This is part of the Social Media Guide for Rabbis and Synagogues 

Your Facebook Page is the storefront of your institution, synagogue, day school, side hustle, and as a result, it needs to be professional, clean looking, and attractive.

Facebook Pages are the mechanism in which organizations take space digitally on Facebook. On Instagram, they are called Instagram Business Profiles. On Twitter, you can have a dedicated account for your organization.

Let’s assume for the moment that you want your organization to be on social media. The conversation as to why you would want that can be saved for another day.

What are the various Facebook entities?

A Profile is a person. It has friends and it can be in Groups.

A Page is an “storefront”. It can be an organization, a business, a brand (personal or otherwise), and it can be anything that is expected to be frontal, placing information to be consumed (we’ll talk about the content itself on another post).

A Group is a shared space for posting between Profiles. There can be groups for synagogues, parent communities, study groups, or shared interest of other types.

Each have an important role to play.

So why not a Profile?

Let’s go back and ask why would you use a Profile in the first place?

When Facebook first launched, it was for college students and then high school students. That was it. And if you were an organization, you had to become a person.

As a result, many organizations chose to do that. For example:

First name: Congregation

Last name: [place Hebrew word here]

It made sense for a time, but that period has passed as Facebook opened up to new populations and grew as a social media platform. Social media platforms, like the internet itself, have matured, and we have to mature with it.

There are perceived advantages to having your institution be a Profile. Primarily, as a Profile, you can control over who can access information. In addition, Facebook’s algorithm emphasizes friendships (interactions between Profiles) more than Pages.

However, the advantages of Facebook Pages are greater.

So, Facebook Page, why should you choose that?

First of all, let’s be clear, having a Facebook Page won’t solve any problems by itself. Like with anything else, how you do something matters a great deal.

Facebook Pages are the appropriate thing to do.

Context matters, I’m going to end up saying that a lot. Today, using a Profile as your institution is out of fashion. It no longer fits the context like it used to. Placing your institution on the same level as your old high school friend, or your buddy from college, or your long lost best friend from elementary school doesn’t make sense. You are not friends with your synagogue. You are not friends with your school.

Facebook Pages are the accepted model for institutions.

Once again, context is relevant. Pages are what people do, being outside of that norm puts you in a strange position. It forces your constituency to ask, why are they doing it this way? Pages are what organizations use to connect with their people.

Facebook Pages has useful data.

It tracks a ton of information, including when people share it. That means you know how many people have seen it, how many have clicked, how many already like your Page. You cannot do any of that if you are a Profile. There is a HUGE advantage in using Pages for this reason alone.

Facebook Pages is open to people you don’t expect.

There are lots of people you have never considered who value what you offer. By being a Page and allowing yourself to be more open provides new opportunities to reach new people.

Facebook Pages can run ads.

Facebook has one of the greatest ad systems than everyone. It can target geographically, by interest, by profession, by similar likes, etc. You can run ads effectively for your institution with a Facebook Page.

Facebook Pages look professional and you have full control.

You control what appears on a Facebook Page. A well designed Page can be inviting, informative, and interesting. It also means that you have complete control over the content. No one can post on the Page, sharing cat videos without being approved in advance.

Facebook Pages can have Groups.

Groups are incredible tools to build community. Facebook Pages can have Groups attached to them. So your Congregation can have a community group to encourage relationships. Your school can have a parent’s group to discuss lunch suggestions. Your personal brand can have a community group to share resources you mentioned in your podcast. There are tons of benefits of Groups and they can appear directly on your Page.

Facebook Pages can be run by a team.

Facebook Pages don’t share publicly which person on the team posts. This allows your organization to put a clear, authoritative voice for updates and announcements. It also means that a group of people can be in charge of content (which is a good thing). A team managing the Facebook Page helps your organization not get stuck with a bottleneck (also a conversation for another day).

So, what’s next?

I think it is very clear that Pages are much more advantageous to use than Profiles. Despite that, I am still friended by organizations and institutions all the time. It immediately sends the message that the institution isn’t paying attention to changes in media and communication. Now more than ever, it is important to watch what is happening, to learn from the tools we have.

You can check out my Facebook Page here to see how I’m working on this.

In the future, it will be something else. There will be another platform to build community, which is the point after all, and it is valuable to keep up to date and know what is happening.

So, are you going to be making yourself a Facebook Page?

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