Have you ever posted something on Facebook that you thought would really resonate with your followers? If your church has any kind of presence on this particular social media network, you have been in this situation. There are many ways to track how your page is doing in the wide world of social media metrics, but here are some of the most important aspects to track for your ministry:
Audience
Let’s start with the people you are actually trying to reach and engage, also known as your audience. Once your ministry’s page reaches at least 25 fans, you are able to access a portion of Facebook pages known as Page Insights. When you click on the People tab, you will see a few different options, including Your Fans. This section allows you to see the age range, gender breakdown and locations of your fans. You can also start to learn what is going to resonate with your followers. If 25% of your fans are 18-24 year old females, posting a meme of John Wayne inviting them to your cowboy themed church cookout is probably not the best way to reach them.
Engagement – Shares – Views
Once you begin tailoring your content to reach your audience, you can begin tracking the progress. Under the Overview, Reach and Visits tabs, you can click around to see what has performed best on your page. The Overview tab breaks down individual recent posts with reach and engagement numbers, and allows you to boost a post (a paid boost) to have this seen by more people. All of this data can be easily downloaded to an Excel sheet, and you can track your metrics each month which can help with your church management.
Time of Day
Another beneficial tool on your church’s Facebook insights page is the Posts tab. It is easy to realize you have not posted in some time, and you feel an urgency to get something up on your page. The error in this is not posting during the times your audience will actually be more likely to see your post. With this tab, you can see data for a week that allows you to see when your audience is on Facebook. If your church is at the point where you have a content calendar and preschedule your posts, this will be the most utilized tool in the Facebook insights toolbox.
Ad Measurements
If you are paying for your posts to be boosted, creating an advertisement to gain more followers or developing an ad to generate more clicks to your church’s website, Facebook ads can give you a nice return on investment. Depending on the type of ad, your insights will give you some extensive metrics to download and track how your ads are actually performing. You can pause, edit or delete an ad if needed, and it can really help your church to reach a targeted audience and gain more visitors during the summer months.
How active is your ministry on Facebook? We’d love to hear about your experience!
