebody that calls you and they sign up and they, they work with you right away, right? But there's a lot of people out there that currently are just doing some shopping. They're just looking at some different opportunities. They're looking for resources, they're looking for more information, but they're not ready to get care, right? And so when we can create these resources, we can pull them in and nurture them and develop the relationship so that when they are ready, they're signing up with you because you've now built this relationship through them coming in through your, you know, marketing funnel, their lead magnet. Then, you know, maybe you're sending them your newsletter or other information, which I won't get into the newsletter. It could go a whole thing. If your subject line and your newsletter is newsletter, you need to change it. I'm just gonna say that nobody wants to sign up for your newsletter. I'm not saying you shouldn't have a newsletter and I use the word newsletter <laugh> repetitive here because it is what you want, but we don't wanna call it a newsletter.
Amanda Sternklar (11:22):
Yeah. But for example, with a downloadable, that person who finds you, if, again, going back to your example of if you specialize in dementia care if they find your resource, they may not, they may be looking for help, you know, with a, a parent or other family member or friend they're caring for, they may not be ready for care yet, but when they are, who's the person who's been helpful, who's been a resource, who's been the expert they've been going to this whole time?
Nick Bonitatibus (11:48):
Yeah. And the beautiful part about that too is that if you do this strategically, then you can actually create a need for your services. And this is where it's so important that that agencies understand this. I mean, all businesses really in that when it comes to how we're creating content, that we are not selling the service. Like we're not, we're not selling our agency, we're actually selling caregiving, right? And so that's the key to really successful marketing is creating a need. If you look at like any of my marketing, I, I rarely sell like my services. What I sell is that why video and social media is awesome, right? And why you should use it and how it's effective. And then it's like, but I need help with that. Oh right, that's what I do. Right? And so now it created a need for the services that, that I provide.
Nick Bonitatibus (12:41):
And so the same thing works for home care, you know, in continuing to use the dementia example is, hey, what are some key tips to helping someone to make sure that they're managing their dementia properly, right? Proper diet proper medication. Making sure that they're, they're getting exercise. Maybe they're doing different activities that help with that, right? What services help you to meal prep, to do medication reminders, to keep things active, right? So right then and there we're providing resources that are specifically geared towards dementia, but it's, but it's at the same point of, oh, well do you want help to getting your loved one to making sure that they're doing all of these things? We highly encourage that you look at hiring a home care agency so that you can get the care that you need, right? To help your loved one so that you don't have to do all these things with them. You can spend more time just listening and being with them. And now you're like, oh. And so that's how we can really start to leverage and create the need for our service. Cuz most of the time when you're teaching right, to some form of educational content, we can do it in a way that builds that need for our services in like, but understanding that we're selling again the caregiving, we're selling caregiving. How can we sell caregiving more? And then by being that resource, it's gonna indirectly bring more leads and business your way.
Linda Leekly (14:08):
From what I'm hearing then going viral is definitely not the goal, right? It's more about being a thought leader in your geographic location and building relationships, right? I mean, it's just like us, when we look at Facebook, if all we see are ads, it's, you know, who wants that? You wanna get to the meat and potatoes of oh, here's what your friends are doing and here, you know, so it's it's a similar thing, right?
Nick Bonitatibus (14:35):
Exactly. Yeah. And that's where the understanding like how consumers want to buy and purchase. And so think about it like this. So a lot of what I teach when it comes to like videos is really being able to create a resource and tools that people can watch again and again, right? And so if you are consistently creating great content, if someone let's say, goes to your website or goes to your YouTube channel and they watch like five of your videos, right? Minimal, like we're not saying you gotta have thousands of videos, they watch five of your videos. That level of effectiveness, the likelihood that that person is gonna then sign up for your services among anyone else, is so much higher and so much greater cuz you've just gotten them to listen to you. Let's say it's a two minute video, right? You've just gotten out and had them listen to you now for 10 minutes, right?
Nick Bonitatibus (15:27):
Watching the five videos at two minutes. That's way more than what they're potentially going to do in the future. And so it's that element that, that actually having viewership on your, your existing, your target audience is so much more powerful than necessarily just getting in front of, you know, more people. And that, and that's a big thing I think when it comes to, you know, the caregiver aspect and, and is like, we need more, more, more. We need more leads, we need more applicants. Like, well, have you really honed in on what the, the current applicants that are coming in? Like what's your, what's your closing percentage on your current leads that are coming in? And that, and that goes both for caregivers and for clients, right? It's always this more and more and more, but the way that I always think about it, think about it like a bucket and so often where I just like, I want more, more buckets, more water, more water into the bucket, right?
