The latest social media updates provide new opportunities for your funeral home to connect with your families.

Twitter’s extended Tweet character limit and Facebook’s Explore Feed allow you to give your followers more meaningful content. And Instagram’s poll feature lets you find out your followers’ opinions on different topics.

Let’s discuss these social media updates and how to use them to market your funeral home and engage with families.

Twitter 280 Character Tweets

The long-anticipated Twitter update has finally arrived. Now, your Tweets can have up to 280 characters, which is double the old amount. This means your Tweets can include more text and hashtags.

However, you don’t want to overwhelm your followers. A Twitter feed filled with 280-character Tweets can feel cluttered and unappealing. You can still write longer Tweets, but don’t make every Tweet the maximum 280 characters.

For example, here are some sample Tweets that your funeral home can use:

1. Per the Funeral and Memorial Information Council, 89% of adults feel end-of-life discussions would be meaningful. However, only 17% of adults have made preplanning arrangements. Call (your funeral home name) at (insert phone number) to learn more about #Preplanning
2. Join (your funeral home name) for our annual #Holiday #Remembrance event at (insert location). Together, let’s honor and remember your loved ones this holiday season.

Do you want more pre-made social media posts? Check out our free monthly social media kits on our Resources Page.

Facebook Explore Feed

The Facebook Explore Feed lets users find new content related to their current interests. It shows them content similar to things they’ve “liked” on Facebook. This way, they discover new Pages to follow, like your funeral home’s Page.

If Facebook users “liked” posts similar to your funeral home’s posts, then your posts may appear on their Explore Feed. If so, this can lead potential client families to your funeral home’s Facebook Page.

However, the Explore Feed is still fairly new. As of now, Facebook ads don’t appear on the Explore Feed, so it may not have a huge impact yet. It also requires users to click on the feed in the menu bar; it doesn’t automatically appear. Maybe with time, this feature will expand, so it’s still good for your funeral home to be aware of it.

Instagram Polls

Instagram introduced Polls as a fun new feature for Instagram Stories. You can ask your followers questions to get their opinions on different topics. Just select the “Poll” sticker to add a poll to your Instagram Story.

However, you can only put two answer options. You also should keep your questions as short as possible. And since it’s an Instagram Story, the question only appears for 24 hours on your story.

For example, these are a few possible funeral-related polls:

• Grief seminar or webinar?
• Community bake sale or craft sale?
• Memorial craft or family tradition?
• Burial or cremation?
• Online invitation or mail invites?

These questions are all great for engaging with your followers. However, they still don’t replace surveys and other means of getting client family feedback.

Check out this Instagram article for more information about Polls.

Has your funeral home tried any of these social media updates? Share your experience in the comments below!