Did you know that 46.1% of people say a website’s design is the number one criterion for discerning the credibility of the company. (Source: Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab.) Though this list is not about websites specifically, a well maintained Facebook page can capitalize on many of the same benefits as your website, Here are my top 10 tips for maintaining a healthy page:
- Verify your Facebook page
- This will make it show up higher in search results.
- Page will be displayed with check mark indicating it is an official page of your institution.
- Merge your page with any existing auto-generated pages
- When people tag or check in to your page they might be you lose the benefit of their friends being directed to your page!
- Someone else might claim the other page and begin operating it as if it is the official page.
- Post often
- Building engagement can be a long and tedious process.
- However, Facebook decides what you will show up in your newsfeed based on algorithms – if you don’t post frequently, Facebook will assume you don’t have anything worthwhile to say!
- One easy way to do this is to follow the pages of church/religious organizations affiliated with your denomination. They often provide a constant stream of appropriate and sharable posts – if you are an Episcopal church and don’t already like The Episcopal Church on Facebook DO IT NOW!
- Make sure your profile picture and cover photo are used effectively (and are high quality!)
- Make sure your profile picture accurately reflects your mission or your official persona. Good examples are your logo, your church building, or perhaps a photo of your ministry in action.
- Use your cover photo to showcase another aspect of what you do – if your profile picture is a logo, make sure your cover photo shows something more personal – the inside of your building, or your faith in action!
- Avoid text in your cover photo – Facebook adjusts the proportions of images depending on where they show up. Be warned that your text WILL get cut off in at least one of these situations!
- Avoid generic or stock images at ALL COSTS! They have no place on your Facebook page (except perhaps in certain ads).
- Make sure you claim and verify your Google business listing.
- This possibly is THE most frequent way people:
- Find directions
- Check when you are open (business hours)
- Get your phone number
- Leave a review (with the exception of sites like Yelp)
- This possibly is THE most frequent way people:
- Consider sponsoring posts
- Not only does Facebook have some of the most powerful advertising tools available at a minimal budget (as little as $30 can make a big impact) it also helps build engagement (see #3).
- Invest in a good camera
- Not strictly social media, but the better quality the pictures you post, the more likely they are to really capture the spirit of an event or build engagement.
- However, bad photos are better than NO photos.
- Actively promote liking & checking in to social media – again, see #4.
- Help make your congregation aware that you are on Facebook and that it IS a significant aspect of the church’s public image. It’s not just a gimmick or a phase!
- Document in pictures the goings on of the church.
- Facebook is much more effective than a website at offering an incredibly broad overview of WHO YOU ARE in just seconds. Make sure you are presenting the fullest range of activities – you never know what it will be that switches someone from casually looking at a facebook page to considering checking you out in person.
- Schedule announcement posts for times when people are most likely to engage.
- Take advantage of Facebook’s “insights” to help you figure out when that is.
BONUS – make sure you utilize your Facebook “call to action” button. There are a number of options but “Contact Us” or “Call Now” are good ones to default to. However, if you have a church app – this is the place to link to it!