Nick Bonitatibus (16:22):
If you have holes in the bucket, then all that water is just dumping out and you're just wondering, oh, why isn't this working until we plug these holes? Then you can actually, right now with the, the exact number of leads that you're getting in your business with the exact number of caregiving applicants that you're getting, if you can tweak and improve that process, you have the potential to double the amount of sales, double the amount of people that you hire. If you really just think about those individuals and focus, how can I be better at converting those individuals? And that's really, again, to circle back to the virality is we really want to get better at understanding that if we can convert the people that we already have, it's gonna be so much more impactful to our bottom line.
Linda Leekly (17:09):
Nick, what is the best social media avenue for reaching caregivers since that's maybe the, the hardest of the three audiences? I don't know.
Nick Bonitatibus (17:19):
I think it is one of the more difficult I, yeah, I think it's safe to say it, it is the most difficult audience and, and the biggest reason being is just demand. You know, I talk a lot about, with my clients, the same thing is it's, you know, they're not gonna fall from the sky. Caregivers are not, and this is, you know, part of the, and I won't get into like the future of caregiving, but the, the aspect of understanding that there is a very small amount of caregivers and so much work that they can get. And so you are, you are competing so much against other agencies. So understanding that you are getting applicants right that are probably applying to, if they applied for you, it's very likely that they at least apply to one other agency outside of yours. And so in really thinking about how we can leverage, and this is what I do with my clients, is like you ask, you know, what social media, and to me the, it's, it's part social media, but also part understanding the medium and the metrics of how we can convert these individuals that are coming in.
Nick Bonitatibus (18:28):
And so I have like two core videos. They're the first and second video that I have my students create. And it's basically one that is sharing your why, right? What is it that you got into this business force? You know, Simon Sinek says, people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it. And so the same thing goes with your caregivers. And, and what I think is so unique about this aspect is that so many of you have so many incredible stories about why you got into this business, right? There are so many business opportunities out there, but you chose this one, right? You chose home care for a reason and, and there's so many people with like nursing backgrounds, caregiving backgrounds. If you're not leading with that, right? That you were a caregiver, oh my gosh, that becomes so valuable in itself because now if a caregiver's watching that video and seeing that you were a caregiver, they automatically, you have a common interest, a common bound bond that you're now connecting with them.
Nick Bonitatibus (19:24):
They understand that you understand that difficulties of their job, that you've done the job, right? And so just by leveraging this one video that is maybe on YouTube, right? And putting it out there, you can then consistently leverage to again, fill those holes, get more of these applicants that are currently coming to you and convert them into actually showing up for the interview, actually starting their first shift by leveraging this. Now the second video is what I call like a recruitment video, which doesn't even require you to be on camera, which I know is a big hesitation for some people. It's like, wait, I have to talk? No, not gonna happen. So understanding that the, the next thing is really understanding that who is better, who is best suited to sell your organization? Is it you? If you're like, my business is the best, everyone should come work for me because I'm so great, right?
Nick Bonitatibus (20:22):
Or you have a number of your caregivers saying, this is the best agency. I love working for this agency. I love working for this agency and this is the reason I like this agency because they're better than my previous one that had problems with this and I love that they do this right? And so when you can leverage video testimonials in a recruitment video to getting your caregivers to sell for you, that's gonna be one of your most powerful tools that you can use again and again and again for every single applicant if you can even automate the process if you're doing it properly. And so it becomes this really impactful aspect of leveraging that. Now, to, to answer the question a little bit further here, <laugh>, cause I know I can talk a lot here. Okay, go for it. When, when we have these videos, right, that we're sending them, we now open up an opportunity that let's say we're taking them to our YouTube channel.
Nick Bonitatibus (21:18):
And so the answer to the question obviously here is that YouTube is really powerful. And so I mentioned earlier, tying back, right? Creating educational content. And so if you're sending them to your YouTube channel and maybe they watch a few of the videos about your story, and then they watch a recruitment video, but then they see educational content that's like talking about skills and talking about dementia, and now they're, they're learning and they're like, oh, wow, this is really valuable. You know, I can't believe that they're putting this out in the public. And then what happens, and this happened with one of my clients, and this is why I, I love sharing his story, but he actually had one of his caregivers, he, he was not aware of this until later on, but one of his caregivers actually started watching the YouTube videos that he was sharing about dementia.
