How Facebook Ads Filled My Church

Every year my church puts a lot of time and energy into putting on an exceptional, creative Christmas production.  It’s an important part of our outreach strategy as we’ve found most people are open to attending Christmas services, even those who are not believers.

This year it was a Blue-Man-esque production called Me and My Drum.

In addition to putting a big sign out front and encouraging members of the church to personally invite their friends and neighbors, the church decided to try something new to help get the word out:

Facebook Ads

There were 4 performances the weekend before Christmas.  They were free, but to prevent overcrowding of any one performance people were asked to reserve free eTickets through the church website.

The ad was run for 9 days prior to the weekend of the performances.  Over that time, it was displayed 900,000 times and clicked on 600 times.  Total cost of the ad campaign was about $475.

The results?

144 tickets were reserved by people who indicated they heard of Me and My Drum through Facebook.

Wow!  I was blown away when I heard the news.

Of course, it will be important to find out how many of those people came back on Sunday, how many have begun attending services regularly, how many may have been unbelievers who have come to faith in Christ.  It’s too early to tell for most of those things, but I can tell you this:

One of the families who came to the Christmas performace after seeng the Facebook ad is now in my small group.

Because of the success of this campaign, Facebook ads are going to be a part of the church’s outreach strategy throughout 2010.

Has your church ever used Facebook ads as a part of its outreach strategy?  If so, how did it go?

Paul Steinbrueck

Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com

Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.

An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like ChurchLeaders.com, The JoyFM, and his personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org.

Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at Journey Community Church and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication.