Eric S. Anderson, Minister of Communications and Technology for the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ recently posted an excellent guide to creating and effectively utilizing your church’s Facebook page. He encourages those congregations that have not yet created a presence on Facebook to do so, especially in light of recent research that shows the majority of Americans age 12 and older now have Facebook accounts. Newcomers will benefit from his step-by-step explanations of how to set up a page, what to include on it, and how to manage it. All readers should pay attention to his list of recommended practices:
- Post Links of Interest Regularly – link to new material on your website, announcements from your partners in ministry, and local news outlets
- Create Photo Albums – photos, particularly of people, tell a particularly compelling story about your church
- Video – while Facebook has its own video service most choose to upload video elsewhere (vimeo, youtube, etc.) then share the link on Facebook
- Events – for larger church events create an Event then use the Update feature to send it to those who Like the Page
- Notifications – recent enhancements have significantly increased the ability of Page Admins to see and respond to activity on the Page
- Insights – review the demographic and use information available to Page Admins
- Liking Other Pages – your Page can “Like” another Page, which results in that Page appearing in the Likes section of your Page
- Suggest to Friends – use the Suggest to Friends function alongside traditional marketing (a link on your church website, information on business cards and letterhead, and the church bulletin)
So What?
All congregations can benefit from being on Facebook . While more churches have websites than Facebook pages, the statistical gap between these two types of online presence is shrinking. Smaller and less technologically savvy congregations are slower to embrace this new opportunity, but with Anderson’s basic how to guide should have all the information needed to create their Page.
- For those congregations already using Facebook
- How many total Pages (and Groups) does your parish have? What ministries are represented? Are there any other ministry groups that would benefit from having a Facebook presence?
- What are some of the most important lessons you have learned about using Facebook? What have you identified as your growing edges?
- For those congregations not yet using Facebook
- Do other churches (of all denominations) in your area have a presence on Facebook? Does your association, conference, synod or network of churches have a Facebook page?
- What is the primary reason your congregation has not created a Page? Could your congregation create one using Anderson’s instructions? What benefits do you see in establishing you congregation’s presence on Facebook?