Getting the Word Out
When it comes to funerals, it can be difficult to not just know who to invite, but also how to reach out to them with the invitation. Social media is one great way to post about the funeral and inform those involved about date and times. What about those who don’t have Facebook, or don’t spend a lot of time on it? The older generation many times won’t bother making an account, or only check it on a rare basis. Even some of the younger generation won’t get on social media for various reasons. So posting about it on social media won’t get the attention of all intended guests. The newspaper includes obituaries that can list the date and time, but who reads the newspaper these days? Even if they do, not many go to the obituaries. So now you are left with a Daytona Beach funeral and no idea if everyone is even going to know about it.
If you want to make sure everyone is going to get the notice and make it to the funeral, you have to put some time and energy into the process. Of course, you can use social media to get the word out still, you just can’t rely solely on it. Partly because you might miss some people like we mentioned before. Also, though, it’s not very personal. Some people might be offended if they just get a Facebook notification about it instead of a formal invitation, especially if they were close to the person. The other two options are phone calls and emails. While you can send letters through the mail, you are on a time limit, and it could take too much time to send an invite and receive a reply. Plus, phone calls and emails add a more personal touch to it, and there are ways to make the process a little easier.
For one, you don’t have to do it alone. Get a friend or family member to help you call everyone on the list. This is made easier thanks to the fact everyone has their own smartphone now, instead of having to use one single house phone. It is best, however, if the person is a family member or friend of the family. Having someone that no one knows call them with the news might not be the best way to go about it. Not only does this make the process go faster, it also makes it emotionally easier. Telling everyone about someone’s death isn’t exactly fun, and having someone there for emotional support can make the progress less emotional.
Emails are easier now too, thanks to various programs that help create messages and send them out to multiple people. You can also create your own, and send it out to a lot of people at one time, though it includes adding quite a few email addresses to the message. It is a great system to use, though, because it allows for easy communication back and forth, and can be done anywhere. As long as you have a computer, tablet, or smartphone, you can receive and answer emails. You can even set up your MacBook or laptop at a Starbucks to do this, so you can have some fresh air and a latte to keep you going.
Another helpful feature that can be found is called Everplans. An online service that allows you to create a quick website with information on the funeral, and invite people to view it. This way, everyone has easy access to the information and can be updated about any changes made to the service and events. You can even add a photo and quick message to help personalize the page and make it more heartfelt.
Now, let’s do talk a little about sending notifications on social media. The main way to do this is with Facebook. Instagram isn’t really the app to inform people with, and not enough people use Twitter to worry about it. With Facebook, you can create an event, and invite people to it. People who are invited can mark if they are going, not go, or maybe go. They can post messages on the event page and will get notifications if you make any changes to the event. Like the emails we mentioned, Facebook can also be accessed from practically anywhere with a smartphone, or at home on a computer. It also is a great way to see how many people are coming to the funeral, so you can plan accordingly. You can make the event public or private as well, to limit the people that can know about it. Typically this is more to limit businesses from seeing the event and trying to market to you, instead of keeping certain individuals from attending.
