Facebook is a busy place! This is both a blessing and a curse for funeral homes who are working to get noticed online. It’s great that so many potential customers frequent Facebook these days (about as often as they use the restroom!), but with so much traffic and competition in the Newsfeed it can be difficult for a funeral home to get noticed. We’ve compiled below some quick tips as to how you can increase the odds of being seen when people use the restroom, er…when they browse their Facebook Newsfeed:
- Post at the times during the day when most people will likely see your posts. You have the potential to reach more consumers and drive higher traffic to your site during peak usage times (mid-week between 1 to 3 pm), but people are be more likely to be more engaged (click on your content) in the evenings between 7 pm and midnight.
- Post on the days when most people are engaged. On Thursdays and Fridays, engagement is 18% higher than any other days during the week. If you only post a couple times a week, aim for these days.
- Post content people want to see, not necessarily the content you want them to see. You should seek to broaden the type of content you share. Your readers enjoy looking at organic, locally generated photos and videos related to your funeral home, in addition to informative and inspiring content. Don't post content just for the sake of posting content!
- Share content on your page that has typically gotten high engagement. Sometimes the best way to get additional Facebook engagement is to publish more of the same type of content that you’ve had success with in the past. You can use the Insights tools in Facebook to find out what content has been the most popular among those who view your page. Do more of what works.
- Talk back! When people leave reviews or comments on your page, be sure to reply in ways that are appreciative and responsive to their concerns. Thank customers for their positive reviews and comments. When unsatisfied customers complain, respond in genuine concern, and offer to resolve their issues offline if they can’t be addressed quickly.
- Ask people to engage with the content you post. The great thing about social media is that it is a two-way channel, allowing participants to respond directly to each other. So, why not invite your readers to answer a question or give their opinion on some of your content? On Mother’s Day, invite people to tell others about their mother’s best recipe, or what they remember most about her. On July 4, ask readers to make a patriotic comment or tell how they will celebrate our nation’s birthday.
- Shorten the length of your posts. Facebook posts between 0-50 characters long receive the most engagement. The more characters you add after that, the less engagement you can expect. Treat your posts like headlines. Use them to pull people in and entice them to click through to your website to read the full story.
- Create a Facebook posting calendar. Last but certainly not least, you need to have a Facebook plan in place if you want to start getting more attention. Randomly publishing posts, crossing your fingers and hoping someone leaves a comment or shares it isn’t effective or efficient. Outline what you want to post and when you’re going to post it. Otherwise your Facebook activity will be moved to the back burner where it soon will be forgotten.
Any business can randomly throw up generic content on its Facebook page. But in order to see value you must be purposeful, smart, and utilize a strategy in order to get engagement from those who will most likely become your customers in the future. It can be an uphill climb to get started, and it can be time-consuming. If you need help, the professionals at DISRUPT Media can work with you to create and maintain an effective presence on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and/or Twitter. We can craft a social media strategy tailored to your business using our exclusive four part FUNERAL Social Design Process. Our process is what enables DISRUPT Media to claim that we are the funeral profession’s only full-service social media management firm. Our clients who are a part of our FUNERAL Social Design Process are seeing an increase in post reach and engagement of over 300%. Go to https://www.disruptmedia.co to find out more about the services we offer.
About Author
Ryan Thogmartin is a death care entrepreneur and the CEO of DISRUPT Media and creator of ConnectingDirectors.com. | Follower of Christ | Husband | Father | Entrepreneur | Host of #DISRUPTu! and #FUNERALnationtv | Lover of Skittles
DISRUPT Media is a social media first marketing company that focuses on social storytelling for funeral companies. DISRUPT uses insights gained through analytics to build creative campaigns that achieve actual business goals.