Social memorial pages are changing the way that friends and families celebrate and remember life.

You see, it used to be that when your loved one passed away, you would write down your name and address in a book at the funeral home, or you would log on to the funeral home’s web page and type a quick condolence message in your loved one’s online guest book.

But the problem with both of these activities is that they end — never to be looked at or updated again — as soon as the funeral service does… mainly because they never actually provided any value in the first place.

The truth is, families don’t want to look back upon names and condolence messages when they remember their loved one’s life celebration. They want to read stories, see photos, watch videos, hear messages of encouragement, and connect with friends and family when they need them most. (Even if that’s months and years after the funeral service.)

But we’re not here today to talk about whether or not your funeral home needs social memorials on your funeral home website… that’s undeniable. (Still not convinced? Check out this previous post → 4 Surprising Ways That Social Memorial Websites Help Families Grieve.)

Today we’re skipping past the why and focusing on the how. Namely, how funeral homes can use four lesser-known social memorial features to help families get the most value and healing from their loved one’s tribute page:

1. Have Family and Friends Record a Webcam Video Message

It’s one thing to read comforting words on a screen, and another to hear them come out of the mouth of someone who cares for you and supports you. That’s why f1Connect’s social memorial pages allow supporters to share words of comfort or tell stories of remembrance right through their webcam and share it on their loved one’s tribute wall.

All your website visitors have to do to share their own personal remembrance video on their loved one’s tribute wall is simply click the “Add Photos & Videos” button, then select the “Record Video” to begin recording their personal message. (See image above.) Family and friends can leave video messages sharing their favorite stories and memories of their loved one, reminisce about the little things that they miss most, or even share messages of support for the family.

Family and friends can also get creative with the video message feature in order to offer unique value and support to their loved ones. For example, in the video message above, one supporter chose to sing along to the beautiful song “Dancing In The Sky” by Dani and Lizzy in order to share her feelings and offer words of comfort on a loved one’s tribute wall, which she wouldn’t have been able to do in the same way with a simple text note. The options are endless!

2. Light A Candle or Leave A Virtual Gift

Sometimes people don’t always know the right words to say when it comes to offering support and sympathy to someone who’s just experienced a loss. It’s hard to even know where to begin, let alone what words will bring them comfort. So to these people, nothing is more intimidating than the empty text box of an online guest book, where the cursor just blinks as you fumble over what to write.

Thankfully, there are several ways to offer support and show someone that you are thinking of them during a difficult time without actually having to say anything.

With f1Connect’s social memorial pages, family members and friends can light a memorial candle in their loved one’s memory (see photo above), or even give a personalized virtual gift that is reminiscent of the life they are celebrating. Some virtual gifts include a heart, an angel, a teddy bear, an American flag, and a number of other religious, service and hobby related gifts.

To give a virtual gift or to light a memorial candle, simply choose the “Light Candle” or “Virtual Gift” option from the Tribute Wall menu (see above) and select an image. Family and friends can also choose to leave a personal message for the family to accompany their gesture. Either way, these virtual items are the perfect way extend support and show a family that their loved one is being remembered, all without worrying about what is the right thing to say or do.

3. Send A Sympathy Card

As convenient as virtual gifts and messages are, some people still like to extend support the old fashioned way. For example, mailing a sympathy card to a family’s home following a loss. However, because sending things in the mail is such a rarity these days, it’s not always common for friends and family to have the address of the immediate family on file. And the last thing that they want to do is reach out to the grieving family during a time of loss to get an address.

Luckily, f1Connect’s social memorial pages allow family and friends to purchase beautiful personalized sympathy cards that can be mailed right to a family’s home address right on their loved one’s tribute page. And because these pages are integrated right into your funeral home’s website, that means that family and friends don’t have to call you to get the family address, or reach out to the immediate family directly. The card will be sent to the information that’s already on file in your system, saving everyone time.

To send a card through the social memorial website, simply click on the “Send A Card” option from the Tribute Wall menu (above). The inside of the card message can be customized and signed, and it will even be posted on the loved one’s memorial page so that the family can see that a sympathy card is being sent their way.

4. Recommend on Facebook Button

Last, but not least, some of the most underutilized features on each social memorial page are the social sharing buttons. In particular, the small “Facebook Recommend” button that sits just below every tributes’ name and birth/death dates. (See below.)

This button is one of the most powerful features of the entire social memorial page… not just for families, but for funeral professionals too.

For families who are trying to get the word out about funeral arrangements and service details, nothing is more convenient than sharing their loved one’s social obituary page on Facebook. Why? Because with over one billion active accounts on Facebook, chances are that the majority of their friends and family members that need to be informed of service details already have profiles set up on this social networking site. That means that with just one share or recommendation of a social memorial page, an entire network and community of people are being exposed to all of the details they need to know for the service. (And they will share it with their network, and so on and so forth.) It’s literally never been easier to reach the eyes and ears of your community in just one fast click.

This is also a great feature for funeral homes because not only does each Facebook recommendation get service information in front of the eyes of a new network, it also brings these friends and family back to your funeral home website when they click on the link. In the case of Dustin Dobbs’ memorial page above, 1,100 people visited Schoedinger Funeral and Cremation Services’ website and were exposed to the value of the funeral home. That’s immeasurable marketing and exposure for your business.

Are you ready to bring the power of social memorial pages to your funeral home’s website? (You’d be crazy not to!) Click here to contact our website success specialists so that they can help you and your families get the most out of their online obituaries!

Rilee Chastain

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