Nick Bonitatibus (22:06):
And then when he, when she was in a facility working a shift, one of another caregiver had come up to her and said, how do you know all this stuff about dementia? And she says, oh, well I watched these YouTube videos of my boss. I was like, amazing, right? Like, that is the power of really leveraging that educational side of things to seeing that you are this resource that you're providing value. Because when you can create a skill, when you can help somebody to better do their job, they're always gonna remember you for that. They're gonna wanna look more into different resources. They're gonna, if they're searching like, you know, how to manage a, you know, dementia patient or how to better communicate, right? Type in into Google, boom, boom, boom, boom, right? Whoever is doing caregiving, whether it be a caregiver or a client that is looking to take care of their loved one or potential client, they're going into Google, they're typing it in. And that's where YouTube is the search engine. And that's why I recommend YouTube. And again, it's this, I talked about content earlier, but the biggest part of the content is really leveraging you as the industry expert. Because people wanna work with the best. They wanna work with people that know what they're talking about. And when you can lead and showcase yourself as a leader, as an expert in the industry, people are going to be attracted to wanting to work with you to, whether it be for a client, a referral source, or a caregiver.
Linda Leekly (23:34):
Great, great advice Nick. Thank you.
Amanda Sternklar (23:38):
Obviously some big fans of educational video content here on this call. <Laugh>. I wanna circle back a little bit as we were talking about, about going viral in which social media platforms to use, you and I talked that outside of my HCP role, I'm a pretty big fan of TikTok. Have you seen anyone in our industry doing particularly well on TikTok? And do you see this as a good platform to repurpose the video content you're already creating? Or what does it take to do well on TikTok?
Nick Bonitatibus (24:12):
Yeah, absolutely. One thing that I think is important to say, and this is just understanding the development of social media, because we know, I know how, how we are, right? And I, and I say this to everyone, we love to just get comfortable with how things are. And the way that trends move within social media is understanding that the platforms are most likely never going to stay the same ever, right? Like more Facebook is so flooded right now that they have no idea like what to show you on the algorithm because there is so much, there's just too much. You have too many friends, you follow too many accounts, and then they're suggesting more stuff and it's like, but I'm not even seeing the stuff that I already wanna follow. And so understanding that the, the transitions of how things have evolved, right? Facebook was super popular, college kids, then it started getting younger generation cuz it was a little bit different started in that college era, right?
Nick Bonitatibus (25:13):
But then older people started getting onto Facebook and all the younger people were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, my parents on here, I gotta get off of here. You know? And so then they move over to Instagram, right? And then so Instagram became more popular and then there, then as you see, then more and more people start moving over to Instagram, right? And then a new platform emerges, the younger generation jumps over, which is what happened. Tiktok people jumped over and then they're like, oh, TikTok for kids. It's like, no, it's not. I don't have the stats in front of me, but if you actually look at the demographics I actually, I did a training on this in, in my, one of my courses, but it I, and I, the stats basically the majority of your target audience is on TikTok, like 60% or there's a huge, huge, huge population of your target audience is on TikTok.
Nick Bonitatibus (26:03):
Now, here's the thing about TikTok, just to kind of one address it. One, if you're not that familiar with it, it is a solely video platform. There's, there's no other content except for video, which goes to the whole aspect of understanding that when it comes to understanding and being good at mediums, video is the best medium to get. And so even though social media channels may change and evolve and ones may be become more popular, the video medium and getting good at that skillset is always gonna produce results for you. Because again, it's what people want to consume, it's what people want to watch. Now the thing about TikTok is that right now at least, it's, it's very like sporadic in the sense that like your views aren't necessarily location based, which this is, you own a home care business that's very specific in a target audience.
Nick Bonitatibus (27:00):
And so, you know, you could get thousands of views, but if you're getting a bunch of views from all over the country or all over the world, is that really providing, you know, value in getting that exposure, you know, of what you're looking to create and get results from. And so understanding that the one, it's gonna be beneficial to have somewhat of a TikTok presence because it's going to move there. Like, everyone's going to start to move over and, and really develop that and get more people on TikTok. And it's continued to grow. I think it's at like a billion people already, which is pretty wild because it was, you know, it was like 750 million not too long ago. And so you can see that it's continuing to grow. And so it's beneficial to have somewhat of a presence on there and start to understand it because people are gonna move over.
