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Social Media

Are You Giving Your Website Visitors the Facebook – Website Runaround?

In a previous article, I’ve shared with you the number one way to get extra traffic from Facebook – even without having a Facebook page or profile. If you need a refresher, all that you do is give your client families a sheet of paper at the arrangement conference and a 20 second tutorial on how to add their loved ones online obituary to their Facebook profile.
 
Please note that I did not say about sharing it on your Facebook page – even though you can do this it will be 10 times less effective than having the family doing it. The reason why is that the people following your Facebook page may know the deceased, but probably not. On the other hand, the daughter who shares her father’s obituary notice on her Facebook profile, will be of interest to almost all of her friends on Facebook. Multiply this by any other children or relatives of the deceased who do the same.
 
I have been sharing this strategy for over four years and those who practice it experience a huge spike in traffic. Recently I have been receiving comments from some funeral homes that this strategy doesn’t work well for people using mobile devices. The issue is for funeral homes who have a separate mobile version of their website. If the funeral home and the client family practice the strategy of pasting the link from the online obituary to their Facebook profile and then someone who is a friend of the survivor clicks on the link from their mobile device – expecting to go to the obituary – instead they end up at the homepage of the mobile version of the website. From there they have to navigate to find that particular obituary. The last thing that people want to do, especially on mobile device is have to go through extra navigation steps.
 
Another issue that has been brought to my attention is that if someone is using a tablet such as an iPad mini, these users are getting redirected to the mobile version of the site which is a scaled down, less graphically friendly, website.
 
So why should you worry about mobile Facebook users?
 
In its Q4 2013 Quarterly Earnings conference call, Facebook stated that out of the 1.228 billion monthly active users, there are 945 million (77%) mobile users and almost one-third of them only use their mobile device to visit Facebook.
 
The leading solution to fix this problem is to make sure that your website has a “mobile responsive” design. This is more than just being mobile friendly, mobile responsive means that the website conforms to the width of the device. So no matter what type of device the person is viewing your website on, whether it be a desktop computer, laptop, tablet, or a mobile phone, the website adjusts according to the width.
 
Glossy-responsive-web-design-decorFor the larger screens the websites will be displayed in its normal layout. With smaller screens such as an iPad mini or iPhone the components will stacked on top of each other and the visitor can just easily scroll through the page.
 
What is Google’s thoughts on mobile responsive websites?
 
This is an excerpt from Google’s section “Building Smartphone-Optimized Websites”
Regarding Responsive Design: serves the same HTML for one URL and uses CSS media queries to determine how the content is rendered on the client side. This removes the possible glitches of user-agent detection and frees users from redirects. This is Google’s recommended configuration. (Source: https://developers.google.com/webmasters/smartphone-sites/)

This might seem a little technical, but it is important to listen to Google’s recommendations. 

To view some samples of mobile responsive funeral home and cremation websites visit:
  • www.DeJohnFuneral.com
  • www.BrownOwensBrumley.com
  • www.PacificCoastCremation.com
  • www.CremationBrazosValley.com
When visiting these websites on your tablet or mobile phone see how the sides and contents re-adjust when you rotate your device from portrait (up-and-down) to landscape (side to side). The other benefit that a mobile responsive website has is that the visitor does not need to zoom in and then zoom out by pinching their fingers on the screen nor do they have to scroll side to side when reading content.
 
So re-visiting the original issue of someone from their mobile device, clicking on a link in Facebook going to a online obituary, in the case of the mobile responsive website the visitor will go directly to that page and that page will conform to the device it is being viewed on.
 
For more information about mobile responsive websites, visit: www.FuneralGeeks.com/website-packages/

2013 Virtual Marketing Calendar

Here is your free 2013 Virtual Marketing Calendar to help you plan out your funeral home or cemetery marketing and advertising topics for the year.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9-dngjsz3c

Funeral-Social-Media-Marketing-Calendar-2013

Click to download
Click to download

Click to download the 2013 Virtual Marketing Calendar.

