More Visitors with Facebook Ads

Looking for an effective and affordable way to get more people to visit your church each Sunday? If so, Facebook Ads for churches are one popular option you may want to consider. 

The strategies that work best for large companies, established brands, and popular marketing agencies aren’t always the best strategies for churches, however.

Choose the wrong strategy, and it’s easy to quickly lose plenty of time and money when trying to design effective Facebook Ads.

That’s why in today’s post, we’re sharing a few best practices and common mistakes you will want to keep in mind when designing effective Facebook Ads for churches.

Why You Should Try Facebook Ads for Churches

Whether you’re trying to get the word out about your church in general or you’d simply like to promote a specific event, you have lots of options. For example, you could send a mailer, ask your church members to invite their friends, or try Google Ads. 

While each of these strategies can work, Facebook Ads for churches is one effective strategy you won’t want to overlook.

Facebook Ads are simply one of the easiest, most accessible, and most affordable ways to get your church’s name, services, and events in front of new people who would love to call your church home. 

Even if you’ve tried Facebook Ads in the past without much success, don’t give up. If you know who you want to target, what they need to hear, and how to use the ads manager, you’ll find Facebook Ads for churches will produce outstanding results – once you know what you’re doing. 

How to Run Effective Facebook Ads for Churches

Just like with your preaching, chances are, you probably won’t run effective Facebook Ads or get the results you want the first time you try. You have to get your reps in – the more you practice, the easier it gets. 

That being said, there are several best practices for running effective Facebook Ads for churches you will want to know before you begin. 

1. First, Look for Ways to Serve Your Audience Where They Are

While preaching the gospel is arguably the most significant role of your church, it likely isn’t the only (or the first) role your church can play in people’s lives – especially when designing effective Facebook Ads for churches.

Rather than only using Facebook Ads to get the word out about your church’s Sunday service, look for ways to truly serve your audience and their needs. 

For example, you could create a helpful PDF resource for your community, host a group to discuss a specific topic, or create an event or service to meet a specific need you see in your community. Don’t just preach the gospel. Be the gospel.

2. Experiment with Different Types of Ads

While boosting your church’s live stream feed is effective, it’s only one of many Facebook Ads strategies you have available to you. Don’t be afraid to experiment and see what works! You want your Facebook Ads for churches to be different and unique but persuasive. 

For example, you might try boosted posts, photo ads, carousel ads, or video ads. You might use ads to promote your events or simply to serve your community well. Experiment and see what works.

3. Keep Your Website and Facebook Page Up-to-Date

Once your Facebook Ads are up and running, people will naturally start clicking through to visit your website and your Facebook page. Both must feature current, relevant information that new visitors can navigate quickly and easily. 

If your Facebook page is a ghost town or your website is out of date or under construction, people are likely to click away, never to return. First impressions matter.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Running Facebook Ads for Churches

While Facebook Ads for churches can be incredibly effective, it’s also easy to quickly waste hundreds or even thousands of dollars if you’re not careful. Here are some common mistakes to avoid if you want to run effective Facebook Ads for churches.

1. Focusing On Yourself instead of Your Audience

Just because you’re excited about an event, you can’t assume your audience will care. After all, there are probably multiple churches in your area, each hosting its own events. What makes yours different?

Rather than using Facebook Ads for churches to get the word out to your existing staff and congregation, focus instead on using ads to attract new people who aren’t familiar with your church. 

When designing effective Facebook Ads for churches, seek to answer the questions: 

  • What do they need? 
  • Why should they care?
  • What will be compelling or intriguing to them?

2. Forgetting to Use Geo-Targeting

Even if your church offers the best preaching and events, new visitors are not likely to travel across the state or country to attend. Instead, you want to focus on people in your area. 

Thankfully, with Facebook Ads for churches, you can target people in specific zip codes around your area. Don’t forget this important feature! Otherwise, you end up wasting large amounts of time and money on Facebook Ads that simply don’t convert.

3. Forgetting the Facebook User Experience

It’s easy to assume that everyone uses Facebook the same way you do. And yet, if you have the opportunity to observe someone else’s Facebook behavior, you may notice that their feed looks entirely different than yours or that they interact with their feed in a completely different way. 

Keep in mind: People don’t typically use Facebook as a search engine. No one goes to Facebook because they’re craving more Facebook Ads for churches that day. 

Instead, your ads need to capture someone’s attention, cause them to stop scrolling, and compel them to interact with your ad in some way–even though they are positioned within a feed that has been highly personalized to appeal to the end user.

It can take some experimentation and practice, but it’s worth the time spent. 

The Importance of Growing Your Church Email List

One distinct advantage that Facebook Ads for churches offer over physical mailers is that they allow you to build an email list of people who either currently attend or might be interested in attending your church in the future so that you can follow up with them multiple times. 

The unfortunate truth is you don’t own your social media platforms

Facebook, Instagram, and any other social media platform could go bankrupt, go out of style, or simply delete or block your page anytime for any reason. And all too often, you have no way of getting access or your list of contacts back.

It is why growing an email list is so vital. You own your list of contacts with email, and you can contact them for free on any occasion. If one email marketing platform shuts down, you have the ability to effortlessly move your list to another platform without losing all the connections you’ve spent months or years developing.

Furthermore, with an email list, you can easily follow up with new visitors multiple times, inviting them to additional events or providing them with more resources they might find valuable. 

This way, you aren’t just getting the word out about one event. You’re creating a relationship. 
Ready to start running effective Facebook Ads for churches? Be sure to visit FrontDoor.church, where you can find additional resources to help you get your Facebook Ads for churches up and running (effectively!) without wasting a lot of time and money in the process.