Facebook represents a huge potential market for your social media efforts and can be a huge revenue generator as well if used correctly in our industry. There are over 1.39 billion monthly active Facebook users which is a 13 percent increase year over year. What this means for you: In case you had any lingering doubts, statistically, Facebook is too big to ignore.
Ask yourself this question; what percentage of your clients do you meet for the first time upon the death of a loved one? You haven’t built a relationship with these people; they have first come to know you at the time of someone’s passing. The percentage of customers you meet for the first time is high, if not all. This pretty much is how it’s been for centuries and it makes sense in our business, as our business is an urgent need business. Nobody thinks about us until the time of urgent need.
The public perception of a funeral home and funeral home services is that they assist in burying the dead. That is true, but you deal, collaborate, bond and do business with the living.
Facebook provides a huge opportunity to reach out to your community, new families, as well as past clients. It provides the opportunity we have never had before, to build relationships with the living.
Check out these Facebook fan numbers! These are people actually opted in and are following these businesses!
Moloney Funeral Homes – over 1500 followers
Branch Funeral Homes – over 300 followers
Raynor & D’Andrea – over 500 followers
Why would anyone want to follow a funeral home?
There are great reasons which I’ll get to in a second. Many funeral homes use Facebook to post obituaries and hourly services of current funerals. While there is nothing wrong with that; I propose using face book a different way, by using engaging posts that appeal to the living and that people will want to share with others, creating a larger fan base or audience for you.
These posts are not roll “on the floor” hysterical, but they are engaging! This type of light humor will bring a smile to your customers face and get shared. What you are doing is keeping your audience interested and focused for the main reason behind this article, to educate.
You want to mix funny and engaging with educational posts. Now that you have a growing captive live audience, you want to guide and educate them on topics like Pre-Planning. Never before have Funeral Homes had the right platform to speak and educate people about the benefits of Pre-Planning.
For example, look how huge the Life Insurance Industry is! A life Insurance policy is as widely owned as owning a car. People own Life Insurance because of the financial security it provides for the family they leave behind.
I sincerely believe Pre-planning a funeral would be as popular as owning a Life Insurance policy if we had the proper platform to present the benefits of this topic. Nobody wants to think about death especially arranging their own funeral. It’s not something people will naturally think about and never had we the platform in which to bring the topic up in a favorable way.
Facebook provides that platform by mixing light humor with educational.
Pose a statement like this to any responsible adult that has the best interest of their family in mind.
“The benefits of Pre-Planning- One of life’s most difficult decisions need not be made at a time of deep grief and confusion.”
When you have someone engaged through Facebook, and you educate that person while you have their attention, you can bet there will be many Sunday morning conversations between Husband and Wife about the benefits of Pre-planning. Responsible people will get it.
Passing is a guaranteed event. You can’t avoid it. You can’t predict it. Death is a fact of life that’s going to happen to everyone. Pre-Planning is responsible and takes so much pressure off the people you care deeply about and who you love most. So we want to mix funny and engaging with educational and finally we have the platform to do it right.
Right now, we are seeing the birth of social media in the funeral industry. Having a plan to capitalize on this platform will help develop deeper relationships with a whole generation of people that have been brought up on Facebook. By getting involved with this platform, you are effectively building a relationship with an active generation of people that will become familiar with you and your business and naturally and in most cases, use your services at their time of need.