Most PNW Churches are experimenting with their Social Presence
Based on a survey of churches and additional work spent scouring the internet, we know that more than half of the ministries in the Pacific Northwest Conference have a Facebook page. A significant portion of those pages appear to be in use sharing upcoming events, creating social identity, and building community. The number of Facebook pages is close to matching the number of existing websites as some churches forego a traditional site for the easier to manage platform.
Less than 20 ministries appear to have a public presence on Twitter with the majority of those churches being served by younger clergy. A larger, but still relatively small, number of pastors are using Twitter to connect and share information as well.
Low Hanging Fruit
From a quick survey of the data, one piece of low hanging fruit that most churches haven’t taken advantage of is the ability to choose a ‘Vanity Name.’ If you have a page with at least 25 ‘Likes’ you can select a much shorter URL to describe your church.
Instead of having a long, hard to remember URL like the default (not a real link):
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Saint-Thomas-The Doubter-United-Methodist-Church/112492048473625
You can have something much shorter and shareable like this one:
http://www.facebook.com/sttdumc
What should your name be? Different people might offer different advice but shorter is better than longer and you should give some care to consistency across your different communication platforms. Matching an existing web address might be a good place to start. Remember to consider your potential audience in the use of acronyms.
Best news is that it only takes a few minutes to do and doesn’t cost your ministry anything. If you are an administrator for your ministry’s page, you can find if you are eligible by visiting: https://www.facebook.com/username/ while logged into your account.
Need a tutorial? Try this one from SocialFresh.com
Please email me if you have questions or when you make the change so I can update the list I am compiling.
grace&peace
Patrick Scriven | pscriven@pnwumc.org | 206.304.9284
Director of Communication & Young People’s Ministries
