When I was young and visiting my Grandparents at the family funeral home – Egan Funeral Home in Bolton, Ontario – I would spend a lot of time with him walking into town, going to the post office and running other errands. I was always amazed about how many people knew him and that he knew them. His success – just like other past generation Funeral Directors – could be attributed to being a helpful member of community, whether professionally or in other activities. They knew, they liked him, and when they needed his services, they could trust him.

Since life is different nowadays and there are a lot less people in the “social hubs” than there was 50 years ago, it doesn’t mean that you have to go to the same places that Gramps hung out – he was where the people were. You should apply the same philosophy – Go To Where The People in Your Community Are!

Now, I’m not saying quit all of the groups that you are currently involved with – but you should take some quick inventory on your time invested vs. the exposure and reach that you get.

If you think that I am just pushing this Facebook stuff on you because I am a bit of a techie – you’re wrong. I’m trying to tell you that it is probably one of the biggest networks in your town and you need to be there!

Do you know how many people in your market are on Facebook? Would you be surprised that I could tell you exactly how many to the individual, gender, age? It’s easy to find out – and also you can advertise so directly it would blow you away!

But before we get into my Funeral – Facebook Formula, you have to make sure that you have the basic foundation of Facebook Profiles and Pages. So we are going to build off of the 7 Mistakes Funeral Directors make with Facebook article, I want to outline what the Best Practices are for Funeral Directors for using Facebook.

The purpose of this “Best Practices” is to cut through all of the noise and give you the straight goods and short-cut the learning process for you as I teach you to nurture your online relationships to build your community, increase your credibility and visibility because people want to do business with people that they Know, Like, and Trust – Facebook can help you achieve that!

I don’t want Facebook to be a new time-waster although I must warn you: if you are new to Facebook, it is easy to get sucked in, connecting with old friends, checking photos, playing games, taking quizzes, etc. Anyway, after the initial rush wears off, it will be back to business – relationship building business that is!

Before we get into the Nuts & Bolts, we need to know the difference between Profiles and Pages.

Facebook Profile Pros

* You can have one-on-one interaction
* You create a feeling of a more personal connection
* You gain “perceived” credibility with more Friends
* Your Friends can message you (pro from their perspective)
* You can be Tagged in photos and videos and appear automatically (sometimes good)

Facebook Profile Cons

* You need to have mutual agreement for friending
* People must be Facebook members and logged in to view
* You can’t message all friends at once or you could get banned
* You are limited to 5,000 friends
* You could get inundated with messages in your Inbox
* You can be Tagged in photos and videos and appear automatically (sometimes bad)

Facebook Fan Page Pros

* You can have an unlimited number of fans
* You have the ability to message an entire group
* Your page can be accessed by the public (no Facebook login required + it can be indexed by Google (see naming below)
* Your Page appears in homepage stream which is a great way to remind your Friends about updates and new content * People have opted in to hear updates about your business, unlike your profile

Facebook Fan Page Cons

* It is sometimes hard to get people to become Fans
* The term “Fan” is a little weird, especially when applied to a Funeral Home
* Doesn’t feel like a personal connection
* You don’t have the same personal relationship as you only post as the “Business” not as yourself

Ok, now that we know some of the differences, let’s build both a Profile and a Page – leveraging the Pros to our advantage.

Profile Set Up – Phase 1 (1 hour):

1. Select an appropriate photo: one that best connects you to your audience
2. Upload Contacts from Email Accounts / Outlook: (I skip the “Invite Others To Facebook”)
3. Complete the Profile information: make it as complete as possible but keep within your comfort level.
4. Complete Education and Work Profile Information: this makes it easier for your old contacts to find you
5. List all of your websites under contact information
6. Create Memorable Web Address
7. Upload Contacts from Email Accounts / Outlook

Profile Set Up – Phase 2 (1 to 2 hours + ongoing):

1. Search Friends’ Friends List
2. Search Groups and Fan Pages for possible contacts: You don’t even have to join the group – just see who the members are. But join if you think that it would be valuable
3. Search Your Competitor’s Friends: click on the View Friends link and add any friends that you think would be appropriate to friend

Notes: When entering a website address (URL) make sure that you use the “http://” before the www… as that will make the link clickable.

Fan Page Set Up – Phase 1

1. Choose the Category > Local > Event Planning Service OR Professional Service
2. Choosing the Right Name – Place Important Keywords together with your company’s name such as ‘Your Town’ Funeral Homes (unless that is a competitor’s name) | Your Funeral Chapel (see McCall’s example)
3. Upload your logo or an appropriate photo – make sure that it is recognizable and if possible, have some personality
4. Complete the Edit Information
5. Upload Photos and Tag yourself or staff members if appropriate
6. Upload Videos – How To and FAQ videos would be preferred over commercials – again you are trying to build a relationship, not to sell anything (don’t exclude commercials – just limit them)
7. Add Links to helpful information from your website
8. Suggest To Friends – Be selective to who you invite at the beginning until you really have your page “super-charged”

Please remember, Facebook Pages and How Funeral Homes Can Use Facebook are a Work in Progress, these are some general best practices (for now).

