A Facebook ad directed toward 240 single men aged 19-25 who like Christendom college. The ad clicks to the Facebook page "Holy Vocations."
Our recent post on using Facebook ads for vocations, “Facebook’s pay-per-click ads zero in on young Catholics”, has gotten some welcome attention.
Because of the popularity of Facebook, we at Vocation Promotion are running test ad campaigns directed toward students and friends of the Franciscan University at Steubenville, Christendom College, and Thomas Aquinas College.
Everyone wants to know how to reach these eager students who love their Catholic faith and among whom have authentic vocations to the consecrated life. The advantages of Facebook’s pay-per-click ads over that of Google and other programs are: 1) specific targeting of audiences, 2) generally a cheaper cost at around 30-50 cents per click, 3) more text and a picture at no additional cost, and 4) Facebook’s growing popularity over Google.
If your vocation director is good on the internet, and has some advertising savvy, she can write and post an ad in under an hour on Facebook’s easy-to-use system. If you really want to get deeply into this, I’d suggest this great read available on Amazon, “Killer Facebook Ads: Master Cutting-Edge Facebook Advertising Techniques, by Marty Weintraub.” You might also want to check out the many good YouTube videos on how to advertise on Facebook.
Better than cold food
But that’s just part of your answer. To make the ads really work for you, you need both a knowledge of how to use Facebook’s many options, and the publicity skills that well, can sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo. (However, the rewards of religious life are more than cold food!)
The other need is a website or blog with new content. Or how about a Facebook page? Check out our page, “Holy Vocations.” (And, by the way, if this article has been helpful to you, would you please “like us” on that page?)
Ad ad is a good starting point. But it is just a flag outside your door. You have to back it up with information about your congregation. And then you need to build an ongoing relationship; an interaction between you and the prospective vocations. After all, Christ’s words “Come, follow Me,” were only the beginning of a conversation.
