verve: in bloom

Social Media Boot Camper & friend, Kristina Ender, posed this question to me and a couple of other social media pros recently via Facebook.

The Church of the Sleeping Dog has a website and a FB fan page. The Church has numerous groups, i.e. the choir, the youth group, the mission committee, etc. These groups each hold somewhat unique events, i.e. concerts, dances, fundraisers, etc yet all are in sync with and in service of the Church of the Sleeping Dogs mission.

In your opinion which is most effective promote all events via the Church of the Sleeping Dogs fan page or create separate fan pages for the choir, the youth group, the mission committee, etc.?

My answer: In this case it sounds like a separate page for each division on Facebook would not only be unnecessary, it could be counter-productive to building your community of interest at the Church. Even though we’re initially talking about promoting events, it’s really a bigger question than that.

Whether you’re exploring Facebook or Twitter or a multi-category blog, you have to consider and acknowledge that each serves a different purpose. The Church should listen to where conversations are already occurring – what tools are people already using? are they sharing information about their activities? The easiest thing to do may be to ask them. The answer is that the Church should be where the conversations are.

The Church (and most organizations) will likely find that not 100% of members are on Facebook… or some among them don’t know how to navigate a blog for information. Both of those things are ok. A single “tool” may not be the answer, ultimately, to build an online community. And yes, education and some active Church members to “seed” content may be required to really get the community humming along.

All social media activities have to go back to – what’s the organization’s goal? How is social media going to help achieve it? What is going to make the most sense for our audience? These answers will help direct toward the most appropriate tactics. And that may mean tactics (plural) to build a true community around the organization’s mission & vision.

Short answer: one fan page. Long version: why are you participating in the first place (not always an easy answer)?

What do you think?