Social Media for Churches
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This document provides guidance on how churches can use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest to connect with their congregations and communities. It recommends that churches use photos and videos to engage people more than just text or links. Examples are given of how churches have used each platform successfully, such as creating Advent calendars on Pinterest or producing video series for YouTube. Tips are provided on growing followers and engagement, including listening to conversations, responding to others, sharing content regularly and maintaining relationships over time.
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Social Media for Churches
- 1. Social Media The Church & What Can Facebook, Twitter & YouTube Offer Your Church?
- 2. Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation (Mark 16:15)
- 3. Excellent Advice for churches interested in social media
- 4. • Connect with other pastors (prof. development) • Connect the congregation during the week • Reach out to people outside the congregation • Increase visibility of the church & its programs WHY ?
- 5. Some examples from around the web How?
- 6. people are more likely to interact with a photo (like it, comment, share) than with Just links, OR text.
- 7. 19,907 photos tagged with #rethinkchurch [the tag used on social media for this project] on Instagram alone. People from other denominations [and no denomination], young, old, inside the US and outside, participated. Results:
- 8. Pictures collected on Pinterest
- 9. The Episcopal Church Advent Calendar on Pinterest Note the number of repins, likes and comments
- 10. Other ways to use Pinterest Inspiration boards, activities boards, etc.
- 11. Similar use of Pinterest by a church
- 12. The Big Bible Project on Pinterest
- 13. Visual Psalmists Inspirational pictures that answer the question, "Where did you see God today?" Visual psalmists see photography as an extension of their spirituality.
- 14. Parishioners holding signs that read “I love my church” & the web address www.findoutwhy.co. “Instead of simply sharing images on their page and leaving it at that, the church encouraged people to use the photos as their profile pictures on Facebook, which most did. leveraging their fans’ connections to expand the reach of their content.” Covenant Church: www.holony.com/blog Grove City
- 15. OnlyTakes12turnstoreach over1millionpeople Leveragingfans’connectionstoexpandthereachoftheircontent
- 16. Find out Why Microsite: who we are, preaching, worship, kids, visit
- 17. Another Facebook example: create cover photos for events Cannot include: images with more than 20% text; contact info; calls to action
- 18. Video Allows your church to tell its story: experience worship, people, culture & virtual participation
- 19. A fun weekly web series about the objects, symbols and terms used in church, produced by the United Methodist Church’s General Board of Discipleship. Chuck knows Church:
- 20. Busted Halo® Ministries: helps young adults explore their spirituality, discover (or re-discover) the rich depths of Catholic tradition, and connect to communities of faith.
- 21. Noone to produce your videos? Why not ask a youth group for help?
- 22. Twitter as a Church Communication tool Some local examples - Not trying to pick on anyone!
- 24. Some local Examples: • Following very few • can’t see their tweets • difficult to interact (no @replies) • difficult to build community • Indicative of 1-way broadcasting model • Decent number of Twitter followers
- 25. Some local Examples: • Following only one • impossible to build community • Indicative of 1-way broadcasting model
- 26. Some local Examples: • No @replies • Missed opportunities for interaction & visibility • When talking about people/orgs/businesses, use their Twitter handle (if they have one) • When talking about major events, use hashtags (gives you visibility outside your network)
- 27. Some local Examples: • Simply adding #ATX would have made this message visible to anyone who follows the #ATX hashtag, not just the 144 followers. Possibility to reach the Austin community not affiliated with the church. • Same: Using #Boston or #PrayforBoston could have taken this message to an international community
- 28. Some local Examples: • Try to create interest/give people a reason to click on your links
- 29. Some local Examples: • Retweets, but still no direct interaction (@replies)
- 30. How Successful Brands use Twitter: • Use hashtags for visibility • Use @username when talking about others • Promote other causes
- 31. How Successful Brands use Twitter: • 2-way communication
- 32. Why you should care about twitter tweets from religious leaders are very popular among Twitter users
- 33. How to Develop your Twitter Network
- 34. Growing your Twitter network Use Twitter’s search engine to find their Twitter handle Follow them on Twitter Expand the list of people you follow by: + + Checking their following/follower lists Checking out Twitter lists Identify people in your field, people you admire
- 35. Start with a Twitter search if you don’t know anyone Check out promising twitter users by clicking on Twitter handle
- 36. Check their tweets to get an idea for what they tweet about
- 37. If they used a hashtag that looks promising, check it out: #chsocm
- 38. Check following/followers lists Check Twitter lists
- 39. Subscribed to: lists the user has created or is following Member of: lists other users have added this user to You can follow the entire list or pick individual list members to follow
- 40. Click on a list, then click on list members Follow the entire list or individual members: check out last few tweets
- 41. Don’t just go with the first one. Check activity, date of last tweet, etc.
