10 Secrets From The Best Funeral Homes On Social Media
December 12th, 2014
Do you know how valuable social media really is to your funeral home’s brand?
It wasn’t until 2012 when funeral homes started to finally realize how valuable it can really be. In fact, 52% of brands say social media is the top driver for relationship building/ brand engagement. That’s twice more effective than email, and quadruple that of websites.
The most successful funeral homes on social media know how important social media is to their marketing, which is why they make it a priority to spend their time, money and resources on engaging with their families online.
The other day I spent some time studying these funeral home’s social media strategy, and came up with these groundbreaking secrets to creating engaging, shareable, likeable content on social media:
#1: Make them stop and think with a brain teaser
If your families are anything like most people, they’re scrolling through their Facebook and Twitter feeds a mile a minute. So how can you get them to pay attention to your funeral home’s social media updates? Try using brain teasers that will grab their attention like Toland-Herzig Funeral Homes did below.
#2: Offer up your infinite wisdom
By offering up your knowledge through advice and tips, you’ll help make their lives easier and prove your value as an important resource in your community. Littleton & Rue Funeral Home & Crematory uses their industry knowledge to offer up creative ways to support someone during a time of loss.
#3: Show them a new perspective
Challenge your families to think different and show them a new point of view they might not have thought about before. Below, SMART Cremation shows their followers the true meaning of a single rose.
#4: Tell a universally touching story
We can’t ignore what makes us human. Posting universal stories of love, life, friendship, compassion and courage is the perfect way to tap into people’s emotions and touch everyone who sees your post. Cutler Funeral Home and Cremation Center shares an emotional story and to date, it has the most likes, shares and comments than any other post on their page.
#5: Share something newsworthy
It’s a pretty simple concept – if a news story is viral and you share it at the right time, people will share, like and comment on it. One of the great things about being in the funeral profession is not everyone keeps a pulse on funeral and death-related news. That means you can easily position yourself as a thought leader by consistently sharing newsworthy stories, just like Carson Celebration Of Life Did below.
#6: Spotlight your funeral home employees
One of the best ways to humanize your brand online is to encourage your community to get to know your staff. Lunning Chapel does a great job with this by posting weekly spotlights of their funeral home employees’ smiling faces. By adding fun facts and a touch of humor to their staff spotlights, they have truly found a way to connect with their community with their posts.
#7: Spotlight your funeral home’s services, too
When Chandler Funeral Home added a new way to personalize funerals for Ohio State fans, they wanted to let their community know about it in an engaging way. So, they decided to share a photo of their new graveside service and invite families to ask about it for their loved one. Not only did the success of their update show that families are interested in the offering, but they also got positive feedback from their community on their new addition to their services. Talk about the best of both worlds.
#8: Share your families’ testimonials
Testimonials are one of the most powerful ways you can show potential families they’re in good hands. After all, these testimonials are coming from families who have turned to your funeral home during their time of need and enjoyed their experience. By displaying testimonials or quotes on your social media profiles, you have the ability to quickly and easily gain the trust (and attention) of your followers. O’Connor Mortuary did a great job creating a testimonial interview video with a family and it ended up being a huge success on their Facebook page.
#9: Inspire your audience with quotes
Inspirational quotes are always a good way to go because they’re relevant to just about everyone. Just make sure the visuals are clear and appealing so you can maximize engagement like Fairhaven Memorial did with their photo quote below.
#10: Highlight what makes you different in an engaging way
Lakeside Funeral Home is known as one of the “smaller” funeral homes in their community. So, with a little research and creativity, they put together a snippet on why being small is actually better for families. They used statistics and legitimate reasoning to prove that small means more personal, transparent and affordable care. We love this status update because they wrote it with their families’ needs in mind, giving them real advice on what they should think about when choosing a funeral home.
What other secrets has your funeral home discovered when it comes to being successful on social media? Tell us in the comments below!
This is a great list of advice! I already practice a few of them but will now be able to reach that many more people 🙂 Thanks for your article! – Sentimental Journeys of Minnesota
Thanks so much, we appreciate it!
Wow, these are some really helpful tips. I can definitely see how inspiring your audience with quotes can help out so much. You have to be able to show that you are different as well. Make sure that you portray that to your audience and show them why you stand out.
Wow, social media is so important. I didn’t think about how helpful it could be in getting business for funeral homes! It’s crazy that 52% of brands say social media is the top driver for relationship building/ brand engagement.I really like the idea of spotlighting the funeral home’s services. That’s a great way to let customers know a little bit more about what you’ve got to offer!
I like what you said about offering tips. That is a good way to help people and gain customers. Thanks for taking time to write.