The Olympic Medalist’s Guide: Social Media for the Funeral Profession
August 15th, 2012
This past Sunday marked the last day of the 2012 Olympics.
Similar to funeral service, the Olympics are one the world’s oldest traditions known to date. And, like the Olympics, social media for the funeral profession has helped families feel more connected to your firm than ever before.
Better known in the Twittersphere as #summergames or #London2012, The Olympics lived up to the title as the “world’s first social games.” In fact, they’ve been coined as “the first Olympics told in 140 characters of less” as well as the “Socialympics”.
Seeing the amazing social interaction between fans and Olympic athletes inspired the funeralOne team to help train you to become a social media gold medalist.
Ready to get started? Tighten up those tennis shoes and log-in to your social accounts. We’re going break a sweat with this one!
How to Become an Olympic Gold Medalist in Social Media for the Funeral Profession:
Respect the Race
In the Olympics, it’s unheard of to race without stretching first. The same way that athletes don’t train for last place, practicing social media with no goal or strategy is pointless. Whatever the event (or social medium) may be, it is important that you take it seriously.
Start with a step-by-step plan that aligns with your funeral marketing objectives. How will you engage your virtual community once they become fans? Don’t forget, a good calf stretch never hurts either.
Know Your Competition
If you don’t know that Michael Phelps can swim the 100m Butterfly in 51 seconds, how would you know how hard to train to beat him? Your funeral home’s competition is probably on social media (and if they aren’t yet, they will be soon).
There are a ton of free tools like Klout, SocialMention and Topsy to help you analyze what competing funeral homes are (and aren’t) doing to engage with their online community. Figure out things like: How large is their following? What content are they posting? How often are they posting? Who is following them?
Take advantage of this free information. It’ll give you the competitive advantage on other local funeral homes during the final lap of the race.
Stay in Front
You’re leading the race heading into the final 100 meters. Now it’s your job to stay ahead of the pack.
Instead of shooting in the dark and posting updates whenever and wherever, develop a social media content calendar for your funeral home. This way, you’re creating and scheduling your social media updates ahead of time, so you know you’re sticking to your strategy.
Finish Strong
When you’ve won the race, don’t think it’s over for good. Make it a priority to analyze how and why you achieved success. After winning the gold medal for the third time, US Beach Volleyball duo Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings watched tapes of their performance. They critiqued their tactics and analyzed what they can do better next time.
Put in that same effort into analyzing your engagement on Facebook and Twitter. There are free tools such as TwentyFeet, Facebook Insights and Tweetreach you can use to measure your funeral home’s social media efforts.
Are you a gold medalist in social media for the funeral profession?
Take a look around at those who are at the top of the funeral social media hierarchy (O’Connor Mortuary, Anderson McQueen).
Just like our currently reining gold medalists, they didn’t get to the top of the podium overnight. And they certainly weren’t handed their social media popularity. It takes hard work, dedication, and a little elbow grease.
But in the end, connecting with your community on social media is one of the most important business decisions you could ever make.
Congratulations!
You did it! Break out the ice packs and ACE bandages. It’s time to soak up your success after training to become a social media gold medalist for your funeral home, Olympic style.
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