Augusta.care Founders Discuss Facebook Marketing and Recruiting: Approved Senior Network Podcast

Full Transcript

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

This is Valerie VanBooven with the Senior Care Industry Netcast, where leaders with three or more years of experience in the senior care market share their advice. So, let’s get to it. In a few words, tell us who you are and what you do.

Samuel Sanchez:

So, my name’s Samuel Sanchez, co-founder of Augusta.care. I’m a family caregiver. I have been a family caregiver for over 10, going on 15 years. Currently a caregiver for my great-grandmother, 97 years old. And prior to co-founding Augusta.care, I’ve been a digital marketer for home care and senior care agencies for over five plus years, working directly with home care operators and directly with caregivers. And Yvan?

Yvan Castilloux:

I’m Yvan Castilloux, co-founder of Augusta.care. I’ve been in the technology industry for more than 20 years and I started up a few companies, and more notably I was CTO of CareAcademy starting 2017 until last year. So, I got introduced to home care through that, and it was a great experience. And I brought the company from a few customers to 1500 customers, and now I’m really happy with Sam to help home care operators recruit caregivers on social media.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

Awesome. Okay. So, let me say the name of your company because you guys are fast talkers. Augusta?

Samuel Sanchez:

Augusta.care. Yes.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

Okay. Augusta.care. And right now I’m sure you do lots of things, but right now one of the things that we’ve talked about is that you use Facebook to recruit caregivers or use social media to recruit caregivers. So, why don’t you guys tell us a little bit about what that means and how you help home care agencies recruit more caregivers that way?

Samuel Sanchez:

Yvonne, would you like, or can I take this one?

Yvan Castilloux:

Yeah, go ahead. Yeah. I can give some high level guidance. Yeah.

Samuel Sanchez:

Yeah. So, just real high level is we help connect high quality home care agencies with quality caregivers. So, that’s just real high level. We use Facebook predominantly. That’s where we would like to focus on, because I can simply put, everyone’s on Facebook. We all check Facebook a lot of times.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

Especially our age group. Yep. Yep.

Samuel Sanchez:

Yeah. But a lot of family caregivers are on Facebook. So, what we use Facebook for is to make sure that these agencies are able to represent themselves and their business as an authoritative presence, as a respectful presence, and a reliable presence within their service area. We then leverage that connection and that presence on social media to connect to more qualified caregivers that can work within their service area.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

That’s awesome. I would say that. I’m going to interrupt and just give my experience. I totally agree with you on Facebook recruiting caregivers. We’ve done this for a while too, and I’ve never, ever, ever had good experiences with Facebook jobs platform. That platform, to me, was never as fruitful as, I know there’s a lot more that goes into this that you’ll talk about, but as just running robust and good ads, like lead ads basically, on Facebook. So, that’s what I’ve noticed over time. And also I’ve noticed it depends on the area. So, we have some clients that are like, “Yes, this is working great for us.” And then we’ll have clients in other parts of the country who are like, “Well, it’s okay.” So, I know everybody’s different. So, tell us more about your experience, what you have found through using Facebook. Because I’m a firm believer in it. I just know there’s certain things that maybe don’t work as well.

Samuel Sanchez:

Yeah. So, with Facebook is, we don’t only just focus on Facebook’s job board in a sense, what you referred to. We also actually focus more of the lead generation side as well, creating lead forms with job application resumes, connect these so we can collect information, get a CSV file, and give it to the agencies. But our main thing here is we make sure that when caregivers do come across these job postings, that they’re informed of the position they’re applying to. We’ve noticed a lot of home care agencies, and not even just home care agencies, just businesses, just keep it generic right now, businesses, state that these applicants they get through Facebook are not of quality. And yet I’ve noticed you’ll look at their job postings and they’re not taking the time to properly inform what the job is entailing.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

Oh, right.

Samuel Sanchez:

I see you smiling. So, you understand. They might say, “So-and-so agency is hiring. Caregiver. Call this number.” No clue where the service area is at, what’s needed of me as a caregiver, what requirements, where am I going to drive to, late night, shift, weekend, all this information. So, we make sure that regardless of what platform we’re using, leads, traditional job board on the Facebook or just advertising postings, is that when someone does come into our funnels at Augusta.care that they are well-informed and can make a confident decision to opt in and be recruited by these agencies.

