Specialized Information for:

Nursing HomesAssisted Living/Board & Care Home and Community Based Services

Social Media

Social media is a great way for Ombudsman programs to market themselves. Often, it is free and thanks to social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, organizations and individuals are no longer dependent on mainstream media to get their messages out. Need to recruit volunteers? Consider posting a note on Facebook. Holding a residents’ rights event? Spread the word with Twitter.

Delivering an Effective Message via Traditional and Social Media - PPT Presentation

Podcast Examples


Podcasts are an audio only medium that can be recorded and listed to on your phone or computer using platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, and more.

Facebook Examples


Facebook is a social networking website that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc.

Twitter Examples


Twitter is a website, owned and operated by Twitter Inc., which offers a social networking and microblogging service, enabling its users to send and read other users' messages called tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 280 characters displayed on the user's profile page. Users may subscribe to other users' tweets—this is known as following and subscribers are known as followers.

Social Media Quick Tips


While resources like Facebook and Twitter are free, they do take time to maintain and update.

  • Try to take a few minutes each day and update Facebook and Twitter. If daily updates are too time consuming, try to update your pages at least once a week.
  • Student volunteers or interns are often very familiar with social media; consider having a volunteer or intern post updates.
  • It is important to use these tools to engage potential supporters. Think about how you can build a sense of community using these resources.
  • Finally, many struggle with letting go of control – one cannot control what people say about your organization or issue on Facebook or Twitter, but you can control your response.

Facebook and Twitter have many uses. Use them to educate/inform the community about issues important to your organization; engage the public in an issue/advocacy; promote program activities, like Residents’ Rights Month; recruit new staff/volunteers; and more.

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