Almost Everyone Has a Smartphone, So What Does This Mean For Your Funeral Business?
Lately, on Facebook, I’ve seen a number of posts relating to the idea that it would be hard to go, even for a short while, without some sort of immediate connection to the “outside” social media world. One image shows a simple house, presumably in a very remote location, with the caption “Would you spend one month in this house, with no smartphone or Wi-Fi, for a million dollars?” Here’s another one making the rounds:
The back story behind these images is that, increasingly, people are finding it difficult to live without an instantaneous connection to others through social media. And this is not an “affliction” of only younger generations. More than 70% of adults who access the Internet have a Facebook account, and the fastest growing group of new Facebook users are people 50 years of age and older. Of these adults, more women than men have Facebook accounts. In addition, over two-thirds of adult Americans own smartphones, and 75% of them use their smartphones to access social media. These percentages will only increase year after year.
The immediacy smartphones provide is an opportunity for you. With more and more people owning smartphones and using them throughout the day to check on their Facebook and other social media accounts, this means they are more likely to see the content you post on a regular basis. Research on “effective frequency” has indicated that people may need to see a product advertised up to 20 times before they seriously consider buying that product.
Now, with these facts in mind, consider this: do people have as strong a connection to newspapers, yellow pages, television, or radio? Certainly, adults do appreciate and enjoy these various forms of media, but they don’t carry these items around in their pockets or purses, nor are they accessing them at all hours of the day. So…why aren’t you making more efforts to advertise your business in the media and platforms your potential customers are viewing the most?
Paid advertising on social media such as Facebook and Instagram is, quite possibly, the least expensive form of advertising you can find. For a relatively small investment, you can get your message in front of a tremendous number of individuals, and you have the capability of targeting zip codes, genders, age brackets, and interests.
Creating a business Facebook page, and promoting your funeral home through paid advertising, is relatively easy if you have the time to invest to make it happen. But if you are strapped for time, you can turn to the experts at DISRUPT Media. We will create and optimize your Facebook business page to garner the attention you’re business deserves. We can craft a Facebook 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 http://funeralsocial.com to find out more about the services we offer.
About Author:
Mark Thogmartin, VP of Business Development at DISRUPT Media
Dr. Mark Thogmartin is a life-long educator, working with students from Kindergarten through the doctoral level. He has degrees from the University of Kentucky, the Ohio State University, and Andrews University. Mark’s book, Teach a Child to Read with Children’s Books, has gained wide acceptance among reading tutors and parents who are teaching their children at home. In addition to assisting his son, Ryan, at DISRUPT Media as Vice President of Business Development, he works part-time as a mentor of doctoral students at Capella University. Mark and his wife Donna live in Millersport and are the parents of three adult sons and the grandparents of two beautiful granddaughters.
