Should My Church Join the Facebook Bandwagon?

We have a couple of workshops coming up soon, developed just for ministry-based organizations and churches, that focus on the basics of Facebook and then some of the more advanced areas of Facebook.

A common question I receive when we’re developing websites and social media plans for ministries and other faith-based organizations is Why? Is it really necessary that I jump on the Facebook bandwagon?

You might be surprised at my answer.

No, you don’t have to jump on the Facebook bandwagon. In fact, jumping on the bandwagon simply because you were told it was the right thing to do is wrong. We are consulting right now with several companies and churches (upgrading their web presence, creating a social media toolkit for them) who were diving head long into Facebook with no plan and no reasoning.

Facebook (um, or really any social media application) should not be used if:

1) It doesn’t support your objectives and mission.
2) You don’t know or can’t figure out if your prospects and congregation use it.
3) You don’t have the people to follow-up with questions, prayer requests, etc.
4) You don’t have content to share (status reports, articles, events, video, etc.).
5) You don’t have a policy to govern your use of social media.
6) You’re not willing to invest some time into figuring out these things.

The Facebook “bandwagon” should be a Facebook plan. Facebook should support your overall web presence, your mission and your vision. There should never be a single thing that you do as a church or ministry that does not offer a personal connection, share communication or call someone to action.

If you want to have your own toolkit to help you develop a plan, check out the ministry starter toolkit.