I’ve been following Savannah Evanoff, Director of Social Media for Ring Ring Marketing, on LinkedIn for over a year now. Her posts are incredibly engaging, clever and always accompanied by a striking photo. While she makes social media seem simple she knows firsthand that funeral homes feel challenged in knowing what to post and how often to post.
Every funeral home wrestles with the same question at some point: how do you show up on social media in a way that actually feels like you. That’s exactly what we explored during this month’s Johnson Consulting Conversations with Savannah.
Savannah’s journalism background taught her something newsrooms know well: even on a slow news day, there’s a story if you know how to ask the right questions. And when a funeral home client says they don’t have a big story to tell, Savannah knows what questions to ask to take the pressure off creating content. It’s all about noticing what’s happening around them that day. What may be a mundane task could tell a very compelling story about being a funeral director.
Savannah shared a simple framework and knowing comes long before creating a content calendar. The five content pillars are: entertain, educate, promote, engage, and inspire. A post explaining what pre-planning means is educational. A behind-the-scenes look at grounds care or even about cleaning is entertainment that also builds connection. The pillars don’t need to be complicated, they just need balance. Savannah’s rule of thumb: aim for roughly even distribution across all five, and you’ll have a well-rounded presence.
I asked Savannah about consistency and what a smaller funeral home should do if they don’t have a dedicated marketing person. Savannah’s advice for firms just starting out: begin with one post a week. That’s a reasonable, sustainable cadence that keeps a page looking active without burning anyone out. If even that feels like too much, she says, be honest with yourself and start with once a month, the real goal is simply not letting a page go dark for years at a time. It’s all about starting a consistent habit and if once a month is all that can be accomplished it counts for something!
We know that behind-the-scenes content for any type of business can garner engagement. But, there’s pressure in team members hoping on camera or producing quality behind-the-scenes content. Savannah’s advice was simple: don’t force, don’t script and let the content happen organically as part of the day, rather than staging a moment just to capture footage. And if you’re curious about whether following social media trends is worth the effort check out the recording. We definitely discuss and Savannah’s perspective may surprise you.
One of the most useful distinctions Savannah offered was the difference between a post built to sell and a post built to build trust. A selling post says, “This is what we offer.” A trust-building post says, “this is who we are.” Facebook, in particular, is a long game. Families aren’t searching social media for pre-arrangement options, but consistent, values-driven posting builds familiarity over time, so that when they are ready, your firm is already a known, trusted name. I recommend checking out Simon Sinek’s videos on YouTube on communicating your WHY. Most businesses focus on telling the WHAT and HOW and spend little time sharing the WHY. Being able to articulate your WHY in person, over the phone, and on social media can help to build trust.
We closed with a topic on everyone’s mind: AI. Savannah’s guidance was clear and grounded. Stay current on each platform’s disclosure requirements, especially around AI-generated images. Use AI to draft and brainstorm, but never let it speak in a family’s or firm’s voice on sensitive topics without human review. And never trust AI’s facts blindly, she shared a personal example of AI confidently insisting a public figure who had died was still alive, until she corrected it with sourced news coverage.
And I added to that discussion by encouraging funeral homes to post real, authentic photos. AI generated images came on hard and fast. They’re still going strong across all platforms. A real photo may just have a lurker or chronic scroller stop and take a hard long look at it and give it a “like”.
Above all, no matter how sophisticated the tools get, empathy and compassion can’t be replicated. That’s the human touch this profession will always require. The equation I share with my Worsham students is Credibility + Empathy = Trust. The time you take to speak empathetically or share content that conveys empathy will always help in building trust.
Be sure and check out the recording. We had several great questions come through the chat feature at the end!
Join us Wednesday, September 9th at 2:00 PM Eastern for the next Johnson Consulting Conversations, when I’ll visit with Vince Roberge, Senior Business Consultant at Johnson Consulting Group, to talk about our upcoming Leadership and Management program.
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