Social media is an easy and effective marketing strategy for your funeral home. However, we understand that funeral directors are extremely busy people, and may not have time to make social media posts.
But by investing in time-saving tools like a social media automation platform, you can save time by scheduling posts ahead of time. Whenever you have a few minutes of free time, simply schedule ahead your social media posts and let the automation do the rest.
Depending on the plan you select, you can schedule your posts days — even weeks — ahead of time. That way, your posts are all ready to go and will automatically post so you don’t have to do a thing.
After doing some research, below are the six best social media automation platforms we found and their features.
1. Agorapulse
Agorapulse lets you post and manage your social media accounts all in one place. You can schedule posts, reply to messages and comments, and measure the effectiveness of your social media content. It even lets you complete a free trial before fully committing. There’s also a free mobile app available for iOS and Android devices.
Supported Platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google Plus, and YouTube.
Plan Options: The best option for small businesses like funeral homes is the Medium plan, which lets you connect 10 social media accounts and have 3 users. Or if your funeral home doesn’t have a lot of social media accounts, the Small plan lets you connect 3 social media accounts and only one user. Plus, all plans come with an unlimited amount of posts you can schedule.
Cost: Small: $49 per month, Medium: $99 per month
Click here for more features and plan information.
2. Buffer
Buffer has one simple dashboard for scheduling posts, managing your social media accounts, and tracking the performance of your posts. You can easily organize your posts in the social media calendar; upload videos, photos, or gifs; and other innovative features. Buffer also has a free mobile app for iOS and Android devices, so you can manage your social media accounts from anywhere.
Supported Platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google Plus.
Plan Options: The best option for your funeral home is the Small Business Plan. It lets you connect 25 social media accounts, add 5 additional team members, and you can schedule 2,000 posts per social account. You can try this plan for free for 14 days before you fully commit. There also is a free option, but you’re very limited with your capabilities. With the free plan, you can connect 3 social media accounts, can’t add additional team members, and can only schedule 10 posts per social media account.
Cost: Free:$0 per month, Small Business: $99 per month
Click here for more features and plan information.
3. CoSchedule
CoSchedule is integrated with the most popular social media platforms and organizational tools to help you keep track of everything in one place. Along with social media, it’s integrated with WordPress, Google Analytics, Google Docs, and more. You can try out a plan for free with a 14-day trial, and there’s a free mobile app for iOS and Android devices.
Supported Platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google Plus, Tumblr, and more.
Plan Options: Either the Growth or Professional plan are the best options for your funeral home. How much social media experience you have and your budget may factor into which plan is best for your funeral home. The Growth plan comes with 3 users, and the Professional plan comes with 5.
Cost: Growth: $60 per month, Professional: $300 per month
Click here for more features and plan information.
4. HootSuite
HootSuite allows you to schedule posts, manage your social media accounts, track your performance, and keep track of online social conversations happening in your profession. You can try it for free for 30 days, and there’s a mobile app for iOS and Android devices.
Supported Social Media Platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google Plus, and YouTube.
Plan Options: The best option for your funeral home is the Team or Professional plan. The Team plan lets you connect 20 social media accounts, has unlimited post scheduling, and allows three users. The Professional plan lets you connect 10 social media accounts, has unlimited post scheduling, and allows only one user.
Cost: Professional: $19 per month, Team: $99 per month
Click here for more features and plan information.
5. SocialPilot
SocialPilot has several social media marketing features such as scheduling posts, viewing your analytics, planning your marketing strategy on a scheduling calendar, and more. There’s a 14-day free trial, and there’s a mobile app available for iOS and Android devices and browser extensions available for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.
Supported Platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Pinterest, Tumblr, and more.
Plan Options: The best options for your funeral home are either the Professional or Individual plan. The Professional plan lets you connect 50 social media accounts, share up to 200 posts per day, schedule up to 2,500 posts, and add 5 team members. The Individual plan lets you connect 10 social media accounts, share up to 50 posts per day, schedule up to 1,000 posts, but you can’t add team members, which is the main difference between the two.
Cost: Individual: $10 per month, Professional: $30 per month
Click here for more features and plan information.
6. Sprout Social
Sprout Social comes with several features such scheduling posts, post organization on a social content calendar, ability to search for keywords and hashtags trending across the internet such as “funeral,” and analysis of post analytics. There is a free 30-day trial and there’s a mobile app available for iOS and Android devices.
Supported Platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google Plus
Plan Options: The best option for your funeral home is the Premium or Corporate plan. The Premium plan lets you schedule posts and add 10 social media accounts, while the Corporate plan comes with the Premium plan features plus others such as current trends and post analytics, and you can add 15 social media accounts.
Cost: Premium: $99 per month, Corporate: $149 per month
Click here for more features and plan information.
Many of these companies also offer discounts if you pay for a year’s subscription rather than by month — Buffer and SocialPilot are two examples. But you should do some testing to find what works best for your firm before committing to a yearly subscription.
One last thing to remember with social media automation is to be aware of current events. If a breaking news event occurs, you want to make sure your scheduled posts for the day aren’t going to offend or upset anyone. It’s easy to schedule and forget, but you should still keep them in the back of your mind.
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