Open Thread: What Churches Have Great Facebook Pages?

February 17, 2011 in Social Media with 12 Comments

I’m borrowing a page from Lifehacker here: Tell me who has an engaging church or ministry Facebook page.

I want examples that you’ve personally built, interacted with or seen. Leave the URL in the comments section below and maybe a note about why you liked it, what you liked about it, etc.

2011 is expected to the year that organizations begin to get a strong and standardized feel for social media ROI. I want to do some anecdotal research of my own with your help!

An example I’ll share is Soul City Church. I had the chance to talk with Soul staffer Kurt Duggleby earlier this week and he pointed me to their page. It’s interactive, informative—heck, it even got a mention from Smashing Mag! Well done guys!

So tell me…. Who is doing Facebook well? Ready? GO!

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12 Responses to “Open Thread: What Churches Have Great Facebook Pages?”

  1. Jason Vana February 17, 2011 at 10:14 am #

    Well, it’s definitely not as good as Soul City’s FB page, but I’ve been working on the FB page for my college ministry, trying to get it more interactive. Here’s the link: http://www.facebook.com/Igniteyourcampus

    I also handle the FB page for the local community college in my area. We’ve done a LOT with it and have some great interaction. Here’s the link: http://www.facebook.com/carlsandburgcollege

    • Justin Wise February 21, 2011 at 9:38 am #

      This is great work, Jason. Way to get started and get something moving!

  2. Derek February 17, 2011 at 1:35 pm #

    I love how Eagle Brook Church just north of the Twin Cities has their page laid out. Very helpful in finding info and it looks nice!

  3. Bryan Person February 17, 2011 at 1:56 pm #

    Very timely question, Justin – I just asked the very same question the other day on Twitter!

    Here’s a recommendation I got as a reply:
    http://www.facebook.com/pages/the-Stirring/112246878814861

    My favorite church Facebook Page is from LifeChurch.TV
    http://www.facebook.com/lifechurchtv

    Tony Steward and the gang there do an excellent job of mixing in different types of content, especially video. But what they also do really well is create status updates that are designed to probe and engage. And with the way that the Facebook EdgeRank algorithm works, that’s really needed in order to maximize the number of fans that will actually SEE the updates from the church in their News Feeds.

    I help manage the Facebook Page for my church in Austin: http://www.facebook.com/HCBCNW
    Our content is a mix of sermons and excerpts from the lead pastor, other short videos form different ministries, “announcements” and requests from the church (though I try to keep those to a minimum, since those tend not to work very well in Facebook), and questions/updates designed to stimulate discussion and responses, and where fans can support and help each other (prayer requests, etc.)

    In my look across the landscape of church Facebook Pages, I find that many of them are being used as a straight broadcast channel. This really isn’t the best use of Facebook, where people generally come to share and exchange stories, photos, quips, etc. And as noted above, that’s also not tapping into how the Facebook algorithm distributes updates, so it’s likely that only a tiny percentage of a Page’s will ever even so those updates.

    I’d really like to see more churches re-imagine their communications efforts on Facebook. There’s tremendous opportunity there!

    P.S. You’re doing great work with the Lutheran Church of Hope Facebook Page:
    http://www.facebook.com/HopeWDM

    You have a knack for this whole “engagement” and “being social” thing :)

    • Justin Wise February 21, 2011 at 9:40 am #

      Wow. Great resource all around. Isn’t it fun to see how different churches are making their own little communities out of this amazing resource? Thanks for pointing out a few that I hadn’t heard of!

  4. Scott February 18, 2011 at 12:06 am #

    I run the page and social media for Thrive Church. Our aim has been all along to not be just a page that posts scripture references and cheesey sayings. We tend to talk about life, current events and etc. In December we saw a boom in fans of about 8000 in less than a week! was crazy.. Check us out.. We have alot of revamping of graphics going on, but we’re 100% volunteer run so it’s a bit slow going.. http://www.fb.com/thrivechurchtx

    • Justin Wise February 21, 2011 at 9:41 am #

      This is a great page. Clean, interesting, fun to look at…. Keeps my attention! For a volunteer page, this is very, very well done.

  5. Jay Reynolds February 19, 2011 at 11:39 am #

    I’ve worked on this facebook page for the middle school ministry at my church, hope community church Raleigh, nc. Our main weekly outreach program is called Hazardous. Check it out.

    http://www.facebook.com/hope.middle.school

    • Justin Wise February 21, 2011 at 9:42 am #

      Nicely done, sir! This is so encouraging to see so many great examples like this. Thanks for the link.

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