How to share timely information on your blog and social media

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sAuURAk0ms
(feel free to share or embed this video if you find it helpful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sAuURAk0ms)

Thank you to Dr. Alan Wolfelt and the NFDA for making this valuable and timely resource available to the entire funeral community at no charge.

This is a step by step tutorial to show you how to share this valuable information on your website and your social media accounts. Please follow these steps in order for maximum effectiveness.

  1. Create a new blog post
    • Add an introductory statement
    • Upload the PDF and also an image of the letter
    • Add a quote from the letter
    • Give permission for others to share the resource as well
    • Offer yourself as an additional resource (without any promotional connotation of any kind)
    • See this link as an example: http://www.mccallbros.com/how-to-talk-to-children-about-the-newtown-tragedy/
  2. Share your new blog post on your Facebook page
    • Select the image of the letter to use as a thumbnail
    • Use a short comment like: “Please share this resource to anyone who may find it beneficial”
    • Set the share setting to “Public”
  3. Share it on Twitter
    • This may have automatically happened depending on how you have your Twitter account set up, but if not then,
    •  Make your tweet to the point, like: [Article] “How to talk to children about Newtown Tragedy” [SHORT LINK] Please share with anyone who may find it helpful #PrayforNewtown
    • Don’t forget to include the link to the blog post – short link if possible
    • Use hashtags sparingly – one is ok such as #PrayforNewtown, but don’t be like Kmart and add others
  4. Send an email to:
    • Clergy, Teachers, Schools / PACs / PTAs, Community Groups and Churches
    • See sample email below

Sample Blog Post:

howtotalktothechildrenandteensinyourlifeaboutnewtownTITLE: How to talk to children about the Newtown CT Tragedy

Dear Teachers, Clergy, Community Leaders and Parents,

During this pass week, many of you may have been faced with having to answer questions about the tragedy that occurred in Newtown, Connecticut.

Today we received an article from the National Funeral Directors Association that was written by renowned grief expert, Dr. Alan Wolfelt.

We feel that this article is a great resource for anyone dealing with children and teens.

You can download Dr. Wolfelt’s article here.

We thank Dr. Alan Wolfelt (www.CenterForLoss.com) and the NFDA (www.nfda.org) for making this resource available. If you need additional resources, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]
[Your Funeral Home]

Sample Email:

SUBJECT: [ARTICLE] How to talk to children about the Newtown CT Tragedy

Dear Teachers, Clergy, Community Leaders and Parents,

During this pass week, many of you may have been faced with having to answer questions about the tragedy that occurred in Newtown, Connecticut.

Today we received an article from the National Funeral Directors Association that was written by renowned grief expert, Dr. Alan Wolfelt.

We feel that this article is a great resource for anyone dealing with children and teens.

You can download Dr. Wolfelt’s article here:
[LINK TO YOUR WEBSITE]

We thank Dr. Alan Wolfelt and the NFDA for making this resource available. If you need additional resources, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]
[Your Funeral Home]

General comments:

  • Always give credit (attribution) where it is due – in this case to Dr. Alan Wolfelt (www.CenterForLoss.com) and the NFDA (www.nfda.org) – include links to their websites as well
  • Make sure that there is absolutely no promotional connotations at all

Resources:

  • Link to PDF
  • Link to Image

UPDATE: Response of thanks received from local school district:

Response-McCallBros-Wolfelt-Letter

Why You Should Use Twitter For Your Funeral Home

If you are a funeral home and do not have a Twitter presence, you could be missing out on the best, free, broadcast media ever. That might sound like a bunch of hype but for the little effort and no expense to use it, don’t over look it.

The three main reasons why I love Twitter is that it is: Direct, Instant and Uncensored. Direct in that you can connect with people directly. Instant in that information is shared in real time – no time delays. Uncensored in that messages aren’t filtered or edited, just raw information from the horse’s mouth.

Note: Although I recommend that every funeral home should have a Twitter presence, it is not a “game changer” or “drop everything and jump on the bandwagon” strategy. Having a good, easy to edit, website is paramount, followed by a LinkedIn profile next, and then a Facebook profile (personal) followed by a Facebook page – then comes Twitter.

