OLTCA Champions a New Way of Communicating

The Ontario Long Term Care Association (OLTCA) offers a notable example for anyone wanting to learn how to develop meaningful and engaging communication in today's multi-connected world.

The largest long-term care association in the province ramped up its stakeholder news program in January 2009 and has been able to achieve significant measurable results that include heightened interest and awareness from its members and outside stakeholders.

We could also add several non-quantifiable but equally-important objectives, such as providing the sector with a forum for recognition and celebration, the sharing and cross-pollination of best practices and innovation, and the strengthening of a shared sense of mission, vision and purpose.

Key to these results has been the understanding and employment of a participative communication model that continues to innovate.

After expanding its stakeholder news program to a daily service combined with a bi-weekly e-news — a tool that has been key to building its brand recognition — the newsroom was receiving more story leads than it could write about.

This led the OLTCA to add news briefs to its services, providing a greater forum for its members to share events in short-story format while allowing its larger articles to cover sector-wide topics and themes.

Features have also been developed after discovering the additional news coverage needed an outlet for constructing meaning.

The features can connect the dots between a numbers of events, further building the movement.

A great example is a feature on long-term care's response to the Jan. 12 Haiti earthquake, which saw the sector through many small fundraising events raise more than $30,000 for the Caribbean nation.

The most recent development in the association's news program is the use of social media phenomenon Twitter. By tweeting daily news coverage as well as additional relevant news from its members and the sector, the tool is enhancing relationships through interactive conversations, and forging new connections.

The OLTCA is also using Twitter to further engage stakeholders by tweeting story ideas and themes they are interested in, and asking people to contact the newsroom with ideas and examples related to the topic.

All combined, these services equal an unparallel method of communication for an association that represents more than 430 different members.

As a pioneer of stakeholder news services, the OLTCA is giving its members a voice and dialoguing its own intentions and visions for the community.

Even with the success of its news program, which offers daily stories, news briefs, features,  Twitter, and biweekly e-newsletters (this tool saw 78 new subscribers in the past six weeks), the OLTCA is not resting on its laurels and continues to look for new opportunities to innovate.

This is an organization we continue to learn from as we adapt to a new communications environment.