Identifying and Diversifying Your Parish Facebook Content

February 12, 2019Sr. Susan Wolf, SND

Success on any Facebook Page is about content, presentation and administration. This is true for all Facebook pages including those belonging to parishes, religious communities and Catholic organizations. Some say that content is the most important element of communications and it is the most challenging element for ministry’s real-time social media world.

More than one pastoral leader has said to me “We don’t have enough content to keep Facebook active.” When I hear that, I wonder if it is true or if there is just no one who is able and willing to share the good that is taking place within the community and the wider Church. I suspect that the latter is the case.

This week I want to address content for Parish Facebook Pages. (Religious communities and Catholic organizations most likely have resources to determine their own unique content.) What kind of content is suitable for a parish Facebook Page? I break this into two categories: original and shared content.

Original Content

Original content is content that you generate yourself. This can be:

Posts about events and the people participating (ideally with photos
1. Pre-event posts announcing the event
2. Post event posts sharing the experience
Posts about service projects and the people participating (ideally with photos)
1. Announcements to recruit participation in the projects
2. Post project reports
Time-sensitive news such as.
1. School or event cancellation.
2. The time of Funeral Masses (with the permission of the families).
Mass times along with welcome messages for special days:
1. Christmas
2. Holy Days of Obligation
3. Ash Wednesday
4. Holy Week
5. Easter
6. National Holidays
Times for Communal Anointing of the Sick and Reconciliation Services
Faith-based messages that offer inspiration, encouragement, healing, hope, insight—a thought for the day of the week from scripture, liturgy, the saints, the Catholic Catechism, etc.

Shared Content (Links from reputable sources)

Diocesan communications relevant to your community
Vatican News
1. Monthly prayer intention of the Holy Father (YouTube)
2. Synods and other major events
3. World Days for various intentions
Posts by reputable sources on spiritual, liturgical topics.

There is more than enough Parish content to post on Facebook. Next week I will write about the skills needed to get that content online effectively.

Can you think of any other content that is appropriate for parish Facebook pages? Share with us in the comments below. Thank you.

content strategy

Comments (2)

Dianna Rottiers

February 12, 2019 at 9:04 am

We also share:
Our school events and posts (they have their own Facebook page) as well as our Knights of Columbus council events and posts. We are in a rural farming (mostly fruit ? but other items as well)community so we share post from our families that have fruit and vegetable stands. We share community co-op news and from organizations like Rotary, Township offices. We are part of this larger community so we try to share and support the entire community.

As for creating content, we make posts about baptisms and weddings, special birthdays and anniversaries in the parish, all with permission. Sometime we share prayer request if someone has a very important request ( we ask before posting). If we have parishioners that have a special request (like wanted to borrow a wheelchair, a family member who would like visitors, etc) to help connect members together.
Sr. Susan Wolf, SND

February 13, 2019 at 8:27 am

Dianna,
Thank you for sharing how you use your Facebook Page to serve your local community. These are great examples of meeting the needs of your unique audience. It is what we all need to do. Keep up the good work!