Everyone is on Facebook, but most people do not like pages with religious/spiritual content.
This is a slide from Dan Zarrella’s Science of Facebook Marketing presentation. His presentation was based on data collected from Facebook users.
It’s interesting to me that Religious Organizations and Pets are significantly more disliked than most other pages. This slide is slightly confusing–Religious Organizations are at the top of the page, meaning they are more liked than the others below it, but still significantly less liked than the rest of the types of pages on Facebook (thanks Jodi for the correction!). To get the full context you will need to look at the slide before this one on the original presentation.
I still believe the best way to share religious/spiritual content is through one’s personal profile–linking over to a Facebook page or out to a ministry blog or website.
Every ministry should set up and actively use a facebook page. The data from this slide and the rest of the presentation indicates that much more work is required to see these pages grow and thrive with an active community.
Quick tip: Pages that mention “ice cream” average a significantly larger number of fans than any other page (slide 27). Think through that before your next post lol!
Click here to view his presentation on Slideshare.
Thanks for the post Brian. I think that not only is it important to have a personalized facebook page in order to share “religious content” but that those pages that are some of the least liked are not very personal and seem like they are agenda driven. I think that you are saying this, but the key is how to I put up good “religious content” but making it personal as well and not having people feel like it is just agenda driven but more service driven (i.e. I care about you enough because we have some sort of relational connection that I wanted to share this extremely important content with you.)
If we can figure that out, then I don’t think we need to fear about making the top of the list as far as “unliked” pages.
Good food for thought Brian!
yep. it’s not bad that they are the least liked pages, but they are the least liked pages for a reason(s).
i would love to see a deeper dive into what kinds of posts these pages share, how often they engage their fans, and how committed the organization is to growing them.
hopefully stats like these concern us enough to make proactive changes!
I believe you read this slide incorrectly. I went to the whole slideshow, and the previous slide to the above shows “most liked” pages. This slide is a continuation of that list, meaning that religious organizations are actually more liked than pets and everything below. What’s troubling is that government organizations are more popular than religious ones! Still, there’s plenty of room for improvement, and Rich’s comment to make your page personal and relational, not simply dogmatic, is key.
By the way, I was sent to your site by the Web Evangelism Bulletin. Thanks for posting!
hey jody thanks for the correction! that is right!
yes the principle still applies. i’m noticing that many of Campus Crusade’s own pages are personal, but do not include enough content from the people that believe in us and live out our mission.
more user generated photos, text, and videos is key!
thanks for the comment and correction!