Nick Bonitatibus (27:55):
And if you don't adjust with the times and how things are changing and growing, then that's how we, you know, end up falling behind. And so understand the platform and if you can create content consistently. And, and what I teach my clients is like, if you create a YouTube video, you can then repurpose it. You know, and Amanda had kind of hinted that that in the question is like, if you repurpose your YouTube video, then you can create a bunch of TikTok just using already of your YouTube videos. And that's kind of where we can work smarter, not harder. And understanding that element,
Amanda Sternklar (28:35):
I feel like TikTok loves a series, those tend to do really well and you can I remember advising a friend on her TikTok and she'd made a really great in depth educational YouTube video and I was like, this can be an eight part series with like a tiny bit of additional filming. So it's a great, I agree that it's a great platform to repurpose video content. And yeah, if you, especially you can work smarter not harder there because TikTok is so short form it's kind of acceptable to break it up into smaller chunks.
Nick Bonitatibus (29:09):
Yeah. And, and that's how, you know, and I think a lot of times people assume that because that that's how content is being consumed, that people don't want longer form content. But that's not true either. And that's why I still strongly recommend YouTube because the thing is, you may get somebody to watch like a one minute video, but if you get somebody to watch a five minute video, ooh, you know, they're so much more likely to take action on the things that you're creating and providing. And when it comes to education, people are willing to watch longer and listen longer if they're learning. And so, like, the length of time is, is an important aspect, but it's like always the first question people ask me, well, how long should a video be? I'm like, the video should answer the question and provide good content. That can be one minute or an hour. But the point is that you answer the question. And so like, length of time is, is really not a good question cuz imagine if this podcast had to be a certain length and I'm just like up here dancing just to like get the video longer, you know, I mean, maybe you guys wanna see that, but nonetheless, right? It, it doesn't add to that value that we're looking to create and really getting people to watch more and listen to what we're providing. And so the most important thing is that we just create great content.
Amanda Sternklar (30:26):
I'll try not to get us too far off track, but speaking to that, I remember so I've been making YouTube videos since 2008. So a, a good, a good while back when the absolute posting limit was 10 minutes and most people made a, I think like three and a half beyond that you'd see engagement drop off. If somebody saw more than four minutes in their subscription box, nobody was gonna watch that video. And nowadays I see so many like commentary channels creating hour long videos that get millions and millions of views. And I think there's a real, people go to TikTok for short form content and they enjoy that short form content. But there's this really, really interesting shift into, like you said, as long as the content is educational, it's engaging, and it's interesting, folks are willing to engage with a much longer media piece of media on the internet, which I think is relatively new.
Nick Bonitatibus (31:18):
Yeah. And the fact that you can like actually see that information, you can see, you can actually see these insights on, on TikTok as well as like how much people are watching. But the problem with TikTok is like that someone, someone's watching their video and then they swipe up, it's like, boom, now they're on the next video. They're not gonna like take action on the things that you're doing. Whereas YouTube has a kind of more control on the, that if someone watches one of your videos, they're more likely to watch. But you can see like the, the length of time that somebody is watching your content, which is just so valuable because now you can see, like, even if that does drop off, right, let's say you do have that 10 minute video and somebody only watches for two minutes or three minutes, they just listen to you for three minutes.
Nick Bonitatibus (32:00):
You know, like that's no short, you know, task. That's an amazing thing that somebody, and I think so often we're like, oh, well we want somebody to watch all the videos and all the whole time it's like, get outta here, it's not gonna happen. But if you can pull somebody in to watching, you know, one video and they watch a little bit more and then they're like, oh, there's actually some other topics that I'm, I'm interested in learning. Oh, now they collect that and they watch that one. And so really understanding that and having those choices and getting somebody to watch multiple and kind of binge it, right? Think about Netflix, it's not like they have one minute videos, you know, people spend hours in front of the tv. And so the same thing works here, is that if you're creating something that people find valuable and willing to watch, they will sit and watch
Linda Leekly (32:45):
It. You know, I my grandson has a YouTube channel, he was so excited. He has six followers. He just was beyond over the moon. So he's thinking he's an influencer now, so <laugh>
Nick Bonitatibus (32:58):
He is, he's got six people to influence. That's
Linda Leekly (33:01):
Right. So what do you think about influencers? Is it something that a home care agency should consider working with an influencer or what's your thought on
Nick Bonitatibus (33:09):
That? So I don't necessarily think it's valuable to, well, so let me, let me start over. I think a lot of times when people think of like influencer and influencer marketing, that that assumes that somebody has a ton of followers and that, and then now, now they have this ability to, you know, bring you business, right? Hypothetically, like we think of that as influencer marketing, but my philosophy is focused on more that if you are creating any form of content ever, that somebody is seeing it, you are an influencer. And so your grandson, he's got his six subscribers, he's influencing those six people. And so therefore, in my definition, he is an influencer. When you post on social media and complain about traffic, you're influencing people to feel a certain way. They're like, yeah, I hate traffic too. We're like, man, this person complains a lot, right?
