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Ruiz-McPherson is a virtu-al marketing consultant andpublicity assistant providingmarketing and publicity con-sulting services to deathcare establishments as theDeath Care Publicist.

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She writes the MarketingMisfit Blog and produces abi-weekly e-newsletter aboutmarketing.

www.mayraruiz.com www.mayraruiz.com/ deathcare

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Her experience includesserving as assistantdirector of marketing for theUniversity of Maryland’sProfessional StudiesDivision, director of Webcommunications forATM/debit network STARand director of marketing fora legal technology firm anda health care facility in theWashington, D.C., metroarea.Ruiz-McPherson wasalso communications activi-ties manager for the ICCFAfrom October 2007 to May2008.

hat were you doing in early October?Do you remember? I was preparing fora workshop,having my Jeep’s back tires replaced and spending a weekend with rela-tives in Harrisburg,Pennsylvania.Around that same time,somewhere in Cypress,Texas,Cassandra Baldovinos—a self-described“mommy,graphic designer,photographer andawesome wife to a more awesome hubby”—whonormally would have been doing any number of things such as chores,watching television orspending time with her children,instead chose tosit down at her computer and tell everyone in heronline networking circles that she finds it “kindof creepy when funeral homes have commer-cials.”Around the same time,Megan of Ruston,Louisiana,told her network of contacts,“Funeralhomes are awkward.”And Ivy Mattio,a market-ing and advertising professional living inJacksonville,Florida,told her network that she“cannot believe funeral homes charge for everysingle tiny thing”and is “surprised they don’tcharge for the oxygen we’re breathing.”Here are a few more things people out thereare saying about death care operations:

Funeral homes

• “Funeral homes are always so sad :(”• “Last night reminded me that i hate the smellof funeral homes.”• “funeral homes...bleh. too much death,notenough life.”

Cemeteries

• “Wishing it was 3:00 so I can head out to theLadies Photowalk at the Salt Lake cemetery ... soexcited!”• “Off to the last game of soccer :( and then tovisit the cemetery—it’s the anniversary of mymother’s death :( then off to shop :)”• “Just found out that Harry Houdini is buriedat Green Lawn Cemetery in Columbus,OH.”

Crematories

• “I just received some junk mail that statedproudly on the outside of the envelope:‘Free Pre-Paid Cremation!’WTH?”• “Dad didn’t even leave enough in his bank account to pay for his cremation. Classic.”• “Billboard advertising ‘complete cremation’for $995. What would an incomplete one cost,Iwonder?”Am I a mind reader?

Do you know what people are sayingabout your cemetery, crematory or funeral home online?If you don’t know, how can you respond?

by MayraRuiz-McPherson

mayra@mayraruiz.com

ICCFA MAGAZINEAUTHOR SPOTLIGHT

MARKETING/TECHNOLOGY

Reading the hearts and minds of your targetaudience through online social networks

LinkedIn pages for Nevin Mann,president and CEO of West Laurel Hill CemeteryCos.,Philadelphia,Pennsylvania;Bill McQueen,president,Anderson-McQueenFuneral & Cremation Centers,Tampa/St.Petersburg,Florida;and Tony Colson,president of Wilbert Funeral Services,Forest Park,Illinois.

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No,I can’t read people’s thoughts andno,last time I checked,I was not psychic.In fact,I don’t know any of the people whomade these thought-provoking comments.So how do I know these were their exactthoughts and opinions?Because each of those people postedtheir comments via Twitter for the Web 2.0world at large to read sometime aroundOctober 8,2008. And how would I knowthat? Because my new LinkedIn CompanyBuzz application tells me so.Let’s pause for a moment and explainwhat LinkedIn and Twitter are and how theyare used.

Social networks 101

LinkedIn and Twitter are two of today’smost popular online social networks. Theinformation shared here should provide anydeath care professional with a solid,basicunderstanding of each of these powerfulWeb networking tools.

LinkedIn is an online network of morethan 30 million (and increasing every day)experienced professionals from around theworld,representing 150 industries. Whenyou join (for free),you create a profile thatsummarizes your professional accomplish-ments. Your profile helps you find and befound by former colleagues,clients andpartners. You can add more connections byinviting trusted contacts to join LinkedInand connect to you.According to

www.linkedin.com

,throughyour LinkedIn network you can:• Find potential clients,service providers,subject experts and partners who come rec-ommended.• Be found for business opportunities.• Search for great jobs.• Discover inside connections that canhelp you land jobs and close deals.• Post and distribute job listings.• Find high-quality passive candidates.• Get introduced to other professionalsthrough the people you know.For an eight-minute basic video tutorialon how to get started on LinkedIn,visit

http://tinyurl.com/5fh37k

About LinkedIn’s “company buzz”application:

Every second thousands of people are sending out messages aboutspecific topics and companies throughTwitter. Company Buzz lets you tap intothis information flow to find relevant com-ments about your company and profession.Install the application and instantly seewhat people are saying about your ceme-tery,crematory or funeral home and deathcare in general.

Twitter

According to the Twitter FAQ:“Twitteris for staying in touch and keeping up withfriends no matter where you are or whatyou’re doing.”That doesn’t really tell us very much.Wikipedia says,“Twitter is a free social net-working and micro-blogging service thatallows users to send updates via SMS,instant messaging,e-mail,to the TwitterWeb site,or any one of the multitude of Twitter applications now available.”In layperson’s terms,Twitter is an onlinesocial network that allows you to share asmall (up to a 140 characters) message withyour network of friends.Since Twitter launched more than a yearago,it has become a valuable tool for busi-ness use. There are many opportunities toleverage Twitter’s capabilities in a waythat’s relevant and provides added value.According to

www.socialmediatoday.com,

itcan be used for:• Customer relations.• Crisis communications (opportunity torespond immediately before it escalates toblogs and other channels).• Crowd sourcing (product development,survey customer satisfaction).• Building brand and communication(brand presence,offer assistance).• Lead generation.• Customer references.• Announcing new services,coupons andinformation.• Professional networking.An excellent primer video (also eightminutes in length) providing a fundamen-tal understanding of all things Twitter canbe found at

http://tinyurl.com/5r2udm

Are you socially networked yet?

I realize that a good portion of the peoplerunning funeral homes,cemeteries and cre-matories are not as Internet savvy as theycould be. I also realize that some of thosepeople believe Internet marketing or onlinesocial networking of any kind is a completewaste of time if it doesn’t immediately pro-duce revenue.Not long ago I listened as a cemeterysales manager told a conference audience of more than 100 people that the Web,as far asdeath care marketing is concerned,is allhype and not worth the bother.Despite the profession’s seemingly slowadoption of—and even resistance to—manyof today’s Web 2.0 tools such as blogs,social networks,multimedia,documentsharing and widgets,death care establish-ments seeking to effectively streamline theirmarketing efforts can no longer afford to siton the social network sidelines.Establishing a presence on social net-

MARKETING/TECHNOLOGY

LinkedIn pages for ICCFA 2009 convention speakers Rob Heppell,Mike Turkiewicz,Dan Isard,Melissa Johnson and Dan Katz.