Yvan Castilloux:

And one other big part of it is, how do you stand out as an agency? Because I mean, home care is very, very broad, right? But each agency has a special flavor of it and we make sure that we showcase it so that agencies can actually compete.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

Yeah. And you know what? You’re going to hear some dogs barking. It must be Armageddon downstairs, but whatever. And then they stop. I don’t know. This is weird. Somebody just delivered something. So, anyway. But yeah, I agree with you. So, every time I’m on Facebook and I hear or I read the same thing you just said, “We’re hiring,” and a picture of their logo or whatever, “We’re hiring caregivers,” and I think, “Ugh!” I just got to keep going because I don’t have time to say… We have clients that are into all kinds of different programs, not just recruiting, but sometimes some of our clients that aren’t recruiting will post that and I’ll be like, “Okay. All right. No. This is not how you do it.” But let me ask you this other thing though.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

I think people get confused about the difference between Google and Facebook or other platforms like Indeed and Facebook. So, over the course of the last few years, and it’s probably been going on longer than I even realize, there has been a lot of unemployment fraud, is what I would characterize it as. And when somebody goes on Indeed and they fill out a form, that form they’re trying to prove to their unemployment counselor that they’re applying for jobs and just not getting them or whatever. But with Facebook, there’s a whole lot more intention. Because the ad’s finding them, first of all, and then after the ad finds them, then they’re deciding to apply. So, they’re not physically looking for a job. The ad is actually finding them wherever their space is. Does that sound right to you?

Samuel Sanchez:

Yes. Yes. So, touching on exactly what you said in the beginning is, we’ve noticed in this industry as well prior to co-founding Augusta, I’ve noticed that that was, especially when COVID hit, that was very, very strong. Let me apply, take a screenshot of my application or maybe the interview schedule and then they don’t show up to an interview. That’s always going to be there to an extent. At Augusta.care though, we make sure that these applicants, again, have that high intent. Because you’re right. This job for them to pop up on their screen is targeted for them. They’re already searching for something in this field or this industry, caregiving, senior care, maybe just aging, stuff like that. But yes, we’ve noticed a little bit, as compared to Facebook, it’s more higher intent. They’re more wanting to follow through. So, we’ve noticed it across as compared to with Indeed or another one would be, yeah, Google Jobs, is people just scroll, apply, fast apply and then that’s it.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

Yeah. I think that happens a lot. And it’s not to say that those platforms aren’t viable. Certainly people find caregivers all the time there. But I think that understanding the difference in how people are approached by these ads or how they just happen to see them on their phone or wherever is a lot different than the typical, “I’m searching for a job. I got to fill out this thing, blah, blah, blah.” It’s somebody says, “Oh yeah. That might be good. I might like that.” And if you don’t have enough context with the ad, you’re right. They don’t really get excited about it because they don’t know what the…

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

And even if you don’t put an hourly rate in, which you probably should, but even if they don’t see sign on bonuses or they don’t see benefits or they don’t see shifts, or maybe even the zip codes that you need someone in. I mean, we get very specific requests. “We need someone in this town on this shift for this kind of person.” And so you can get very specific. Whereas with some of these others, you can’t get specific. I don’t know. But tell us more about what you do from A to Z for a client. When they come to you and say, “Ugh! This recruiting thing,” how do you start and what’s your process? So if people want to work with you, they know what to expect.

Samuel Sanchez:

Well, Yvan, if you’d like to touch on this one I could overall highlight the back end.

Yvan Castilloux:

Well, high level, make it really easy, right? Obviously there’s some touch points with us. But the point is, long-term, is that anybody could be using us and be effective on Facebook. So, now we’re targeting home care agencies and end-to-end will make sure that you get applicants and all you have to do is close those applicants. Obviously. You need to stand out. We make sure you have the right content in terms of pictures and videos. And we make that easy as well through our platform, a lot easier than using the Facebook tools. So, I’ll let Sam describe more details.

