Social Media

Facebook is still a widely used platform and so a great place to have a church presence. A Facebook Page is the public face of your church and can be a useful alternative (or addition) to a church website. A great place to start.

Ease of use: medium
Target Audience: Baby Boomers through to older Millenials
Best for: all churches

Facebook Groups:
Facebook groups are perfect for connecting with your existing community. How many of your congregation are already on Facebook? If lots are, then a Facebook group provides a space for building relationships and connecting through the week.

Target Audience: existing community
Best for: internal communication

[note – Facebook updated it’s desktop design in 2020, and some of these guides have screenshots from the ‘old’ design, indicated by the words “Classic Facebook”]

How to get started on Facebook (for individuals)
Level: Very Easy | 11 pages | written 2020
This is a super simple user’s guide to Facebook for beginners in our Church. It is a guide for individuals who are interested in accessing church content on Facebook, or wanting to connect with friends and family, but not confident with setting up an account or using it once they have done.

Step by Step: How to set up a Church Facebook Page
Level: Easy | 6 pages | updated 2021
This guide is for beginners and walks you through each step in creating a Facebook Page for your church.

Best Practices for Church Facebook Pages
Level: Easy to Advanced | 2 pages | updated 2021
This guide is for those who manage existing Church Facebook Pages and provides practical advice on how to get the best out of them, ranging from simple to more advanced tips.

Guide to going live on your Church Facebook Page
Level: Easy | 8 pages | written 2020
This guide is for beginners to provide a step-by-step for how to go live on your Church Facebook Page. Includes guidance for doing this using a windows computer (not Macs) or any phone/tablet.

Guide to recording a video for your Church Facebook Page
Level: Easy | 9 pages | written 2020
This guide is for beginners to provide a step-by-step for how to record a video at home and then how to upload it to your Church Facebook Page. Includes guidance for doing this using a windows computer (not Macs) or any phone/tablet.

How to use a Church Facebook Page (Classic Facebook)
Level: Easy | 3 pages | written 2019
This guide is for those who haven’t used a Facebook Page before, but have just been given admin/editor access for a Church Page which is already set up. Walking you through how to get to the page and post on it. Some more advanced tips are included at the end.

Guide to using Facebook Pages for Evangelism
Level: Intermediate | 4 pages | written 2020
This guide is to provide tips on using this communication tool effectively for evangelism for those who already have, or help run, a church Facebook page.

Guide to using your personal Facebook profile for Evangelism
Level: Easy | 3 pages | written 2020
This guide for those in our churches who already use Facebook provides tips on using this communication tool effectively for personal evangelism.

It’s easy to get confused between the three different options you have on Facebook. In simple terms, a ‘profile’ is for individuals, a ‘page’ is a public profile for businesses, charities or churches, and a ‘group’ is a community-based feature where small groups of people can communicate together. 

Facebook Profiles
A Facebook Profile is created when you set up an account on Facebook as an individual. If you’re on Facebook yourself and have set up an account, then you have a Facebook Profile. In the words of Facebook: “A profile is a place on Facebook where you can share information about yourself, such as your interests, photos, videos, current city and hometown. To see your profile, click or tap your name or profile picture at the top of Facebook.”

It is designed for individuals in mind – it’s for one person, where you can add other people as friends, and can choose to share personal information such as gender, age, relationship status and more. Facebook accounts shouldn’t be accessed by more than one person, and a personal profile shouldn’t be passed from one person to another. As such they shouldn’t be set up for a Church.

Note: under Facebook’s Terms of Service you should only have one Facebook account as an individual and shouldn’t create a second account for yourself for work purposes. Instead, for those who work with young / vulnerable people, you should adjust your personal privacy settings so only a small amount can be viewed publicly. You have complete control over what information is visible to others on Facebook and can restrict it as much you need (including not allowing others to add you as a friend).

Facebook Pages
In the words of Facebook: “You must have a profile to create a Page or help manage one. Pages are places on Facebook where artists, public figures, businesses, brands, organizations and non-profits can connect with their fans or customers. When someone likes or follows a Page on Facebook, they can start seeing updates from that Page in their News Feed.”

Facebook Pages are great for Churches as we are an organisation that wants to connect with our ‘customers’ and communities – this is exactly what Facebook Pages are designed to facilitate. Facebook Pages give you many additional features you don’t get with a personal profile. Multiple people can be given access to the Page and can be assigned ‘roles’ depending what they need to do. Think of your Facebook Page as the front porch of your church, it is the public face of your church and can be a useful addition (or alternative) to your website.

A common confusion for Facebook Pages, is that you need someone to monitor posts to the page. Whilst this is true for Facebook Groups (see below), it is not the case for Facebook Pages. Visitors can send private messages to your page (if enabled), and they can send comments to your Page (if enabled), but only you control what is posted on your actual page for others to see.

Facebook Groups
In the words of Facebook: “You must have a profile to create a group or help manage one. Groups are a place to communicate about shared interests with certain people. You can create a group for anything — your family reunion, your after-work sports team, your book club — and customize the group’s privacy settings depending on who you want to be able to join and see the group. When you join a group on Facebook, you start seeing content from that group in your News Feed.”

A Facebook Group might be suitable for your church but remember that it is best used for internal communication. They are great for your congregation to communicate with each other during the week and promoting discipleship (e.g. you could have a group for your church house group, messy church, toddler group, youth group etc.) but they are not great for inviting visitors to join – as the process of having to ask to ‘join’ your church group is off putting and can give the impression that your church is an exclusive ‘club’. How many of your existing congregation are already on Facebook?  If lots are, then a church Facebook Group provides a space for building relationships and connecting through the week. If a Facebook Page is your front porch, then your Facebook Group is the living room.

You can also join and post in a Facebook Group as your church page (rather than your personal profile), and link your group to your page, to make it easier for people to find. Do be aware, if you create a group for your church or church group, you will need a few admins of the group who can monitor posts and approve requests to join.

More info here: www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/church-england-digital-labs/labs-learning/facebook-pages-vs-profiles-vs-groups

These additional topics may be of interest, as they directly or indirectly relate to Social Media:

Graphic Design Help

Digital Discipleship

Digital Strategy

Digital Safeguarding

Contact our Digital Communications Enabler:

Elliot Crippen
digital@yorkshirenemethodist.org