Nick Bonitatibus (34:03):
And so you now you're influencing how people see you, perceive you, like everything that you put online is influencing somebody in some particular way. And so the, the thing that's gonna be most valuable in, in regards to influencing people is you becoming the influencer in your own network. And so you don't need to have millions of followers. You don't need to have, you know, all these views. You just need to show up in front of your audience. Because if you really think about it, if you guys, everyone who's listening live or if you're listening to the recording, how many people in your network like that, you know, not just like in home care, but just like in your existing community, do you know that create video content on a consistent basis? Probably not that many, that, you know, to some personal level, right? And so just by creating content and showing up, you're already doing something that so many people are not willing to do.
Nick Bonitatibus (35:07):
They're not willing to put themselves out there. And that becomes your differentiator because now you're coming at, oh wow. Like, hey, this person's willing to stand up, they're willing to put themselves out there. When you do these things that are often uncomfortable, that it may be a little scary, right? You are going to see the results that come from it because people are gonna wanna work with you because you're showing up. So to answer your question, I don't think it's necessary for you to, to give somebody else money or have some type of referral deal. I mean, hey, you can always experiment. I mean, that's, that's one of my big things is I rarely say no to anything. I usually just say test it and see how it works. We're all scientists, so I don't really like saying, you know, no, hey, don't do that. But I just personally believe that you're gonna have such a greater value in you becoming the influencer than anyone, than than trying to get other people to, you know, be the influencer for you.
Linda Leekly (36:10):
Makes sense.
Amanda Sternklar (36:12):
Absolutely. Well speaking of the folks listening live, I'm gonna open it up. If anyone has any questions for Nick, feel free to drop them in the chat. And we will do our best to get you some answers in the meantime. Oh,
Nick Bonitatibus (36:26):
Go ahead. Well, I just saw there is a question in here, so I was gonna address it.
Linda Leekly (36:30):
Maybe before we get to that, Nick, what, what's the, what's the first step that the folks listening, you know, today should do if they, if they're, if they wanna make a stronger social? Me, I, I know you say video, so how, okay, what's the first step into making a video?
Nick Bonitatibus (36:47):
Yeah, so, well, I'll, I'll go sooner because I, I, I'll go even less just to get understanding that where people are at, and most people maybe aren't ready to jump to the video aspect, but I can address that too. But I think the biggest thing is really looking at your social media currently and reevaluating and really looking the content that I'm sharing, does it like reference you as a, as an organization that's going to build value, right? That's like giving people brand recognition of really who you are as a person, as a company, sharing core values, right? Like and then as well as providing that educational content. And so when it comes to social media, think about this. Is this something that you would share if you stumbled on it? Would you go, yes, like I wanna share this content, right? And so if you don't wanna share your own content, then that's not going to be super valuable in that element, right?
Nick Bonitatibus (37:51):
So really consider and think about when you're posting that it's done with intention, that it's done in a way that's going to really be the resource. And think about all those people out there that have no idea what you know, and that you are an expert. Because most people don't even know what home care is. Most people don't know that you should remove two inch thick carpets in the living room to prevent false, because we don't think about it. We don't think about those things because we're in it. And so we need to understand that most of the people think about this as you're in this business. How many people are come to you and say the same thing, right? They ask you the same questions. That's probably a good reference point in what type of content that you should start to create.
Linda Leekly (38:44):
That's a great suggestion. Yeah, those, those frequently asked questions are good indicators.
Nick Bonitatibus (38:49):
Yes. And then, so and then let me answer your other question too. So with video, it can be as simple as putting, you know, recording on Zoom or recording on your phone, like simple as as that,
Linda Leekly (39:08):
Okay.
Nick Bonitatibus (39:09):
There's, you know, like somebody asks, they're a quick guide. Generally, there's not a quick guide for everything, anything if you ask me, right? <Laugh>, if you want something done right, it takes time to build. But there are resources and, and I'm not, you know, this is about providing content, but there are resources that you can get that show you how to build a successful YouTube channel specifically for home care businesses. But it takes, it takes time to develop it and do it right. And it is the consistency in anything that you do, right? If you think about anything that you do, and I think I was watching a, a video the other day and it was talking about I think it was Simon Sinek which I know Linda you're a fan of, cuz I saw you light up when I mentioned the book.
