Funeral professionals are constantly looking for better, faster ways to connect with the families in their community.

I’m sure if you had it your way, families would understand the value of the services that you provide and why you’re the best choice to care for their loved one long before they actually needed your services. But that’s a lot easier said than done.

In order to connect with families up front, you need to approach them in an authentic way that is convenient for them, connects with them on a personal level, and speaks to them in a way that they are accustomed to. In today’s age, that means live, raw and in the moment — no filters, no underlying sales pitches, no cheesy business tactics. Just honest conversation.

And that’s why the trend of live streaming might be the best thing to ever happen to the funeral profession.

What Is Live Streaming?

Live streaming is a phrase that has taken over the online world, especially in the last few years. But what exactly does this term mean? To put it simply, live-streaming means to connect with people live, in the moment, typically over video or photo. It could be a private live-stream, where you are sharing what you are doing live, with only one other person. Or you could stream live to an entire population of people, sharing your experiences with hundreds all at once.

The ultimate goal being to strip away all of the clutter — fancy photo effects, editing for perfection, the filtered moments — and just connecting raw and honestly, for a more authentic conversation.

And the reason why live streaming has become such a hot topic in the last few years specifically is because more and more social platforms are coming up with their own solutions for live-connecting communities. And every single one of these platforms has it’s own unique benefits and advantages that funeral professionals can take advantage of to build better relationships with the families in their communities.

4 Ways To Connect Live With Your Families

1. Social Stories

Funeral homes are scary, unfamiliar, unnerving places to most people who aren’t in the funeral profession. And that’s simply because most people only see them in the sad, dark moments of their life, or associate them with thought of saying goodbye to someone that they love.

What funeral homes really need to do in order to humanize their business and connect people to the faces behind the funeral home name is to take families deeper into what they do and build a connection with their brand. Posting photos and videos on social networks like Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook are a great way to do this.

If you want to foster deep connections with your community, give people a behind-the-scenes look into your funeral home staff, your facility, your values, and all of the other things that make your funeral home tick. You can do this by posting photos of new products that you’re introducing into your showroom, streaming live video of the events that your funeral home is hosting, or even just doing funny boomerang videos that introduce your staff to your community.

2. Facebook / Instagram Live

One trait that every successful business has in common is that they show, don’t tell. Instead of funeral home’s advertising that they have the most state-of-the-art funeral equipment, or the most beautiful showroom in town, they show families instead.

Streaming live video is one of the best ways out there to invite people from all over your community into your funeral home… all without ever having them to leave the comfort and security of their home. Which, when you think about it, is the best case scenario for funeral homes, as it allows families to see for themselves that funeral homes can be comfortable and inviting, without finding out for themselves under unfortunate circumstances, like the passing of a family member.

Both Facebook and Instagram allow users to stream live video to their social media followers, and many businesses have found huge success by doing so. In fact, live videos on Facebook see 10x more comments than a static video upload, and the social network reports that 45% of people watch more than an hour of Facebook videos each week. This could be your community watching your content if you start live streaming!

3. YouTube Live Events

Another platform that allows you to stream live video and connect with your community is YouTube — the video capital of the internet. But what sets this platform apart from some of the others that we have mentioned above is the way that they have really encouraged and enabled two-way conversations during live video streams.

When streaming a live YouTube video to your community, anyone who is watching can easily log in, post a question or leave a comment in real-time, as they are watching your video. This makes YouTube the perfect platform for engaging your community and answering questions from your audience, as they have them.

Because of this, one of our favorite ways to utilize live YouTube videos is to stream question and answer sessions where you answer the most frequently asked questions from the families in your community, and even the ones that are coming in live from your audience. You could also host live interviews with other grief and healing professionals in your community, to help build further connections and reach more audiences. (Plus, these professionals will likely share the video with their own followers, exposing you to more families in the community.)

4. Funeral Webcasting

Live-streaming isn’t just a way for your funeral families to get a behind-the-scenes look at your funeral business. There are a number of ways in which live-streaming and webcasting can directly tie into the services that you offer and provide value to the families that you serve. For instance, online webcasting of their loved one’s funeral service.

Not only is funeral casting a great way to extend the amount of support that your families receive, by bringing the healing effects of a funeral service to friends and family all over the world who are not able to attend the service in person, but it also offers the immediate family a chance for celebration and remembrance, even after the funeral service has ended.

And the best part for funeral homes? It’s barely any extra effort at all to offer this game-changing, healing service to the families that you serve, thanks to seamless software like Life Tributes.

With Life Tributes, you can live webcast a funeral service online to families in real-time, or even share a password-protected link that family and friends can watch at their convenience. Plus, the video is accessible right from the loved one’s tribute wall, so your website truly becomes the center for all things celebration and remembrance for your families.

To learn more about Life Tribute’s Webcasting services, and to get a free 30-Day trial for yourself, just click here!

What do you think about the funeral profession embracing live-streaming? Do you think this is a solution that our profession will embrace, or will soon fall by the wayside? Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Rilee Chastain

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