Samuel Sanchez:

So, yeah. What Yvan said. In a nicer way, it’s more like we make sure there’s really no barrier to entry. Like Indeed or Google, with Google PPC, Google SEO, in a sense you need to have the big bucks to play in that field because you need a rank up on SEO before you do PPC. You need to start testing all these things to find out where your key works. And on top of that, you’re competing with all these competitors in your service area that might be a part of a franchise. They can have that money to allocate. So, what we do is we make that barrier to entry a lot lower. We utilize Facebook. Everyone has access to Facebook. And then from there, we also make sure that whether you’re a small, medium or large agency, that we uplift certain values and key characteristics about you, the business owner, or that business you’re operating and make sure that those values are received on the recipients end of why they should be applying.

Samuel Sanchez:

So, that consists of engagement posts, like how you mentioned when someone comes across a post, they can start saying that, “Wow, I might want to be a part of this team.” Showcasing why it’s beneficial to work with them. And maybe not even leading them directly into a job application, but continue showcasing and nurturing your following. Most people have these big followings and don’t know how to speak to their following. It’s cool that you have 10, 20,000 followers, but if you can’t sell your services or sell the opportunity to work with you, then what’s the use of having that huge following?

Yvan Castilloux:

So, pretty much we help them to set up their page from scratch, to make sure we have an onboarding call with them, understanding their needs. We have our own software that captures home care specific information about their benefits, pay rate, service area, and knockout questions. Then we created the right job post given their business needs. And we have a guide for how to communicate to caregivers when they come in. We have some automated messaging on top of that work proven to work. And we make sure that we boost the right engagement posts. So, we take their pictures and videos and every week we make sure there’s content and every month we make sure we promote the right engagement posts and the right job posts with the right amount of money in the right places, and then they get applicants every single month.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

Nice. So, this isn’t just about the job postings that they’re doing. It’s a whole picture, based on that page that you’re working with, it’s a whole picture of their operations, staff, day-to-day things, maybe events they’ve attended and the other things that they’ve been doing so that the person who might be interested then sees that this is a happy place. It’s not just about, “Here’s our job ad.” It’s, “Happy place.”

Yvan Castilloux:

Yes.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

“This is a great place to work. Because look it. We love working here and we want you to love working here.” That’s a great approach to all of this. People really want to know. I was talking to a friend of mine the other day. It’s not in home care, but it was a friend of ours who owns a restaurant. And they posted tons of pictures of, and it was purposeful, but of the staff together, doing selfies together, celebrating or at the end of a long day, just something fun and nice or fun that they did, an event. And those pictures of how much fun that staff is having. And I know not every day and every minute it’s a fun time, but just the comradery of that staff makes it so you want to work there when you see those posts. Because you’re like, “Well, that looks like a pretty cool group of people to work with.” So, I think what you’re doing sounds like it’s taking in the whole picture, not just posting ads.

Samuel Sanchez:

Yeah. We want to make sure that anyone who does come across our client’s pages are comfortable to make any initial initiation of, again, being a client or if we’re focusing more on applicants, so they’ll apply.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

Yeah. I think that’s a great approach. Because just posting an ad or posting a picture with no context is… People say, “Well, Facebook doesn’t work for me.” There’s a reason why Facebook doesn’t work. Because you’re not working it.

Samuel Sanchez:

Yeah. You’ll see them post just a text saying, “Apply here,” or, “Call this number and apply now.” Yeah.

Yvan Castilloux:

One thing I want to add also is that the Facebook reporting tools are very hard to use and understand.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

Yes.

Yvan Castilloux:

We have a reporting that’s specific to home care today, but over time we want to build more and more specialized reports. That’s another part where we want to improve our capabilities.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

I think Facebook is confusing. I mean, even today, right now they’re making changes to Facebook pages and they’ve been doing it for a couple months since they changed over to Meta. And just like you guys, we’re pretty veteran at all of this. We get it. We’ve been through all the hoops and all the things and all of the crazy stuff that can happen on the back end. And it’s like every six months there’s something new, something different, something you have to do, something you have to click here or acknowledge this, do that. So, we have to go through and… So, even for one person, for one agency who’s maybe not real social media savvy, or maybe not just Facebook savvy in general, it’s a challenge if you don’t have somebody to work with, like you guys, like a team of people that can just take care of it for me. It is a lot of work. Even if you use Facebook personally, understanding the advertising aspect of this and the Facebook business pages, whew, man. It takes a lot of time and energy to understand what’s going on.

