Edit: Since making this screen cast, Facebook has changed the way their Groups product works. The biggest change is that you can no longer send a direct message to a group. All of the principles for deciding when to use a group versus a page still apply though.
Between pages, groups, and personal profiles, there are a lot of ways for a Christian ministry to promote community and engagement on Facebook. Understanding the nuances between the three can be a little tricky though. Here’s a screen cast to help you get started.
Ideally, to maximize your online presence, you and your ministry should use all three. Here’s how.
Personal Profile:
- personal connections on a one-to-one level.
Pages (Previously known as Fan Pages):
A many-to-many engagement level. Mass public communication. This is where you would engage and communicate with EVERYONE in a movement or campus. This also includes people who are casually involved, or are just curious and want to explore your ministry first.
Other advantages to a page over a group or profile include:
- A corporate voice: Communication can come from the organization, which is constant, rather than depending on the names and faces of ministry leaders which has the potential to change regularly
- Customization: Bring unique functions and a unique look to your page with customized tabs and images. For example, you can use a custom tab for conference registrations.
- Custom URL: Helps build the name and credibility of your ministry
Groups:
These are optimized for more specialized communication to a smaller and less public group. This is where you would engage and communicate with smaller core groups of people like, for example, your lead volunteers or student leaders. They can also be helpful for organizing Bible study groups. This can be very useful in communicating information that you wouldn’t necesarily want to broadcast to the masses, like time or location changes for your next planning meeting, because it’s not applicable to everyone.
Check out these other resources for tips on how to maximize your ministry’s presence on Facebook
