December 2021

Page A10 DECEMBER 2021 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS Se c t i on A Funeral Directors Research,Inc. AMRA INSTRUMENT, LLC 623 N. Tower (P.O. Box 359) Centralia, WA 98531 “the shorter the supply line the better off you are” WEB DIRECT GIFT & PRICING TM ® www.amrainstruments.com www.preproomdirect.com Bay Memorials 321 S. 15 th St. • Escanaba, MI 49829 • (906) 786-2609 • Fax (906) 786-2692 Zerbel’s www.baymemorialsbabycaskets.com PROPORTIONALLY SIZED FOR MISCARRIED, STILLBORN & NEWBORN BABIES Burial Cradle caskets SM Available in 10”, 20”, 30” allowing you to tastefully care for even the smallest baby with all the compassion every parent desires for as low as $46.00 Meta-What? What’s Going on With Facebook? By Jason Troyer, PhD Facebook Made Easy cable news predicting the quick demise of Facebook. This doesn’t mean that Facebook will last forever. But the current statistics strongly suggest that your funer- al home or cemetery should have an active Facebook page so you can reach the huge number of Americans over 50 who spend hours a week there. If you have fur- ther questions about Facebook, Meta, and other news reports, feel free to reach out to me at DrJasonTroyer@ gmail.com. Are People Leaving Facebook? The simple answer is “no”. According to estimates from a Statista.com report in August of 2021, Facebook has over 300 million users in the United States. Furthermore, current projects suggest that Facebook will continue to grow for at least the next 6 years. While it is true that Facebook is not attracting teens as new users, Facebook is still the overwhelmingly dom- inant social media platform for adults in America. Ac- cording to a Pew Research Center report in 2021, 73% of 50-64 year-olds and 50% of all Americans over 65 use Facebook. For these age groups, no other social media platform comes close to being used as much. In short, Facebook matches up perfectly with the demographic that funeral homes and cemeteries want to target: Ameri- cans over 50 years old. What Does This Mean for My Business’s Facebook Page? In short, this doesn’t change anything for you or your business’s Facebook page. While Facebook’s name change made a lot of headlines, it really isn’t anything new. Did you know that Google renamed its parent company to Alphabet in 2015? This is more about structuring a huge multi-faceted business and not necessarily wanting to be known simply as a social media company. It’s also not really something that makes a difference in people’s daily lives. You are not going to see “Meta” re- place “Facebook” at the top of your Facebook page. What most Facebook users want to know is if many of their friends and family are still on Facebook (answer: yes!), can they still belong to their Facebook groups (answer: yes!), and is it still a way to stay connected to their local community (answer: yes!). This is why we haven’t seen a drastic change in Facebook users despite newspapers and Over the last month Facebook has been in the news quite a bit. It would be natural to have questions about what is going on and if these events have any impact on your funeral home or cemetery’s Facebook page. I have even had people ask me if they should take down their business’s Facebook page. This month I will pro- vide my point of view on what is going on and what, if any, changes you should make. Why did Facebook change their name to Meta? Facebook started as a relatively simple way to create a personal online profile and connect to other people. Since it was created in 2004, Facebook has grown to be valued at around $500 billion. Over the last 17 years, Facebook has purchased over 75 companies. Most of these companies you have never heard of, but several you likely have. Perhaps most prominent was their $1 billion purchase of Instagram . But they also purchased WhatsApp and a company called Oculus that creates virtual reality headsets and games. Therefore, Facebook (the company) is not just fo- cused on their Facebook platform. Instead, they are positioning themselves to be a big player in the fu- ture of virtual reality and all types of social media. To reflect this larger vision beyond just Facebook pages, they decided to rename the parent company to Meta – which is supposed to be short for Metaverse. The com- pany hopes that the Metaverse is the future of online social and workplace networks and they believe it will incorporate virtual reality. Are they right? Is this a good business move? I have no idea if focusing on creating the Metaverse is a good business move or not. But none of these decisions have created any significant changes to how the Facebook platform works. 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 profes- sor, and therapist. He helps funeral homes and cemeteries connect with their communities through Facebook content and grief support materials. He frequently provides community presentations, profes- sional 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 tutorials and learn more at www.JasonTroyer.com. F U N E R A L H O M E & C E M E T E R Y N E W S w w w . N o m i s P u b l i c a t i o n s . c o m Monthly Columns online at Legacy Concierge Announces a Promotional Partnership with Argos Funeral Services SANTA FE,NM— CEO Betsy Ehrenberg has an- nounced that Argos Funeral services, based in Cali- fornia, will incorporate the Legacy Concierge suite of services into their offerings for their clientele. Ehren- berg states, “We are the leading service that helps define, maintain and preserve the Digital After Life for our cli- ents, globally. Legacy Concierge builds a unique connec- tion to our clientele by bridging the gap between estate planning and the location, control, curation and collec- tion of your Digital After Life.” Argos co-owner, Judah Ben-Hur adds, “We are in the trust category and our reputation has been built on help- ing families anticipate and create financial arrangements with our funeral homes to pay, in advance of need, the costs of funeral, cremation, and burial. Anyone, regard- less of age or health, can set up our pre-need trust pro- gram. Planning enables you to make careful decisions, based on your choices and budget, and spares your loved ones the burden of making choices, and paying for, the merchandise, location, and details of your final servic- es. With Legacy Concierge, we can offer a new set of ser- vices that also assist in their planning. We are excited about the partnership and being among the first organi- zations to implement this program.” Ehrenberg states, “For families, we provide empathetic hope and trusted guidance. For affinity businesses, we can ease the transition of a decedent by protecting their cli- ent’s assets and identity, finding hidden wealth, and clos- ing down necessary accounts, both financial and social.” Legacy Concierge is a trustworthy advisor in the na- scent space of estate administration in the digital age. A leading authority, Legacy Concierge is there as an ally and additional service to guide families creating a plan for a meaningful Digital After Life as a gift to the next genera- tion. Legacy Concierge wraps their clients in empathetic arms to provide comprehensive services that help guide families and loved ones through their grief and empower them to manage the decedents Digital After Life. Legacy Concierge creates a positive impact, saves time and mon- ey through their affordable and accessible planning. Ehrenberg closes, “We protect all that you’re worth with peace of mind, closure and savings. We are so pleased that Argos understands this and can now help their clients in new ways.” Servicing all cities inSouthernCalifornia, their profession- al staff has over thirty-three combined years of experience caring for families. Offering a sensitive and compassion- ate response to everyone’s needs, regardless of faith. They create a personalized funeral ceremony that expresses the individuality and unique traits of their loved one. Extraor- dinary requests and challenges are welcomed. They offer a unique, personal service that is available 24/7. Their pro- fessional staff will maintain their personal and business privacy. For more information, call 424-383-1990 or visit www.argoscremationsandburials.com. Legacy Concierge LOCKYT empowers families and loved ones to manage a decedent’s Digital After Life (B2C) and scales seamlessly for professional trust officers and family offices managers (B2B) to provide additional posthumous services for their clients. LOCKYT compre- hensive services bridge the gap between estate planning and estate probate management guiding families and loved ones through their grief by locating, controlling, curating, and collecting assets in an estate. Founded in 2017 by Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Betsy Ehrenberg, Legacy Concierge who discovered the prob- lematic issues around estate probate as she was advis- ing a recent widow. Through extensive research in law and finance Legacy Concierge was established to pro- vide a service product to preserve estate value, minimize financial and emotional loss after death. For more in- formation, email Betsy@legacy-concierge.com or visit www.legacy-concierge.com. www.nomispublications.com News Funeral Home & Cemetery online