Another Facebook article that might help you.  Please offer feedback. Wayne

Facebook is one of the most popular social networking mediums, and their membership numbers are increasing quickly. It is a great tool for networking; but like many tools available for networking on the web, promotional or marketing activities are frowned upon. 

So be careful when using Facebook and do your online marketing activities under the radar, or you might miss out on a powerful tool to boost your business.

In this article, I’ll give you some vital pointers to maximize the power of Facebook.

1) Just like any other social site, be careful what you put in your profile.

You don’t want to be seen as a link spammer. And you don’t want to give away too much personal information either (unless you don’t care that thousands of people may see your profile).

Just be careful with any personal details you put out there for others to see, such as where you live and pictures of your children. You do not want to pick up a stalker, especially when you are networking with strangers.

2) Don’t make the mistake of using your business name as your profile name, as this is against Facebook’s terms of service.

You are allowed to create other Facebook pages to brand your company, products or websites.

3) Respond to any friend requests and carefully send your own invitations. Make them personal and interesting.

Developing a great network is your long-term goal to generate a slow, but steady traffic stream to your websites. Use this tool to your advantage without being pushy or overbearing. Facebooks members hate spamming (who doesn’t?) and will carefully watch out for anything that violates their Terms of Service (TOS).

If you want to see profiles of those from another network, add them as your friends using the “Add to Friends” button. Follow the steps in the Edit tool to fill out any information you want others in your network, or others you accept as friends, to view.

4) Use various applications of Facebook.

Facebook has many applications which would make your networking experience easier or more enjoyable. Examples are applications for adding footage or photograph albums to your profile for others to see.

I’ll discuss two other powerful Facebook applications in a moment.

5) Use Facebook’s “My Questions” application to find out what people are exactly looking for concerning your niche

This is where posters answer certain questions about themselves and what they are looking for on Facebook. They will also list their interests. Use this in your networking activities.

Unless they have expressed an interest in your field, do not invite them to join your friends list. Of course, you can still ask them if you genuinely want to be their friend. 

But if you are there to network for your website business, then choose your friends wisely. This is how you are building your list and getting traffic to your website. So you have to manage your time well and eliminate non-productive activities.

Again, be very careful about Facebook’s TOS. Do not go against it because breaking the rules will get you banned.

6) Use “Facebook Discuss.”

It is Facebook’s answer to instant messaging. Chatting, or IM’ing, on Facebook is truly quite easy when you use Facebook Discuss .

Just go to your Facebook page and you can start using Facebook Discuss immediately. At the base of each Facebook page, you may see your Facebook Discuss tools.

The first of the 3 Facebook Discuss tools is the online friends tool. This simply tells you which of your Facebook buddies is online at this time. The next Facebook Discuss tool is notifications that may let you know if you have any new Facebook notifications right from the tool. The 3rd tool in Facebook Discuss is the real discuss tool.

 7) Create and join Facebook groups.

Just as they have subscribed to your blog, they’re going to join your Facebook group. So people looking on Facebook for related groups would feel welcome to join.

Facebook groups are viral selling mechanisms. Search Facebook for groups on your topic and related ones. In each of these groups, you can post a message on the group Wall or debate board, or you may use the Post a Link feature to inform the group’s members of your group and your blog.

By promoting your Facebook group at first, rather than promoting your blog, you decrease the chance the group director will remove your message. Any Facebook member can make a group and invite users on their pals list to join.

A form prompts you to give the group a name, passing outline and class. At the following stage, you can customize your group’s available applications, upload a profile photograph and set privacy levels.

A secret group is fascinating for work-related activity, but it will not show up in search results. Choosing a closed group might be the best idea for you to protect your privacy. You will be inspired to choose members from your friends list to join the group.

When you start a group on Facebook, you can invite members to join the group and share their thoughts, viewpoints and consultations about your product, idea or start-up. Invitations to join a Facebook group can be through your Facebook buddies, your Yahoo contacts, etc.

Integrate your application into specific areas of the Facebook profile

A Facebook application can take on a lot of forms; but in order to entirely implement the selection of integration points and deliver a full user experience, it is advised that you integrate your application into specific areas of the Facebook profile.

This permits millions of viewers to see your business everywhere on Facebook and attract potential patrons, who would naturally visit your start-up Internet site.

Remember to follow all Facebooks rules; otherwise, you’ll risk getting banned and your account deleted. This is not what you are looking for. Instead you want to use the group feature to promote your website within Facebooks rules. Do not overstep by thinking you can get around the rules. Use Facebook features to your advantage and you will see an increase in your website traffic.