Facebook Fun with Colby Reade - Part 2

Facebook Fun with Colby Reade – Part 2
 

First of all, to my friends who are Methonerds (it’s a word, look it up), have a wonderful time at your United Methodist Annual Conferences all around the country. Do good work, have fun and engage in holy conferencing!   Now, back to the exciting conclusion of “Facebook Fun with Colby Reade” – I bet the suspense has been killing you.   Last week I highlighted some of the information Colby Reade, President of the Oregon Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America and communications consultant to non-profits and small business start-ups, shared with me in an interview. We talked primarily about the use of Facebook. There was so much good info that it couldn’t be contained in one post.

Colby Reade Assuming that, as suggested last week, you have your Public Relations (PR) Plan in place that highlights your goals, strategies and desired outcomes – you can move on to ways to make your PR dreams come true through Facebook. In a major “aha” moment, Colby made it clear that there is a difference between an individual’s Facebook account and an account that you set up as a business or non-profit. The difference is in the Facebook algorithm (super-secret rules that FB sets up to track your business account). And it’s how FB pushes you to buy advertising.   For example, right now if you place a regular FB post, using only words (and maybe a picture), your post will reach maybe 10% of the people who have “liked” your page. “Boost” the post for $5 or $20 (and designate some demographic preferences) and FB will make sure that a much broader group of people who have not “liked” your page but may be interested in the content sees that same post. By boosting your post, your impact will be greater. Think of it like the old days – buying an ad in the newspaper helped get the word out in a broader way than posting a flier.

According to Colby, you can get more reach by posting a video. Right now video posts will go to approximately 50% of the people who have liked your page. The excellent deal (as it catches on) is Facebook “Live.” By videoing in real time, FB will allow you to reach up to 100% of your FB subscribers without additional cost.
 
But remember: If you want to reach new audiences, you will have to spend money.
 
Here are a few quick ideas on ways to use FB Live or video:
 
Have someone share his or her faith story
Interview someone about an upcoming event
Live stream a service (FB saves the Live Stream so that you can use it later as well)
Videotape or Live Stream your church or organization in action doing service.
 
Experiment! Do a FB boost of your post. See what happens by investing $50 to boost several posts about a particular event through Facebook. Understand what type of engagement you get. If that works, great. If it doesn’t, try something different.
 
Colby swears that one or two hours a week dedicated to Facebook advertising is all you need. A volunteer or someone in the office can schedule posts. His recommendation: 4-5 posts per week. Facebook knows how much you post, and if it’s more than that, they start eliminating the number of people who will get your posts in their FB newsfeed.
 
Last thing, always use an image, preferably a video. You will see a definite rise in people reading your posts. And final, final thing: have fun and don’t be intimidated. Facebook is a pretty accessible and easily figured-out format.
 
My sincere thanks to Facebook Whiz, Colby Reade, for sharing his wisdom and knowledge with all of us. He’s even willing to have you follow up with him. You can reach him at Colby@consultcolby.com. Thanks to Colby, you can have confidence to go forth and conquer Facebook. Onward!
 
P.S. Let me know how you’re using Facebook and what’s been working for you. Have you budgeted for Facebook? How much? Who’s in charge of your Facebook page? Have you any set guidelines for social media? Feel free to share the information with me at inspiringgenerosity@gmail.com

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Cesie Delve Scheuermann (pronounced “CC Delv Sherman,” yes, really) is a consultant in stewardship, development, and grant writing. Over the past fifteen years, while working as a volunteer and part-time consultant, she helped raise over three million dollars for numerous non-profit organizations. Point of personal privilege: Congrats to her son, Luke on receiving his Bachelor of Arts this Sunday! She was the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference Lay Leader from 2008-2012. Her position with the Conference is funded through a generous grant from the Collins Foundation. She is available to consult with churches. You can reach her at inspiringgenerosity@gmail.com or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/inspiringgenerosity.
 
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