A New Vision For Churches and Congregations

Facebook Group vs. Facebook Page

Compiled by an article by Jeff Wilson

Benefits of a Facebook Page:

• Can be accessed outside of Facebook, and thus a good outreach tool
• Can promote it with targeted Facebook Social Ads and measure traffic stats
• Can add third party apps (like a blog RSS reader)
• Can set access controls to let members post to the page (ex., videos, photos) or to only let the admin post

Limitations of a Facebook Page:

• Can’t message everyone – can only send out an update which doesn’t alert users by email (and rarely gets seen)
• Can’t remove members from a page or limit who can join
• Conversations and content cannot be made private

Benefits of a Facebook Group:

• Can send an email message out to everyone
• Native apps (photos, links, videos, message board, events) are sufficient for broadcasting content/info
• Can remove and limit members from joining the group
• Can set access controls to let members post to the group (ex., events, discussions, photos) or to only let the admin post

Limitations of a Facebook Group:

• Native apps good for broadcasting, but not good for other communication (ie., very little participation from members)
• Can’t add additional functionality with third party apps
• Members don’t get updated when there’s new content (either through email or news feed)
• Groups are more hidden (than Pages) on a user’s Profile info tab, and are less likely to be noticed by a church member’s friends

Limitations of Both:

• Allow sub-groups for ministries and community groups within the larger church body
• Announcements via SMS text messaging to all church members
• Email notifications for other communications (ex., new church member)
• Other apps that make sense for a church (ex., classifieds board)
• Feed updates to all church members for posts, regardless of whether you’re friends with the person who posted.

For more information about Facebook as it relates to church outreach, and other internet social media strategies for your church, contact A New Vision for Churches and Congregations today!