Is your town or parish council taking full advantage of Facebook? Your answer should be yes!

Facebook can be a great way to market your town or village hall and it’s easier than you might think. 

In this blog post, we will go over the best practices for using Facebook as a marketing tool for your town or village hall.

Facebook Page vs Facebook Group for town & parish councils

Having a Facebook page for your council is a great way to communicate with your community. However, you might have noticed that your posts are not reaching the same amount of people compared to a few years ago. 

Facebook organic reach has been declining for years.

In 2018, Facebook’s Head of News Feed said that Facebook began to “shift ranking to make News Feed more about connecting with people and less about consuming media in isolation”.

So, moving forward Facebook Groups are the best way to stay connected with your community because it makes high visibility achievable, provided that the group has active engagement. Because there's so much engagement between users, it also means any popular post will most likely be sent as a notification by default (unless you opt out). 

5 top tips for your Facebook Group

1. Ask pending members questions before they join - include a question about adhering to the group rules
2. Be active in your group - start discussions, ask questions and respond to comments
3. Include a link to your Facebook Group in the ‘About’ section of your Facebook page
4. Add an event for your group on Facebook's calendar so that members can see when you're hosting meetings and events
5. If someone posts something inappropriate, use the "Report Post" button to report it as spam or abuse 
   

We've a Facebook Group open to all Clerks and RFOs. This group is non Scribe specific and simply a place for those working in the local council sector to seek advice, share ideas and have open discussions on topics and news that have an impact on their roles and communities with fellow Clerks. If you would like to join the discussion please click here.

Facebook Ads for town & parish councils

Boosted posts are ads that you create from posts on your Facebook Page. Boosted posts are a great way to get your content more exposure. When you create an ad, Facebook will show it in the News Feeds of people who are likely to be interested in your page. You'll also be able reach new audiences that don't currently follow or like any of your social media pages!

How to boost a post:

1. Select Boost Post. You can find it in the bottom right-hand corner of your already published post. 

2. Choose a recommended audience or create a new audience based on specific traits - this can be people in a certain location or who are interested in specific things eg: age group 20-70 and within 5 miles of your venue. 

3. Total budget: Select a recommended budget or provide a custom budget eg: £10 or £20.

4. Select how long you want to boost your post for eg: 7 days.

5. Review your payment method. 

6. When you've finished, select Boost.

There are more advanced methods and targeting using Facebook ads which are only suitable for larger budgets. More advanced methods of marketing are not appropriate for everyone. We recommend that you start with boosting your Facebook posts to maximise the number of people who see them first before moving on to more expensive and time-consuming strategies.‍

Using Facebook to increase village and town hall bookings‍

One of the most important ways to encourage village and town hall bookings is by letting people know your hall is open! Encourage your community to share the post to spread the word.

Here’s an example of a Facebook post you could share to your page:

Or, why don’t you start the movement? You can find people who are thinking about starting a class or group but haven't got round to it. There’s ways you can bring them in. For example, you could offer free rentals of your town or village hall for the first month to get the class/group established.

Here’s an example of a Facebook post you could share to your page:

Other things to consider:

• Share testimonials/reviews from your happy customers
• Showcase the hall in action - share lots of images and videos or even a Facebook Live
• Post on Facebook Stories - authentic content in real-time!
• Ask your Facebook page followers to join your Facebook Group
• Use online editing tool such as Canva.com to create branded graphics

Key Takeaways

Promise: increase your town or village hall bookings through Facebook marketing

Helpful Principles:

1. Create a Facebook Group for increased engagement with your community
2. Boost posts to reach new people
3. Encourage people to share your Facebook posts

Watch the video below: