Recently Prenger Solutions Group conducted a Catholic parish survey assessing the giving practices and social media usage in Catholic churches. Here’s just one fact from that survey: parishes with 1+ Facebook followers per household saw their offertory rise by 10% last year. All other parishes saw a 1% decline. How’s that for motivation?
Here are two way to gain Catholic parish Facebook followers:
- Edit your page information: Every year Facebook adds more fields to your information page. There may be new fields you haven’t seen or old field that just need updating. You can edit or add business hours, contact information, your founding date, mission statement, and your Catholic parish history. Perhaps most important is the “Categories” section, where you can choose three descriptors for your church. We’d suggest you choose Religious Organization, Catholic Church, and Christian Church. This will help people searching for a church in your area find you.
- Invite Friends: By combing through your personal friends list and inviting others to like your Catholic parish page, you can pick up a large number of followers. First, search through your friends for fellow parishioners. Next, add them to the list. Last, edit the default message Facebook gives you. Try something like this: “Like our parish on Facebook for uplifting content and news about parish events!” Considering asking all parish staff members to do the same and watch your numbers increase. You can even make it a friendly competition to see which staff member can get the most friends to follow your page!
Here’s a quick screenshot to get you to the right section of your parish Facebook page.
Your next step? Start working with Facebook Insights to see how to engage your Catholic parish Facebook followers. It’s not hard to get them to engage with your parish on a new level.