Samuel Sanchez:

Oh, yeah. Yeah. When it comes with, especially with being an agency and an operator, they have all this stuff going on. You have to focus on your service area, your clients, care coordination, onboarding and then recruiting, building a referral provider network that, again, even with your services, Valerie, it’s the importance of what we do is just because you’re right, Facebook and other social media aspects are ever changing. They’re constantly fluctuating.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

All the time. Yeah.

Samuel Sanchez:

Constantly. So, you need someone to keep eyes because, again, with social media they give you a week’s heads up. “Hey, so-and-so’s changing this and this is what it’s going to be.” And then that’s it. Just a headline, and then-

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

Right. Right.

Samuel Sanchez:

For us as professionals, now we need to go see how it’s going to affect their funnel and how we can then mitigate that and integrate it into something else.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

Yes. Yes. We noticed last night that, oh yeah, some of our just general, not necessarily recruiting-wise, but posts aren’t going through as they normally would. We syndicate our posts through a third party. Not happening. Why is it not happening? Well, it’s not happening because Meta/Facebook just made another change and so now some people have some access and some people have this access. And so now we had to go back through and identify who needs to do what and how. It’s not an emergency, but it can be a hassle.

Samuel Sanchez:

Oh, yes.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

So, yeah, I think having a team behind you to manage your Facebook platform and certainly still encourage the home care agency owner to post themselves and do some things, but still have someone else to manage the ads and how that works and give them reporting they can understand. That’s really nice, because it is really hard to understand Facebook reporting. I don’t know why they make it so challenging. But anyway, Google’s not much better, to be honest with you. It’s not any better.

Samuel Sanchez:

Oh, I know.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

So, yeah. So, any words of wisdom, or I guess, in your experience, things that folks should look out for? And we’ll make sure that your website address and contact information are all with this interview. But is there anything that you’ve noticed, and you’ve given some great tips already, that people should really be watching out for, or maybe give a try because they haven’t done it before?

Yvan Castilloux:

I mean, for me, it’s very simple, is that if it’s such an important part of your business, you should invest in it, right?

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

Yeah.

Yvan Castilloux:

In the proper time and get the proper help. That may include working with not just us, but other people that can be helpful in different ways, right? Your services are very different from us in a way because you tackle many other aspects of marketing and other channels, us who are just focused on Facebook. There’s no reason why someone could work with both of us. Same with Nick [inaudible 00:19:04] is very good at video editing and video coaching and stuff like that. So, I think getting a lot of help and paying for that help will make you more effective and will make you grow faster in a way. So, you’re offloading things that you’re not an expert at to focus on what you’re passionate about.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

I agree.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

I never want to run a home care agency because that’s not my expertise, but if you ask me about SEO I can talk to nerd level all day. So, yeah, you’re right. Do what you are an expert at. Let someone else… People are so frustrated and spin their wheels on this kind of stuff. And it doesn’t have to be that frustrating if you have an expert helping you. And it is an investment and it is worth investing. You’re right. If you really need caregivers and you feel like Zoom, I mean, not Zoom, if you feel like Indeed’s not working for you or whatever platform you’re using, you’re probably right. You need to have someone who has some experience in all this.

Yvan Castilloux:

And time is money. Even me, the way I structure my business, if I can pay a software platform or someone to help me out at something I’m not good at, I will do it. No problem.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

Absolutely. Well, thank you guys for talking to us about your business, about how you help home care agencies. And again, we’ll make sure your information is with this video, and if folks want to get ahold of you and talk to you more about your services and how you can help them recruit more caregivers and do a more efficient job, especially with Facebook. I know, because I see this every day, there’s a wealth of opportunity there to recruit caregivers. You just have to know how to do it, right?

Samuel Sanchez:

Yes.

Valerie VanBooven RN BSN:

All right. Thank you guys so much.

Samuel Sanchez:

Thank you very much, Valerie.

Yvan Castilloux:

Thank you very much.