Forbes on Facebook

Through my network on Facebook I have come to know a range of very talented people from around the world.  And one of them is Chris Forbes, marketing extraordinaire and author of the popular e-book, ‘Facebook for Pastors.’ Recently I had the chance to interview Chris about Facebook, marketing and other web projects of note for Christian leaders..  Here is the Forbes interview.

BB/ You founded Ministry Marketing Coach, what is its aim and purpose?

CF/ The mission of Ministry Marketing Coach  is to help Christian ministries of all kinds use marketing to get the gospel message outside the walls of the church and to the unchurched people of the mainstream marketplace. Helping them reach more people than ever.  It’s great fun helping ministries with their marketing and we offer design services. Also I get opportunities to speak and write on the subjects of ministry marketing, faith-based nonprofit marketing, social marketing, and Guerrilla Marketing for nonprofits.

BB/ What keeps you involved and engaged in Facebook?

CF/ It’s like a huge ministry conference that is going on 24/7. Plus I keep up with friends and family. I have already had two High School reunions because of FB. Even a new client or two as well.

BB/ Your group, ‘Facebook for Pastors’ has some 4300+ members, how is it used?

CF/ I take a laissez faire approach (ooh that’s French!) with the group. I prefer it to be a place that pastors network with one another on their own terms. I don’t do much editing of the group. There are a lot of great folks in the group and that is what makes it fun. I send a newsletter about once a month. The topics of the newsletter are meant to help people get the most out of Facebook (and other social media sometimes) for ministry.

Also I want to raise awareness of my friend Ken Surritte’s ministry http://www.heartsandhandsinternational.org/ Here’s a news article with the latest they have been doing: click here. He is helping a lot of children at risk and I am very proud of what he is doing. Check it out!

BB/ What inspired you to write the e-book, ‘Facebook for Pastors‘?

CF/ I started researching Facebook for a client of mine who wanted to know more about using social media in missions advocacy. A lot of what I learned in the research inspired me to develop the Facebook for Pastors e-book. I liked FB so much I keep active on it.

I love giving away helpful ideas for ministry communication. My first e-book  “25 Free Marketing Tools” has about 120,000 downloads so far. I wanted to develop something that would benefit ministry and raise awareness about Hearts and Hands International.

If I could afford it, I’d give away a free book every quarter. If you have anyone with a lot of money, send them my way! I’d really show you some free e-books then.

BB/  When a church leader comes up to you and says, ‘Why should I bother with Facebook.’ What is your 5 minute response?

CF/ If you are a minister, you need to go where people are. Facebook is not a website or a piece of software, it is like this huge water cooler you can “stand” by (with your profile) and mingle with the people on the planet. It’s a no brainer for people who want to “win friends and inflence people”

If people think Facebook is a waste of time, I think they will eventually change their minds. I mean, sometime back in the 1900’s someone probably put a phone on a pastor’s desk for the first time and that pastors may have said, “You mean out of all the other things I have to do, now you want me to pick up the handle of this contraption and talk to whoever happens to call me? Like I have time for that!”

Now everyone knows the ministry value of the telephone. They will eventually come to understand that the social media has changed the way people communicate just as much. Get with the program, or get out of the way!

BB/  From a marketing perspective, what benefits does Facebook offer?

CF/ Best marketing value is the repetition of (free) contact availed to you thorough permission marketing on Facebook.  You have a constant problem with marketing that people don’t want to be interrupted with messages they didn’t ask for–it’s getting harder to connect with the people you want to reach because there is so much media clutter. The only way to stand out in the crowd, is to be an invited guest. Permission marketing. (Verse the typical “pernicious marketing” most people do!)

What you need to get in advertising is “reach” and “frequency”  to close the “sale” with your target audience. You generally have to reach people nine times before they decide to act on your message. Problem is, to reach them once, you have to send your message three times. So if you reach them once, you have sent the message three times. Twice is six times. Three is nine, etc. To reach someone enough, you almost have to effectively send your message 27 times.

Once someone you “reach” through Facebook is connected to you as a “friend”, they give you a limited amount of permission to market to them. Provided what you do in terms of marketing isn’t a strain on the relationship, you can stay with them (frequency) and reach them the 26 more times they need to help them to decide what to do about you.

BB/ Aside from Facebook, what other web based channels/tools would you encourage churches to explore and utilize?

CF/  I developed some free internet evangelism sites I’d like people to explore sharing their faith with others perhaps using them. There’s a general audience site http://mostimportantthing.org/ one for college students http://majorthing.com and one for youth http://code2life.com.

I like YouTube a lot too. My favorite project was working with a great group of media people in West Africa on this awareness video: click here.

Blogging is the best deal for building traffic to your website too. If I may plug someone, I have a friend who has a great WordPress resource to help people get started iThemes.com

BB/  Thanks Chris!!!!

To contact Chris:

Facebook

MySpace
LinkedIn
Amazon
Twitter

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