Nick Bonitatibus (39:57):
And so it was a, it was a video of him and he was talking about like, you go to the gym and then you look in the mirror and you're like, Ugh, well I don't see any results. Then you go to the gym again and you look in the mirror and you're like, oh, I still don't see any results. And like, that's the same thing with so many things within our business that like, hey, if you post a video, are you gonna get like some, some results right away? Yeah. You, you may, you may get, get some leads, you get some referrals from that initial video. But man, if you do it consistently and you start to use it as a tool and a resource and you're showing up on a regular basis, it becomes so powerful where you can use it in all of your external marketing, right? How many home care companies out there have brochures that say, check out our YouTube channel, right? And actually have content and resources on there. Probably not many. They say check out our Facebook page, but all they post is stuff that's like, you know, by our stuff, right? <Laugh>. So just think about that in being that differentiator,
Linda Leekly (40:56):
Nick. Is it, do you you see it as detrimental to say start a channel or start a blog or any sort of digital content that you're presenting and then you don't keep up with it? Like, there's nothing that turns me off more if I go to a blog and they haven't posted since 2015. I'm like really? You know? So what are your thoughts on that and how frequently do you need to update in order to stay relevant?
Nick Bonitatibus (41:25):
Yeah, and that's a great question. And the answer is for me is always the same. Is it consistently? And so, you know, I think I would rather, what I see a lot of times people, they're like, yeah, I'm gonna be better at social media and they're gonna, and then they create like a post for every day for the whole month. And they're like, yes. And then like the next month come and they're like, oh no, I don't have anything done. And then they post nothing for like the next six months. It's like, you went so hard for that one month that if you actually just spaced it out, you could have had consistent content over the next six months instead of trying to do it all at once. And so what I always, you know, I think it's important to understand that everyone is at a different point in their business and, and the resources and the time that they had to delegate, delegate towards certain resources or, or marketing.
Nick Bonitatibus (42:18):
And so, you know, the best thing when it comes to video is like once a week. That's generally like my standard, like what I recommend, where you're showing up consistently in a doing way. However, once every two weeks is a really great number. Cause again, it's consistency. And then at minimum, once a month is gonna be excellent and beneficial for you. Because the thing, one of my first clients, I love it, it's so amazing to see is that, you know, when I look at their channel now, I'm like, I just like bring so much joy to me because I remember when I first started working with them, they had absolutely nothing. And then I was working with them and they just started showing up once every two weeks. Did they miss a few weeks? Absolutely. You know, sometimes they'd go like two months without posting anything, but then they jump right back on and stayed at that pace.
Nick Bonitatibus (43:11):
Every two weeks a new video would go out. And so now when you look at their channel and they've got, you know, some of their videos have, you know, 10 K views and you can see that the, it's generating results for them. They're consistently creating more and more content. But now they have this massive library and they're best videos just continue to get more and more. So there's one that's called bathing with dementia. Okay? And it's got over 10,000 views. That's clearly a great topic that people are searching for. And that's what makes YouTube so much more valuable than a lot of other social media sites is because your best videos, your best content will remain at the top and continue to produce results for you. Whereas every other social media site, you got a high performing post, great, everyone's gonna forget about you in, in two days cuz that that content is gone. Verse on YouTube you can just have one video that produces results again and again and again,
Amanda Sternklar (44:11):
This is a fairly old statistic, but I remember reading a couple years ago that like the half late of a tweet was something like 18 seconds. And so that may be not the best place for, you know, folks just starting out in social media to to look at. Whereas YouTube, like you mentioned because it's more of a search engine than an algorithm, your high performing content stays at the top.
Nick Bonitatibus (44:37):
Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>.
Linda Leekly (44:38):
Yeah. Nick, do you, do you wanna address Dennis's comment about TikTok?
Nick Bonitatibus (44:46):
I can briefly touch on it. I mean I think it's, I didn't wanna like get political on here, which, which sometimes can happen. But just to a address it quick, cuz I, I, I do know Dennis, but I think one thing to understand is that social media is always geared towards what we wanna see. And so if you think about like now the in China, right? They are, they are managing what's being shown to their viewers and so it's all educational, whereas in America right now, it's just like everything and anything that if somebody wants to watch, they can find it and, and it'll keep showing it to you. But I can say already, right? Like I've found so much educational content on TikTok where I watch a video and then I like implement that thing. And, and so like, to me that becomes really valuable that when we understand that we have full control over what we see, what we choose, what followers we wanna follow.