- 42. Check their tweets to get an idea for what they tweet about
- 43. Check the people they are following
- 44. If the tweets look valuable to you, click follow ...
- 45. ... or create your own list to add them to!
- 46. Sample list I created: twitter.com/corinnew/smministry
- 47. Growing your Twitter network Use Twitter’s search engine to find their Twitter handle Follow them on Twitter Expand the list of people you follow by: + + Checking their following/follower lists Checking out Twitter lists Checking out #followfriday & #hashtags + Identify people in your field, people you admire
- 48. Check out #followfriday suggestions
- 49. Go to twitter.com/username (leave out the @) If you like, click follow or add to your list
- 50. Growing your Twitter network Use Twitter’s search engine to find their Twitter handle Follow them on Twitter Expand the list of people you follow by: + + Checking their following/follower lists Checking out Twitter lists Checking out #followfriday & #hashtags + Checking RTs to find out who sent the original tweet + Identify people in your field, people you admire
- 51. Checking RTs to find out who sent the original tweet @NewMediaAtCTS retweeting @ReligionEthics
- 52. 1. Filter your incoming tweets: Use TweetDeck or Hootsuite to divide followees into groups 2. Test drive your subscriptions Then re-evaluate 3. Repeat steps to add new voices to your Twitterstream Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Keep Tweaking IT
- 53. TweetDeck
- 54. Find their individual and/or organizational blogs Subscribe to their blog’s RSS feed Expand the list of people you subscribe to by: Checking their blog roll Following links on their blog to other blogs Checking to see if your favorite twitter users blog + + + Growing your network through Blogs Identify people in your field, people you admire
- 55. Subscribe to blogs with a feed reader such as Bloglines It makes the info come to you (click to watch the video)
- 56. Download the file and import it into Bloglines And voilà: you’re now subscribed to these blogs!
- 57. Developing a network is just the First step Step 2: Engage & maintain, or else: Remember
- 58. How toEngage others on the social web
- 59. 8020 Rule Thou shalt not use more than 20% of thy tweets to promote thyself 80% of thy tweets shall add value to thy followers
- 60. What to TWEET About? Church News Sermon/BibleVerse/Prayer Pics/Behind the Scene Pic Peek into Personal Life Public ThankYou Listen/Learn/Grow Offer Encouragement Engage, Interact, RT Questions/Answers/Feedback
- 61. Behind the Scene Pic
- 63. Sermon/Bible Verse/Prayer Bonus Points for adding a personal touch
- 64. Sermon/Bible Verse/Prayer Bonus Points for adding a personal touch
- 67. Listening to Conversations Who & what to listen for? How to do so?
- 68. Set up a search in Tweetdeck or Hootsuite: Listen for: • community/city name • church name • event/program names • pastor names • relevant hashtags
- 69. Type in keywords Click go Monitor the web for mentions
- 72. 15minutes a dayRelationships take time to grow & maintain • Listen to the conversation • Respond to people • Check the resources shared by your network • Share other people’s tweets/links • Share your own thoughts or content
- 73. Create or Re-use? Make a list of already existing content
- 74. Advent devotionals written by church members Why not share on a social platform & allow writers to share it with their social networks?
- 75. Ideas for kids’ ministry: Children’s message activities. Pin activities related to the weekly children’s message to a Pinterest board. User submitted artwork. Encourage your community to share their own artwork based on the weekly message or current sermon series. Repin and highlight all their great work.
- 76. Churches Already have lots of content Collect and share it on social platforms
- 77. CREDITS: Corinne Weisgerber, Ph.D. Associate Prof. of Communication St. Edward’s University corinnew@stedwards.edu Twitter: @corinnew