ANNUAL CONFERENCE RECAP | 2018
Leveraging Social Media to Bolster Your
Marketing and Advocacy Efforts By Jeff Diamond
Attendees at this year’s LeadingAge New York Annual Conference
and Exposition spent time “getting social” during an early morning
social media session with Corning Place Communications’ Paul
Larrabee and LeadingAge New York’s Ami Schnauber. The
presentation covered the basics of Facebook and Twitter as well
as how to leverage these platforms to connect with potential
consumers, lawmakers and local media. Paul and Ami posed three
questions to the group to guide the conversation: (1) Why do I need
to be in the social media space? (2) How can my investment in social
media pay business and advocacy dividends? and (3) What are the
first steps and strategies to getting started?
In recent years, with the rise of smartphones and online media,
the ways that organizations deliver messaging and how the public
consumes information have transformed dramatically. Today, 77
percent of U.S. adults own a smartphone, and the social media
world is dominated by five platforms: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter,
Instagram and LinkedIn. During the session, Paul shared recent
statistics to illustrate the importance of engaging on these platforms:
• 81 percent of consumers’ purchasing decisions are influenced by
their friends’ social media posts.
• 84 percent of millennials say user-generated content from
strangers has at least some influence on what they buy.
• 78 percent of consumers say c