I just visited some church Facebook pages. They were all pretty much the same. Come to our Music Night. Buy a meatball sandwich to support our youth group. Photos from Christmas Eve. Everything was promotional. We wonder how well that’s working.

We are betting that traffic is pretty much limited to existing members who already know about the Music Night and plan to buy at least one meatball sandwich and were probably in the back row on Christmas Eve.

Nice, but they sidestep the power of Facebook. They also sidestep mission potential.

I call these Topsy Facebook sights. Churches put them out there and hope that they’ll work. They may grow but they are growing without purpose or strategy. They are self-satisfying—narcissistic.

Facebook facilitates this thinking. Add pictures. Add text teasers. Invite comments. Job done.

This approach admits  your audience is people already engaged in church life.

There is a different approach, but it requires some planning and dedication to a purpose and more of a world view. These are Intentional Facebook sites.

An Intentional Facebook page has a structure—a rhythm. It still can include all of the above, but by offering or directing content, you are inviting others. Mission.

Study business Facebook efforts. Some of them never mention their product. (Proctor and Gamble sites, for example). Instead they address the interests of people who are likely to need their product.

How does a Church do this? It’s not as hard as it sounds, but it does involve new thinking for most people accustomed to church life. We are so sure of our product that we usually limit all engagement to self-promotion. It has never worked very well and isn’t working at all today. And that’s where Social Media can be a lifesaver. It may force us to change our ways.

Social Media allows us to do from our kitchen tables what Jesus and the disciples spent years traipsing the dusty roads of Galilee doing. We can address and engage people all over the world and we don’t have to draw them into the sanctuary as social proof. We can meet them where they are.

Where to begin?

Establish a content plan. Plan for at least five days and three posts each day. Remember that a key value to Facebook is that it can drive traffic to your church website/blog, where there should be  more helpful information for members and seekers alike.

Here’s what a plan might look like.

Day One: Talk about something in the neighborhood. Address a local issue. Comment on a local community event or school event. Why? You care about your community, don’t you? The people you hope to reach care about the same community. If you are addressing local interests and concerns, search engines will direct people in the community to your Facebook page. Your Facebook page will direct them to your website/blog. Somewhere down the road, they might show an interest in something your church is doing to address the issues you are talking about.

Day Two: Address the scriptural texts of coming week. Not just once. Make relevant comments throughout the day. Find meaningful links that will enhance next week’s worship experience. You will be tempted to talk about what happened last Sunday. Let it go. Talk about next Sunday. Your current membership will be coming to church prepared and seekers will come with some familiarity. Your Facebook presence will have introduced them to the main event.

Day Three: Post some meaningful photos that illustrate the teachings of the coming week. Tag them if they are from other sites. Write short comments about them. Photos drive Facebook.

Day Four: OK, take a day and talk about yourself—in a way that engages. Always ask yourself, why would anyone else want to read this? And then write copy for that reader. What happened with the money raised by selling meatball sandwiches? How did Music Night make a difference? How might they become involved in the next Music Night?

Day Five: Address issues as found in popular media. If you started on Monday, Day Five will be Friday. People will be relaxing and going to movies and other cultural events. Movies tend to address current hot topics and give churches a chance to address the same issues from a Christian viewpoint. Write about a popular book. Promote the High School Musical. Keep the Christian slant.

Take a break over the weekend and just respond to any activity on your Facebook page. On Sunday evening you might routinely thank people who joined together for Sunday activities and invite them to engage during the week on Facebook.

You can develop other themes for certain days, too. You might regularly address an issue near to your congregation’s mission. If you are involved in Habitat for Humanity, write about issues of poverty and homelessness. Link people to services that can help them—shelters, food pantries, etc. (You may soon find yourself developing new resources.) If you volunteer in prisons or hospices, write for the people who visit prisons or have family in hospice. If your congregation has a Day Care Program, write about family spirituality. If you are a multicultural church, you’ll have no end of topics to interest you.

You might even write about how to use Facebook in ministry!