In order to pursue this emerging market of online seniors I was interested to do a bit of a case study by doing a mini social media audit of a major senior’s organization to see how well they are doing at engaging with consumers online.
I selected CARP – formerly known as the Canadian Association of Retired People. In looking at the ease of use on the website one thing jumped out at me (after following through a checklist of considerations for those creating websites for seniors created by the National Institute for Aging); the main navigation bar is completely made up of pull down menus, which flies in the face of senior navigation ease. It’s also interesting to note that the colours of the website are yellow and blue, which (along with green) are some of the most difficult colours for seniors to distinguish. On the plus side, they use a sans serif font which is easier to read and the article titles are nice and large. They also do a great job of using icons with text as hyperlinks, which makes navigation and legibility better (like the benefit page).
Interestingly, while they are the first selection if CARP is searched on Google, they slip to 19th if “Canadian retirement” is the search term, losing the opportunity for those looking for general advice to discover them. If “CARP” is searched in the news section there is one entry for the retirement organization but multiple entries about the fish, which could be a challenge for those seeking information. When I searched for CARP on Facebook I got the Carphone Warehouse but when I went back to the website CARP does have a Facebook page with many articles and videos related to seniors’ legislation.
CARP also has an active Twitter feed but it is mostly a one-way conversation, pushing out articles that pertain to seniors’ interests. Again, it is difficult to find the stream by searching and they are only following about 200 users with 2 lists. By doing a quick Hootsuite analysis I was able to identify a potential key user that CARP could connect with in order to publicize their goals, such as @RetirementMedia (15,000 followers) and some articles that might be interesting to its users such as @themoneyguideca with a link to an article on 3 Ways to Make Extra Money in Retirement. By setting up lists with keywords such as “canadian seniors”, “retirement canada”, and “retirement advice” CARP could quickly accumulate data and become a hub for users or retirement information, potentially prompting more two-way conversation with users.
Overall there are lots of ways for CARP to improve it’s user engagement and use social media to provide a more integrated experience for their users. Some small improvements to navigation to make the site more user friendly and some improvement of their keywords to get a natural lift in search results will help with accessibility. Further dedication to listening to trends and discussions on social media should prompt a better and more effective conversation with consumers online.
