Senior Living Marketing Tip: Create More “Day in the Life” Content

Want to know what 56% of adult children and 55% of older adults say would make their decision easier?

A clearer picture of daily life in your community.

That stat came out of a session at the 2025 Aline Innovation Summit, and it reinforces what many of us senior living marketers already know: People crave authenticity in marketing and want to see what life actually looks like in your community.

So, how do you create that kind of “day in the life” content? Keep reading.

1. Embrace the perfectly imperfect.

We’re big fans of professional photography, but when it comes to “day in the life” content, the real magic lives in the messy middle.

Forget the perfectly posed. Give us the real stuff—laughter in the garden, friends lingering over coffee, the chaos of move-in day (boxes and all).

Candid content resonates because it’s believable. It helps people picture themselves (or their loved ones) in the mix. So grab your phone and start capturing moments like:

• Birthday cake and the confetti aftermath
• Neighbors catching up over wine
• Gardening, book clubs, or bocce
• Holiday prep, not just the party
• A new resident unpacking, a big smile on their face, boxes everywhere

Use these images in carousels on Instagram or Facebook. Let people swipe through and feel what a day in your community looks like. Allow your social media to be a lens inside your community. It will build trust.

PRO TIP: Here are tips for taking better resident photos.

2. Use visuals to create contrast.

Photography that compares and contrasts living at home versus living in a community can be powerful in helping prospects (and their loved ones) envision both options.

This idea in action: The Senior Living SMART team created a campaign called “What are you waiting for?” that re-engages prospects who stalled after the tour. The campaign features a series of emails highlighting core services and amenities that showcase the benefits of living in a community versus staying at home.

The visuals show . . .

• A lonely meal for one at home vs. a healthy, fresh meal enjoyed with conversation and wine
• Happy hour alone vs. being with a group of new friends
• Looking out the window, watching the world go by vs. enjoying outings in the community
• Doing laundry and chores vs. having housekeepers deliver clean and folded laundry

This isn’t an exhaustive list, either, but you get the idea. Visually showing contrast allows people to fill in the blanks in their heads.

PRO TIP: These contrasting visuals can also work well in print ads.

3. Create more “day in the life” videos.

There’s no better way to capture a “day in the life” than through video. (Photos will only get you so far.) And people CRAVE videos. Just consider these nuggets from HubSpot.

• Most consumers (89%) want to see more video content from brands.
• Over half (52%) of consumers are more likely to share video content compared to other types of content.

Now, we can already hear the groans. Some of you might not have the necessary bandwidth, budget, or skills. Below, we offer solutions to those problems.

Use professionally shot videos.

If you have the budget, hire a professional videographer. Even better? Hire one that specializes in senior living. (We like Dash Media.)

A good video production team can capture a lot of footage (and stills!) in one to two days of filming. You can use the content across multiple marketing channels, including social media, your Google Business profile, your website (how about some b-roll for the home page?), email nurturing, and even text messaging campaigns.

PRO TIP: Plan, plan, plan. Storyboard your video concepts. In other words, what story are you trying to tell in each video? Every video, including 30-second clips, should have a hook and a clear story arc (beginning, middle, and end). Develop a shot list, identify the residents you want to feature, and ensure that you (or someone on your marketing team) can run point on the day of the shoot.

Use specialized apps to create videos. (Even better if they’re geared towards senior living.)

Companies like HeartLegacy and One Day can take raw video and still images that you capture with your smartphone and turn them into branded videos.

PRO TIP: We recommend encouraging everyone in your community (not just your marketing team, but also the sales team, activities, etc.) to shoot raw footage and images. Create a Dropbox where people can upload their footage. This will give you (and the app companies) so much more to work with. Here are tips for getting more people to record videos.

Use DIY videos.

Shooting and editing video on your own is a lot easier than you might think. You just need a smartphone, editing apps (like InShot), decent lighting, and lavalier mics. (But honestly? Smartphones are so good at picking up sound that you could forget the mics.) If you have someone on your team who is up for the challenge, let them “own” it.

PRO TIP: In under an hour, you can teach yourself how to use your phone to shoot, edit, and upload videos to YouTube. This free tutorial from Think Media walks you through everything step-by-step.

Which video orientation should you use? Vertical or horizontal?

For social media platforms, focus on vertical videos. Why? Well, the majority of viewers (75%) watch short-form video content on their mobile devices. Vertical orientation works better in that case.

The nice thing about creating short, vertical videos is that you can shoot and edit once and share the finished video across multiple platforms (Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, etc.), giving you a bigger bang for your buck.

But that doesn’t mean you should ignore longer horizontal videos. Long-form content can be especially effective on YouTube. You could create an actual “day in the life” vlog (video log) that follows around one resident from the time they wake up to the time they retire for the night. A horizontal video would work well for this content—you could post it on YouTube and your site.

PRO TIP: Have you thought of creating a resident podcast on YouTube? Have someone from your team do a short 15-minute interview with a resident (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, whatever works). Or have your residents host it. (Your team can simply handle the mechanics.) Google (which owns YouTube) guides you through the setup here.

4. Keep it going (and growing).

Bringing your community to life is not a one-and-done campaign—it’s an ongoing mindset. The best “day in the life” content happens when everyone on your team has their eyes open for everyday magic.

Encourage all departments—sales, activities, dining, even your executive director—to contribute. A quick pic here, a video clip there, a resident’s story jotted down after lunch. It adds up.

The more consistent you are, the more authentic and trustworthy your digital presence becomes.

Need help building a system around this? We’ve got you.