December 2020

Page A10 DECEMBER 2020 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS Se c t i on A My #1 FREE Tip to go from Zero to 500 Facebook Followers FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS www.nomispublications.com Monthly Columns online at Dr. Troyer’s free library of Facebook tutorial videos can be found at www.JasonTroyer.com. Dr. Jason Troyer is a grief expert, author, former psychology pro- fessor, and therapist. He helps funeral homes and cemeteries con- nect with their communities through Facebook content and grief support materials. He frequently provides community presenta- tions, professional workshops, and trainings across the country. In addition to providing his Facebook content service and pre- sentations, he also works at Smith Funeral & Cremation Service & Grandview Cemetery in Maryville, TN. Dr. Troyer can be reached at DrJasonTroyer@gmail.com. You can view all of his video tuto- rials and learn more at www.JasonTroyer.com. By Jason Troyer, PhD Facebook Made Easy Page and then they can invite their Facebook friends to Like/Follow your Facebook Page. How powerful is this? I’ve had several funeral home cli- ents use this strategy to go from zero to over 500 Follow- ers in less than a week -- and it didn’t cost them a penny in advertising or boosting. (Of course, it helps to start with a personal Profile with a lot of friends). This strategy is so powerful, it is always the first thing that I have my clients do after creating a new Facebook page. If you have questions or would like 10 free holiday- themed Facebook posts to help get started, just contact me at DrJasonTroyer@gmail.com . ** Some of you are using a Facebook Profile (meant for a single person) as your Funeral Home’s Facebook Page. That’s not a good idea – Facebook can shut down your account if they want to and you’ll lose everything. It’s also not good because Facebook Pages (i.e., Business Pages) have many unique capabilities that will help you grow your business including allowing reviews, adver- tising options, editable buttons, and more. Because Gretchen already has a personal Facebook Pro- file, she can create a Johnson Funeral Services Facebook Page. The new Johnson Funeral Services Facebook Page is connected to Gretchen’s personal Facebook Profile. That does NOT mean Gretchen has to share any of her person- al Facebook posts on the funeral home’s Facebook page – it’s just that Facebook wants a real live person with a Face- book Profile to always be associated with a Page. Because she set up the funeral home’s Facebook Page, Gretchen is automatically assigned as the Administrator/Admin of the Johnson Funeral Services Facebook page (at least to start). Susan, Gretchen’s mother, wants to be able to have some control over the Johnson Funeral Services Facebook Page; so Gretchen (the administrator) adds her mother as an “ad- ministrator” on the Page. Gretchen would not be able to add her father as an “administrator” to the Johnson Funer- al Services Facebook Page because he does not have a per- sonal Facebook Profile. Profiles are for people vs. Pages are for businesses/organiza- tions – got it? Ok, now that Gretchen has set up the Johnson Funeral Services Facebook Page, she wants to take advantage of my #1 tip to grow her page. Every Facebook Page gives you the option to “Invite Friends”. This will allow the person logged in to the Page (Gretchen in our example) to easily in- vite her friends from her Personal Facebook Profile to “Like” and “Follow” the Johnson Funeral Services Facebook Page. Remember, Gretchen has about 1,000 Facebook Friends on her Personal Profile. I’m going to bet that many of these friends are from her local community and they have been served by Johnson Funeral Service. Gretchen can quickly “invite” all her friends or hand-pick individuals to receive a notification to “follow” the Johnson Funeral Services Page. Not only can Gretchen do this, but because Susan is also an administrator of the Johnson Funeral Services Page, Su- san can also invite her Facebook friends from her person- al Profile. You can repeat this process for other employees of your business: Make them an Editor on your Facebook Many funeral homes and cemeteries I work with are just starting a Facebook page or just beginning to consistent- ly post content on their page. One of many challenges of starting a new Facebook Page is beginning with zero fol- lowers. After you get 300, 500, or 700 followers, you be- gin to gain new followers because your current follow- ers share your content. This is similar to a new restaurant initially having trouble generating new business through word-of-mouth, but if they survive for a few months and serve several hundred people, the word eventually gets out. The challenge is to gain the first several hundred fol- lowers without spending a lot of money or time. With that in mind, here is my #1 free tip to go from zero to 500 followers. But before I describe the tip, it is impor- tant that you understand the difference between a Face- book “Profile” and a Facebook “Page”. Every person on Facebook technically has a Facebook “Profile”. Even though you might refer to your person- al Facebook account as “my personal Facebook ‘page’” – what you’re really referring to is your Facebook “Profile”. Conversely, each Funeral Home Facebook account is actu- ally a Facebook “Page” (sometimes referred to as a “Busi- ness Page”). ** Each Business Page must be connected to at least one Facebook Profile – or in other words, your Fu- neral Home’s Facebook Page must be originally connected to someone’s Facebook Profile. It doesn’t have to be just one Profile; it is common to have multiple Facebook Pro- files connected to the same Facebook Page. An example may help. Jon and Sarah Johnson are mar- ried and own a funeral home and employ their daugh- ter, Gretchen. Jon hates Facebook and has never created a Facebook account (“Profile”); Susan has a personal Face- book account (i.e., Facebook Profile), but rarely uses it. Their daughter, Gretchen, uses Facebook frequently (i.e., has her own Facebook Profile) and has about 1,000 Face- book friends. Gretchen convinces her parents that their funeral home should have its own Facebook Page. 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