If you currently use a Facebook Page to communicate with your ministry partners, I would suggest considering the following:
- How is the Facebook similar and different from your email communications? Do they complement each other or share the same information?
- How much money did you raise directly or indirectly from the Page in the last 6 months?
- What percentage of your supporters interacted with you on that page in the last month (liked or commented)? If you use an email service that tells you how many people open each e-newsletter, how does your open rate compare to the amount of people that you reach on Facebook?
I do not recommend Pages because the majority of staff do not share unique content, or share the same information on email and in paper, which diminishes the personal connection they have with some of their partners, and leads to decreased support.
Facebook Pages can be an effective channel for MPD. When creating them staff need to be aware:
- That on average 1/500 updates from a Facebook Page make it to a fan’s newsfeed.
- That 90% of people who like a page never return to it, and only view information from that page if it’s on their newsfeed.
So when they saw their Page has 100 fans, that does not mean 100 people see their updates.
It just seems for most staff it’s better to add their partners as friends from their profile, create a list of those people, and send information to them from there. Click here to see how to create a Facebook List.
That way they do not have to like a page to receive updates, and receive information from a person rather than an organization, creating a more personal experience.
Having a list also provides the opportunity to “listen” more intentionally to what their partners are talking about, and even like/comment on updates more efficiently and strategically than waiting for their updates to appear on their newsfeed.