Nick Bonitatibus (45:53):
And so you can go on TikTok only follow people that you wanna follow and then go to the only following category and only watch the content that you wanna follow. And so it becomes really valuable in that element in understanding that you always have control over what you see on social media. And if you blame the algorithm, that's your fault. What you see, what you show is very important because you stopped on that video and maybe watched it. You know, I always love the comment when it comes to, and this isn't, this isn't very political, but it, but it is in some aspect where people say like, Facebook is too much politics. I'm like, no, that is your fault. You stop on the content, you read the articles, you comment on the post, and that's why you continue to see more. My Facebook has no politics because I just don't even want to engage with it. It's not what I wanna see on my feed. And because of that I don't see it. So know that you have full control over what you choose and what you want to see. I shouldn't say full control, but you have a huge control off of what you want to see.
Linda Leekly (47:04):
Thanks for that.
Amanda Sternklar (47:08):
You were talking a little bit about specific educational educational video topics and we had a great question about what are some other pain points that, that you've seen that could maybe give folks listening an idea of where to start.
Nick Bonitatibus (47:24):
Yeah, absolutely. One topic that I love and I kind of touched on earlier is, you know, fall prevention, because it's one of those things that I think has the potential to get a lot of reach because it's something that people don't always think about, but is also really valuable in what you're sharing and what you're creating. And so when you have this element of content, like fall prevention is that, and, and I'll share a quick story as long as we have time. My, my grandmother, she was getting older, right? And so my, my father got a home care agency to come help her. And so he calls me and he says, Hey, Nick, just wanted to let you know we hired a home care company. I was like, wait a minute, you didn't even consult me about this <laugh>, you know, it's like, this is what I do.
Nick Bonitatibus (48:14):
You didn't even think to call me, just like hired some company. And so the first thing I said to him was, well, did they get rid of that two inch thick carpet? And he's like, oh, no, we need to do that. So like one, this home care company failed to even do a simple routine safety inspection. And I can't blame my dad for not knowing this information either. I do blame myself a little bit because again, I'm in the industry and I didn't even think about that because you know how we are when it comes to our own family and our own parents, we, you know, we, we don't see it, you know, but as soon as he said home care, I'm like, oh wait, two inch thick fall prevention, you know, and it, and it clicked for me. And so it has that element of really being able to provide that, that resource that is, can save lives.
Nick Bonitatibus (49:01):
And so then the other aspect of like coming up with content is really understanding what do you want to be known for? What do you wanna be known for? And so I mentioned dementia because that's a popular one that, that a lot of my clients choose because it's, it's not just about the marketing element and providing the resource, but it's actually about how your business and operations is run. If you know that you want to have more, you know, 24 hour cases, right? Then, you know, and why do you want more 24 hour cases? Well, because your caregivers want more hours, right? And so now you need to have the longer shifts so that the caregivers will then wanna work those shifts. And then the aspect of understanding that dementia tends to have a higher hours of a need that people are looking for. And so it becomes that element that if you can brand yourself as an industry leader in that area of dementia, you're more likely to then attract more of those dementia clients that's going to help move your bottom line.
Nick Bonitatibus (50:07):
Another one of my clients, they wanted to be known for long-term care insurance. So they created a whole series, it was actually like 45 minute video. And I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, Jonathan, I never said to create a 45 minute video. And he is, and I'm like, you need to repurpose that. And so he just turned this 45 minute training into 13 different videos that is now like on a playlist on YouTube that he can reference and send to some, send to somebody as a resource of somebody's looking into them. And he generated referrals because of that, because he was showing up long-term care insurance, long-term care insurance, long-term care insurance, and understanding that marketing is about repetition, right? This is why billboards, you know, used to work. I don't think they really work as effectively as they used to, but is that repetition where people are seeing us on a consistent basis for exactly what we want them to do.
Nick Bonitatibus (50:57):
And just understanding that from a content perspective, always think about our target audience in who we're looking to connect with and what their, you know, what their pain points are, what problem are you specifically solving, right? And what it is that they want, right? And that goes back to what I was talking about, like, you're not selling home care. You're, you're selling peace of mind. You're selling what, what, what a caregiver can do for you and, and what that will bring to the person, right? It's like, and, and think about that in social media. Don't use words like we, you know, really think about when you're talking, when you're posting on social media, when you're sending emails, when you're creating video, that you always think about the person and that you're communicating to them and talking to them and not at them. And that's gonna be really valuable as you create more content and as you, as you show up and understand what their struggles are.
