The future of obituaries will be social

In a year in which the death toll from Covid soared to 250,000 in November and funerals have been radically scaled back, the ability to communicate online about the loss of a loved one has never been more valued. 

Extending the reach online via social media has become increasingly important as families look for better ways to reach a  larger universe of friends and acquaintances.  

Newspapers and their partnering software companies have taken note: Facebook is now a critical part of distributing a notice of death. 

It’s an important job; ease of reach means less work for people who are already grieving. In the absence of large services, Facebook is also a way for families to receive support, condolence messages and stories about their loved ones, from people who care, even people who families may not even know. 

For newspapers, using social media to promote obituaries is now a three-legged stool. 

The first leg is the newspaper’s own Facebook page. In addition to distributing obituaries in print and online, newspapers post some of their obituaries in their Facebook newsfeed, so they reach some of the newspaper’s page followers. Families often post a social announcement as well. 

However, Facebook business pages reach less than 10 percent of likes and individuals reach only 40% or less of their friends, according to Facebook’s own data. 

So the second leg of the stool is Facebook targeted obituaries, an upgrade iPublish has made available to newspapers for a small fee, paid for by a price increase on each obituary - an increase that has been welcome due to the value delivered, newspaper proponents say.

Essentially, iPublish’s software turns the obituary into a paid Facebook post and distributes it in the newsfeed. Families can select from a few critical targets, such as employers, schools and civic associations, and multiple cities. This way they can interact with people who were friends and acquaintances from various stages of their loved ones’ life - even people the family did not personally know. 

Funeral homes who use the platform to help families write and place the order, simply include it in the price.

Private parties and call centers access the same DIY software too, although 80% of the ads are taken by the funeral home. 

The third leg for Facebook distribution, new in 2020, is created by Legacy, which owns iPublish, and is the largest provider of online obituaries in the U.S. 

Legacy now offers a separate newspaper-branded page for local obituaries, available free to any Legacy partner. 

The page features a photo and “tidbit” from each obituary, updated automatically every 15 minutes and linking to the full obit on Legacy newspaper partner sites. 

Legacy SVP of Newspaper Affiliate Partnerships, Kim Vander Velde says the page results in a 10 to 15% increase in overall obituary page views for the newspaper, including an average of 12 additional sessions for each obituary. 

The goal is to drive incremental traffic reaching an additional audience. She says the new automated Facebook obituaries page is complementary rather than competitive with the newspaper’s own Facebook feed, and encourages the use of both, leading newspapers to cross-promote with the main FB page.

One of the first newspapers to deploy the automated obituaries page, Birmingham News, saw an immediate sign-up of 1,000 likes on the page.  In September, more than 100,000 people overall visited the new pages increasing social media and referrals.  

So far, it’s a win pulled, literally, from the jaws of death. But one that affords families, newspapers and their funeral home partners a closer relationship.