Most churches use Facebook as a broadcast medium. We announce special worship services, dinners and lecture series. And follow up to all events is a must, whether a quick post or a few pictures.

But the main issue regarding churches and Facebook is engagement. Simply put, we struggle with engagement and two-way dialogue and prefer to use Facebook as a broadcast vehicle.

In my experience, most social users who post on behalf of churches are looking for the right meme to drive likes an shares, or the perfect quote from the right celebrity pastor, or the best article on church growth that will inspire the congregation and seekers to post replies and engage in dialogue. And while this is indeed possible, it is also not realistic, at least not regularly.

I have found the best way to encourage dialogue and engagement with a church’s Facebook page is to seek feedback. There are a variety of ways feedback can be solicited. The easiest is the poll.

Facebook has built-in tools for polls. Simply using those tools can help drive engagement with your page and therefore with your church.
Examples of simple polls are:

Do you give something up for Lent? Do you take something on?

Advent: Purple or Blue?

White after Labour Day? Yes or no?

Such simple questions, but questions that are designed to elicit a response from your congregation and from seekers alike. It is a low threshold of engagement but one that brings users back repeatedly. And each time a user comes back, there is another chance to take that engagement from social to analogue and fulfil the Great Commission.