How can Twitter be important if it only has 10% of the population using it? Because unlike other social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn, traditional media like television are always promoting Twitter by saying “Join the conversation or Twitter” or “use the hashtag #HeppIsCool” to share your thoughts. Since Twitter is “open” and doesn’t require mutual consent to connect, everyone on Twitter is just one handshake away from each other. Because of this openness, conversations can be subject-based or location-based and not just based on connections.

EdisonResearch.com recently shared survey results in their article “Why Twitter is Bigger Than You Think” where they state, “89% of Americans 12+ are familiar with Twitter, while 10% use the service.” They also note that 44% hear about Twitter almost every day.

So how does this apply to a Funeral Home?

You can connect directly with local media, politicians, local movers and shakers, other business owners – and most important, the general public. You can get their attention and they can get yours – all with just 140 characters.

So how can Funeral Homes use Twitter?

I suggest having two accounts to start but it is best to have three. One for your Obits Stream, one for your Company Brand and then the third optional one for just personal use.

With the Obit Twitter account there are some real advantages for exposure; especially for some of you who are near the Canadian/US border where there are tough winters and a lot of the people may snowbird and spend their winters down in Florida, California or Arizona. They may come to your website off and on to see who died over the winter and now the hip people can say, “I can follow the funeral home obituaries on Twitter? Awesome!”

You may think that you would rather have them visiting your website but really you want to communicate with them the way they want to be communicated with. Don’t force them to do anything, instead make it easier for them because you are going to be driving people back to your website in that way.

Step by Step instructions

  • First of all you want to claim you handle or your @. You want to make sure that you reserve your funeral home. You may also want to claim your towns name and obits.
  • Go to Twitter.com and sign up for your 2 accounts
    • You have to use 2 different email addresses
    • Once you sign up you are going to Claim your Twitter handle: @YourFuneralHome & @[YourTown]Obits
    • Remember that it must be no more than 15 characters
  • Customize your settings
  • Seek & follow local community members with the “Find People” feature in Twitter itself.

All the media people will be there like reporters. You now have a direct link with them so you want to follow those people and then they might be following you back again. Do the same with other business and other people in your network. It shows that you are up with the times.

More people will probably follow the funeral home account than the obituary account but it is just another way to convey that information out to your community.

There is also website called Twellow.com. You can go there and sign up for a free account. Login using your Twitter account and you can find people in your hobbies and your geographical area. It is just a little easier to use than Twitter.

With your personal account too, you can follow all of your favorite people too and just be a user of Twitter and getting the three benefits that I mentioned in the beginning.

Now I am not trying to create more work for you with Twitter because it can easily be integrated into most websites so that as soon as you upload a new obit, blog post or article, it will automatically tweet the link to your Twitter account. It can also be set up so that when post something on your Funeral Home Facebook page, it will be automatically tweeted to your Twitter account.

Also, to make your Twitter experience even easier, you can manage these accounts with services like HootSuite. This tools save you time by allowing you to send messages to any of your social media profiles across the web, such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and many more. It also automatically shorten URLs for easier posting to Twitter because for Twitter you are allowed only 140 characters.

hootsuite-dashboard
Click to enlarge

Overall, with its vast reach beyond its 10% saturation, with its ability to put you in direct connection with the movers and shakers of your community and the ability to automate it in many ways, Twitter should definitely be one of the arrows in your online marketing quiver.

Now that you are going to sign up for your free Twitter account, you can start by following yours truly at: http://twitter.com/funeralfuturist (or @funeralfuturist). See you on Twitter!

2012 Virtual Marketing Calendar

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnfhV2CtAk4

Funeral Home Virtual Marketing Calendar 2012
Click to Download 2012 Calendar

If you think that I have missed any special days, please let me know – leave a comment below.

How Do You Track Your Market Share?

Get the Competition Mix Tracker

Save an Extra $100 before Jan 2, 2012
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For complete details visit: www.FuneralManagerSecrets.com
(but you will only get this offer through the “Get Instant Access! button above)

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