Evan Cox EMC Consulting

Most marketing is a frustrating waste of money that never impacts the bottom line. As a StoryBrand Certified Guide, Evan owns and... read more

Attending Facebook’s First Community Boost Event

Today kicked off Facebook’s Community Boost Tour, a campaign with stops in thirty cities, centered around training and empowering local nonprofits and small businesses to harness all that the social media giant has to offer.

After attending, I’d like to provide some highlights to recap the day and provide some thoughts on how everything discussed translates to us as church marketers.

• During the Q & A sessions, too many people spent precious time asking questions they could have easily googled. Facebook took time to come to our community and far too few questions really took advantage of that opportunity which was a prudent reminder that it’s not often that you get a good answer without a good question.

Facebook Ads

• The 3 things that were the clarion call of all Facebook staff when talking about ads were:
  • Create Your Goal
  • Find the Right Audience
  • Measure Your Success

We’ve all most likely used some form or variation of that process in a whole variety of projects, so it’s reassuring to remember that tackling Facebook Ads doesn’t need to be as intimidating as we often make it out to be in our heads.

• Take advantage of Pixel to connect your ads to your website, Audience Network to expand your reach to places your audience visits beyond Facebook itself, and other resources inside Ads Manager like Split-Testing to simplify that 3 step process.

Blue Print

Facebook staff placed special emphasis on a free training program called Blue Print designed to be a resource for nonprofits and small business owners to become more proficient with tools like the ones mentioned above.

Other Points of Interest:

• One presenter coined the phrase,“You’re going to have the most success when you build a targeted message for a targeted audience”. Of course this is relevant for a whole host of areas in life, but how on point is this idea for us as church leaders? As we approach Easter weekend, I can’t help but think, “am I working to develop a targeted message for my church’s target audience?”. How about you?
• I asked one of Facebook’s engineers about the recently announced algorithm shift and what it means for churches. He talked about Facebook’s drive to make better products that are ultimately in the best interest of people. When I mentioned our Church Marketers Facebook Group, he said keeping driving home the point that engagement is king. This is the engine they are using to pursue deeper community.
• Is your content thumb-stopping? I loved this! Your content is constantly competing against everything else your reader sees. Are we creating things as church marketers that simply make people pause?

A Few Eye-Popping Stats Mentioned:

• 2.07 Billion people access Facebook on a mobile device each month; 90% of a Facebook user’s time on the platform is on that mobile device.
• 68% of people surveyed by Facebook say mobile devices help them find out what’s going on in their community.
• In 2017, 330 Million people messaged a small business on Facebook for the first time.
• 700 Million people use Facebook events monthly.
• 1 Billion people use a Facebook Group monthly.
• 700 Million people use Instagram, again on a monthly basis.
• 75% of all mobile data in 2020 will be video-based.

I took gobs of other notes, but in the coming weeks Facebook is actually providing attendees their presentations and follow up resources so as that info comes in we’ll work to make some of that available as well!

Feeling inspired by this article? Possibly overwhelmed by the task at hand? If you’re not already a member of of Church Marketing University the biggest “proof is in the pudding” moment was sitting at today’s community boost realizing that every single topic discussed is being addressed through one of our current courses. Have questions? Let us know!