Here are some tips for using Facebook to promote an event at your church
Create a Facebook event
Create a Facebook event for your church event, and invite members of your congregation to attend. This will allow members to RSVP and invite friends, which can help increase attendance. Make sure that you regularly as people to life and follow the church social media accounts.
Use a catchy title and good description
Use a title that is clear and attention-grabbing and make sure to include all the relevant details in the event description. This one is critical because churches are known for using jargon that may not be familiar to people. For instance many churches might have a brand name for a worship night like, Flood. Now that makes sense to people who are part of your church, it might be totally frightening to someone who is invited on Facebook to attend a Flood! Lead with Night of Worship or some other clear name and then use your description to add any additional branding.
Use images and videos
They say a picture is worth 1,000 words and a video is made up of thousands of pictures, so make sure that you use high-quality images and videos to promote your event. This can help make your event more engaging and increase interest. Whenever it is possible, try to have photographers and videographers at your events to capture those moments for future use. Images of your church and your spaces is always preferred over generic stock photography.
Share the event on your church’s Facebook page
Share the event on your church’s Facebook page and make sure to tag any relevant people or organizations that may be interested in attending. The goal of social media is to create some buzz around what you think will impact people, so don’t be afraid to tag other accounts.
Use Facebook Groups
Share the event in any relevant Facebook groups, such as your church’s group or local community groups. Many communities have Facebook groups for neighborhoods, moms groups, clubs, etc. Join those groups as appropriate and then use them as additional places to share your events directly with the community.
Utilize Facebook Live
Live stream the event on Facebook Live if people can join the event while it is in progress. For instance, if you host an afternoon and evening carnival for families, go live on Facebook a few times throughout the event and show what is happening and offer people the chance to come down and join you. This kind of “real time” engagement can be a powerful way to get an immediate response.
Utilize Facebook ads
Organic reach (meaning when people see your content without having to pay for views) is the ideal, but many times we can use boosted posts and ads to enhance our reach into the community. Utilize Facebook ads to reach a larger audience by targeting specific demographics, interests and locations.
Use Facebook analytics
There are tons of metrics that Facebook will provide you to understand who is engaging with your content, and who is your audience. You can use Facebook analytics to track the engagement and reach of your event promotion. Use this data to optimize your promotion strategy and make adjustments as needed.