Nick Bonitatibus (51:56):
And if you can address the problem, right? Like, Hey, did you know that the top 10, you know, one of the top 10 leading causes of death is accidental, false. Yeah. Like, this amount of people are affected from this. So what's the solution? Well, you need to do a, a proper safety inspection is one of the aspects. And then having somebody there that can assist you with different services can be really valuable, like a caregiver, right? To come into your home to prevent these falls. So again, we setting up the problem and then the solution is the caregiving. And so think about that, right? And how does your problem that you are solving that caregiving is the solution.
Amanda Sternklar (52:38):
Awesome.
Nick Bonitatibus (52:39):
I hope that answers your question, Erica <laugh>,
Amanda Sternklar (52:43):
I think that's a great place for us to start to wrap up. Nick, if folks have more questions about digital marketing, where's the best place to reach you on?
Linda Leekly (52:54):
Oh, I think Amanda might have just frozen <laugh>. Well, I working folks reach you, Nick on social
Nick Bonitatibus (52:59):
Media. Yes. So my my, I'm the digital champs is where you can find me. That's my, my website is the digital champs.com and all my handles are the digital champs. So you can find me, you'll see I am on TikTok even though my audience is, you know, home care owners, which you may think, oh, well, tick's not really relevant. Well, you'd be surprised on how many people are on TikTok right now that I can, that are seeing my ticks that are specifically home care businesses. So understanding that, but if you look, all my content is generally the same and just building that presence on multiple platforms. And so what I recommend is wherever you hang out the most, connect with me there, <laugh>.
Linda Leekly (53:47):
Sounds
Nick Bonitatibus (53:48):
Good. Excellent. And then my site's, the, the digital champs.com and there's some, some free resources there that you can find. It's a lead magnet, right? You gimme your email address and then you watch this free training that I have on my website that's really great that you're gonna get value from. And, and in that training I'm gonna sell why social media and video is really great. So you can actually, this is the behind the scenes. You, you heard it here first. Now you can go watch me do it, be going watch
Linda Leekly (54:14):
Action, right? Yeah. That's, that's, that's a terrific tip. See it, see it play out, right, right in front of their eyes, <laugh>.
Nick Bonitatibus (54:22):
Yep. Got a whole email sequence, right? It's all set up automated and you'll get a lot of value. Have some action items that you can take just by watching that
Linda Leekly (54:32):
Training. Build a relationship with Nick, right? Yeah.
Nick Bonitatibus (54:36):
If you enjoyed this, then you, you may enjoy some of my other content. You can check out, you know, YouTube, I like to talk a lot. Generally, you might have picked up on that. But I just love to teach and I love to share and I just really appreciate that you guys are still here, you're still listening. That's great. And I hope, right? This is always my, my goal is like, look, at the end of the day, do I want you to buy my stuff? Of course, right? But what I really want you to do is take what you learned today and implement one part of it. Start just do one thing. Try to show up on consistent on social media a little bit more. Maybe create some content, right? So just that's my goal for you, is to write down right now one action item that you want to take. Book it on your calendar, right? This is what I do with my clients. Put it on your calendar to devote that time to creating this, to spending more time on social Media.
Linda Leekly (55:33):
Good. Get homework assignment.
Amanda Sternklar (55:35):
<Laugh>. Am I audible again? Now
Linda Leekly (55:37):
You are.
Amanda Sternklar (55:37):
You're, oh gosh. I apologize for that. The fun, fun of recording directly on online. Linda, where's the best place for folks who can reach you?
Linda Leekly (55:49):
I'm on LinkedIn Linda Leafly. You can find me there just how it's spelled here. L e e k l e y, or my email is linda leafly home care pulse.com. Sod, be happy to, to hear from anybody and you, Amanda,
Amanda Sternklar (56:05):
And I am also easiest to reach on LinkedIn. My name is Amanda Ler, s t e r n k l a R. If you have a story that you think would be of interest to our listeners, please reach out to myself or Linda. We'd be really excited to talk about getting you on the show. If you'd like to listen to more of our episodes, they can be found@homecarepulse.com com slash podcast or wherever you would listen to podcasts. In addition, we have several of Nick's educational videos right on our site@homecarepulse.com slash home care tv. Thank you guys so much for joining us. We'll talk. Thank you,
Speaker 4 (56:37):
Nick.
Linda Leekly (56:37):
Thank you.
Amanda Sternklar (56:38):
Thanks everyone. Bye guys.
Speaker 4 (56:41):
Bye.