Every funeral website that we’ve encountered has a presence on at least one social networking site. Some have profiles established on all the top social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Some are even using YouTube to provide visual content to the families they are serving.
But the question is, are these funeral homes truly taking advantage of the benefits that proper use of social media has to offer?
Just how useful is social media for funeral homes?
Social media isn’t just extremely useful for promoting your funeral home; it also provides you with the opportunity to interact with families, especially when they have concerns related to your services that need to be addressed right away.
Having a presence in social media is much more relevant today than it was several years ago simply because it is the very same tool that empowers today’s consumers. In fact, almost half of consumers use social media to share whatever customer service experience they’ve had with a company. Even more people read those reviews online.
Social media, therefore, offers an opportunity not just to build relationships with families looking for your funeral services, but also, most importantly, to strengthen those relationships. It helps your funeral home immediately address customer issues, as well as improve its reputation.
To help you achieve that, here are three things your funeral website should do with social media.
Keep an eye on your funeral home on social media
Whether you have a social media page or not, you’re bound to read what people are saying about your funeral home on Twitter or Facebook. Actively monitor social media sites for any mention made about your funeral home by doing a quick search about your funeral home on these sites.
Use social media as a customer service platform
It is becoming more evident these days that a lot of customers are more comfortable in reaching out to companies through social media than through conventional means such as email and phone. That’s why you need to establish an active presence on social media and develop a strategy for responding to customers. With a dedicated team or person that takes care of your social media campaign, for example, you can quickly acknowledge whatever positive statements are made about your funeral home, and you can immediately address whatever negative reviews have been put out about it.
But when delegating your social media efforts to someone, be sure that the person has thorough understanding of your funeral home and of the entire funeral industry.
Develop a content strategy
Another compelling way with which you can engage your audience with social media is to create and share relevant, useful, and interesting content. Strive to provide how-to information in the form of blog posts, podcasts, or video posts. You can come up with content that talks about how to find the right funeral and cremation services, how to pre-plan a funeral or how to cope with a loss.
Plan how you would publish content on your website by plotting an editorial calendar for each month. Each time you post a new blog post or video, share them right away to your audience by tweeting or posting them on Facebook.
You can also share other people’s content on your social media pages, but the content that you want to share should be extremely relevant to the needs of families you’re serving.
Integrating social media into your funeral business not only empowers you. Most importantly, it nurtures your relationship with the families that you’re serving.
If you need help with creating a powerful social media strategy for your funeral home, contact Robin Heppell at (800) 810-3595 today.
Leave a Reply