See the Tuesday Crossroads Facebook page for an example of these principles in action:
- Use a Page, not a Group.
- Amid the flood of information and all the stuff that starts up and fizzles online, be willing to persevere before seeing the fruit - it might take a few months for the site to really work.
- Update regularly and at different times of day.
- Invite people to become a fan regularly.
- Create an integrated web of information - link to stuff from your main church website, link to stuff from your blog and so on.
- Encourage individuals to use the Page - ask them to take photos and post them, ask them to advertsie events using the Page, ask them to share the Page on their profile every now and then.
- Speak about the site as a part of your church life at your church services.
- Make sure you all the Page's wall to show both admin and other people's posts.
- Invite key members to also become admins.
- Make sure you have a Profile image for the page and for any events. Search 'stock photos' if you can't find one. To save upload a flier design PDF as an image, you need to first save it as a JPG or something.
- Make sure your Profile image is 250px wide and high so that it fits as a thumbnail.
- Give people profile updates that they can interact with, for example, ask questions.
- Don't expect the Page to become a central hub of interaction for your church. Don't waste time trying to get Discussion boards happening or anything. It's a public place, not a living room. Embrace it, with its limitations.
- When you create events, disable Videos and Photos unless you are actually gonna post them. It makes the Event page less busy.
- When you create events, check the box 'show in search results' and 'Hide guests who are not attending'.
- Sadly Page owners cannot message all guests to an event. You have to add someone else as 'Events admin' and ask them to do it :-(
