Social Media Strategy (without exhausting yourself)
Over the last few years, managing and creating your church’s social media presence has become a critical part of ministry. I also hear from plenty of normal-sized church pastors this takes a massive amount of time and seems to always be escalating.
But what if it doesn’t have to be?
Part of the pressure of social media is thinking it will be a silver bullet. As new platforms emerge, and people’s engagement seems to go down, it can be an ever-increasing battle. Churches also have a large amount of activities to manage and invite people into.
If your church’s approach to social is simply to let people know about things, you are going to always be walking uphill.
This month, I want to focus on fixing that problem AND helping you realize it isn’t as hard as you think it might be.
This episode introduces a broad plan for thinking strategically. In the next few episodes, I will walk out how to use a few tools to establish some best practices and gain time back.
Have a Plan
Randomly posting updates, and trying to keep up with things you see other churches use without a strategy is part of the exhaustion formula. Let’s being creating a plan for what you actually want/need to do.
This starts with answering a basic question.
What is the purpose of using social media?
Big Purpose. And ask the question enough to get to something realistic.
Not just “reach more people”, but “let folks know how we are following Jesus together”. That sort of answer. It will drive what all you work on.
Content Blocks
Rather than just a random series of posts, thinking in terms of content blocks helps you realize the different things you need to create. Here are a few of my favorite content blocks which help you avoid the idea of random updates and requests.
Profiles of people.
Scripture
Quotes (both from sermons and other writing)
Stories about your church
Picture follow-ups from events
Sunday invites
Sunday shares
This week at your church (the invite post)
Create a template
If you feel like your social is a bit wild, make the decision to scale it back and build sustainable best practices. I like to start with 3 posts a week. 3 different content blocks to create and start managing. I like a Monday follow-up, some sort of mid-week inspiring content, and an invite to worship (on Friday or Saturday). Honestly, with other strategies we will talk about, this is do-able for a church trying to get their social under control.
Schedule using your template
Once your template is made, sit down and create ALL the content you will need. But keep it simple. Then use Facebook’s scheduling tool to build out all of your posts from the week.