It’s a challenge to create engaging church social media week after week. Many churches using social media worry how to keep their posts fresh and interesting. If this sounds like you, don’t worry—you’re not alone!
For a little inspiration, check out these new ideas for engaging church posts. Adding just a few of these examples to your church’s social media strategy can go a long way in building an audience and increasing long-term engagement with your content.
Take advantage of the power of images.
One main reason that social media content for churches often falls flat is that it sometimes contains only text. People respond to visual content, especially posts with images. In fact, experts tell us that posts with images get 2.3x more engagement than posts with only text!
Fortunately, there are a growing number of websites that offer free professional stock photos for your next Sunday social media post.
Share church videos.
Equally (if not more) powerful as images, videos are amazing at quickly communicating your message by compelling people to stop scrolling and pay attention. Church videos can be shorter clips of a recent sermon, exciting announcements, event invitations, testimonials, Bible studies, devotionals, and more. Be sure that your videos always have quality audio and video, and also relatively short in length (ideally under one minute).
Digital media like videos are a great way to allow people to stay engaged with your church all week long. As you start posting videos more consistently, create professional-looking intros and outros that reflect your church’s branding. If possible, add subtitles to the video as 85% of Facebook users watch videos with no sound.
Go live!
Live streaming is now the most popular form of online video to watch. For your church’s social media, going live is not just for your weekend services anymore.
Going live allows you to connect with your social media followers in real time, creating very personalized connections. Instagram and Facebook have made this incredibly simple. The best online streaming platforms automatically broadcast your content anytime to all of your channels, like your church’s website, mobile app, YouTube Live, and Facebook Live.
Consider having casual conversations during the week with your live audience, just like you would over a cup of coffee with your friends. These can be Bible studies, personal reflections, daily words of encouragement—anything, really!
Partner with creatives.
Many pastors dream of having a church social media ministry to reach more people online and lighten the load on their busy staff. Yet churches often have untapped potential of people with a talent for social media in their pews. A good practice is to regularly ask church members to volunteer to help with your social media, just like you would ask for people to help with other ministries.
Social media is an art with a visual design and language that some people are well-versed in. By recruiting creative people who are talented graphic designers and writers, you’ll effortlessly add fresh and interesting new content to your posts!
Promote church events.
Sharing church events on your social media channels is a great way to raise awareness and create excitement. Create posts that invite people to participate in upcoming events, highlighting why they should attend and providing complete event details. You can also point people to your church website and mobile app to get more information about your ongoing events.
Showcase church staff & volunteers.
Odds are that your church has some pretty amazing employees and volunteers, so why not celebrate them on your social media pages? Showcasing your staff members, sharing their hearts for ministry, and telling their backstories are great opportunities to put a face on your church.
You can also express gratitude to your volunteers, telling stories about how they make a difference. (This goes a long way toward recruiting new volunteers too!) Providing a glimpse into the team behind your ministry can help your community better understand your church’s culture and connect with your mission.
Announce visiting guest speakers.
Do you have someone visiting your church as a guest speaker or worship leader? Sharing this with your social media followers is a great way to excite your community and re-engage visitors or former members.
Share posts from other ministries.
Don’t forget that you can always share posts from other ministries, leaders, and groups too. For example, if your denomination or affiliated church group posts an inspiring or important message, share that with your church’s social media followers. As long as it’s relevant to what they care about and aligned with your mission, your audience will appreciate engaging with this content too!
Champion community causes.
Pastors and church leaders often are aware of many local community benevolence activities happening in their local communities. Sharing community events that are happening in your neighborhood is a great way to raise awareness, encourage people to pitch in and participate, and network with other organizations.
Ask questions and start conversations.
Asking questions is a great way to allow people to start conversations. Start with questions that help you get to know your audience better. People love sharing life stories with others on social media, and it’s also a great way to keep a pulse on what your audience really cares about.
Go back to the drawing board.
Always test and retest what is working best. Which posts get the most likes and shares? Is there an area where your posts are getting more attention? What kind of impact are we having on the lives of our followers? Are our posts driving people towards or away from our church?
Using what you learn from your social media data will help you make better decisions for future church social media posts.
Remember an easy way to raise awareness about your social media is to talk about it! When speaking to your church from the pulpit and online, ask people to like and follow your pages, as well as share posts with their followers. You can also promote your church’s social media on your church’s website and emails by adding simple links on your header or footer to your website and emails.
This article is courtesy of Subsplash, which provides engagement-focused technology for more than 14,000 churches, ministries, and organizations of all sizes to help them make more and better disciples, www.subsplash.com.
