Using Facebook to Encourage Ash Wednesday Attendance

Recently Facebook changed the rules regarding what can be on the Cover Photo of Pages. Previously, Facebook Cover Photos could not include text promotions or calls to action. Now we can include them as long as the text is not more than 20% of the Cover. This gives us the opportunity to use the Cover Photo for outreach and other ministry messages.

Ash Wednesday is one of those days when we have a very good chance of seeing people in church that we normally don’t see.  They find out the times of the services and show up.  As mission-centered people, we can take advantage of the pull that this day has on people’s hearts by explicitly inviting and welcoming them to our churches on Ash Wednesday.  Once there, we have an opportunity to create an experience that makes them think, “I want to return on Sunday.”

We need to use as many vehicles as we can to get the word out.  Here is what I was able to do with the St. John Bosco Parish Facebook Cover Photo.

 

 

 

 

 

If you click on any Cover Photo, you will be be taken to the description insert.  However, very few people click on Cover Photos.  That is why we need a Call to Action button. It makes them click. Here is the Cover Photo description for this site:

In the first paragraph I presented the pertinent details about where and when Ashes will be distributed. I also provided a link to the parish website which is a “Best Practice.”  The second and third paragraphs give other related information. Readers are welcomed and invited four times in this description.

The big challenge for me in this was creating the Call to Action button for the Cover Photo.  I learned how to do that from a post by Louise Myers entitled How to Easily Add Text to Pictures in a Free Photo Editor.  In the article, Louise also provides a link to how to create the button on which you put the text. It really is easy and I expect to be doing it again.  If you have never done it before, give it a try.

Have you done anything special with your Facebook Cover Photos now that we have more options?  Please share with us.