Churches are one of the most socially connecting groups in the world. They meet every week, sometimes even twice a week, and on special occasions and events. They are also connected through different forms of social connections such as telephone, email, gathering, and more. Hence, it is just natural that churches and social media sound like a match made in heaven.
So, in a hyper-connected society searching for community, churches must utilize social media in a way that extends the community and enhances their outreach efforts. Churches can establish connection points with the people they want to reach or help out using social media. It can be a staple in creating strong relationships for churches.
But how to navigate the path of building a strong social presence is a question that most churches often ask themselves. That's why we have compiled this guide covering the basics of social media for churches and the 7 must-implement social media marketing strategies to help churches stay on top of their social game. Let's start!
Table Of Contents:
- Benefits Of Social Media For Churches
- Social Media Policies For Churches
- 7 Social Media Marketing Strategies For Churches
- The Best SMM Tool For Churches: Engage Your Congregation & Amplify Your Message
- Ready To Maximize Your Church's Social Media Impact?
- FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
You can directly jump to a section of your choice or keep scrolling.
Benefits Of Social Media For Churches
- Building community: Social media allows churches to create and maintain a feeling of belonging among church members, even when they are physically separated. By sharing church updates, prayer requests, and other content on social media, churches can foster a sense of connection and support among their congregants.
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Engaging with members: Social networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter can help keep church members informed about updates, announcements, Sunday services, and other events. Churches can keep their members engaged, informed, and connected to the community through social media.
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Reaching new audiences: Social platforms offers the opportunity for churches to expand their reach beyond their immediate community and connect with new people who may not have otherwise known about the church. By actively using social media, churches can expand their reach and potentially attract new members to their congregation.
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Spreading positivity and hope: Churches can use social media to spread positivity and hope to those who may be struggling with anxiety and depression. By sharing messages of love and support on social media, churches can reach more people, impact their lives for the good and spread hope and positivity to those who may be in dire need.
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Enhancing outreach efforts: Social media apps are a valuable resource for churches looking to increase their outreach efforts and connect with more people outside of their church community. Churches can share their message and mission with a broader audience using social media and potentially attracting new members and supporters.
Social Media Policies For Churches
Here are some potential elements that should be included in social media policies for churches:
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Branding and imagery: The social media policy should outline the church's branding guidelines, including the use of logos and other imagery, to ensure that the church's online presence is consistent with its overall brand.
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External links: The social media policy should specify whether external links to other websites or social media accounts are allowed and, if so, what types of links are appropriate to use and which ones should not be used along with instructions on how the correct links should be inserted appropriately.
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Advertising: The social media policy should outline whether the church's social media accounts can be used for advertising or promotional purposes. If so, what types of advertisements are allowed and which are not?
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Comment moderation: The social media policy should specify how the church will handle comments and interactions on its social media accounts, including using moderation tools to ensure that all content adheres to the church's guidelines.
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User-generated content: The social media policy should outline the church's stance on user-generated content, including whether it is allowed and how it will be moderated.
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Social media accounts for staff and volunteers: The social media policy should specify whether staff and volunteers are allowed to create and manage social media accounts on behalf of the church, and if so, what guidelines they must follow.
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Training and support: The social media policy should outline any training or support provided to staff and volunteers responsible for managing the church's social media accounts.
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Review and updates: The social media policy should specify how often the policy should be reviewed and updated to ensure that it remains relevant and practical.
7 Social Media Marketing Strategies For Churches
- Create Themes For Different Days
- Interact With Your Congregation
- Post A Quote Or Scripture From The Last Week's Message
- Create Podcast Around Your Sunday Message
- Share Videos From Your Worship Team
- Use The Pastor’s Social Media Accounts
- Create A Facebook Group For Your Volunteers
Create Themes For Different Days
Churches can create a theme for each day of the week. Create the theme about the viewer's benefit, not about what you are doing or what you want your viewers to know about your church. For example, Monday can be used to recap the previous Sunday's service.
Midweek can be focused on promoting small groups and sharing verses from the Bible. As the weekend approaches, the focus can shift to promoting the upcoming worship service and highlighting the benefits of attending church on Sunday.
It's important to remember that while the overall focus may be similar throughout the week, specific posts should vary and aim to engage the viewer. For example, when promoting small groups, you can share information on how to sign up, highlight success stories, or show what people bring for snacks.
When promoting a new sermon series, it's essential to explain how the topic will impact the viewer's life and create a sense of curiosity around the topic. Avoid being vague and try to connect the topic to the viewers' interests or needs.
Interact With Your Congregation
There are several ways to interact with your church congregation on social media. One effective strategy is to ask questions that elicit responses from your followers. Some examples of questions that can generate discussion include:
- What's your favorite worship song?
- What's your favorite verse?
- What verse has been particularly meaningful to you during difficult times?
- Who is your favorite preacher (besides the pastor)?
- How old were you when you accepted Jesus?
To maximize engagement, try to frame your questions in a way that makes people want to see the responses. Avoid asking "why" questions, as they tend to require more thought and may not be well-suited to answer on a social media platform. Instead, focus on "what," "where," and "who" questions, which tend to elicit shorter and more focused responses.
Post A Quote Or Scripture From The Last Week's Message
Use social media to engage with your church congregation by posting Bible verses on visually appealing backgrounds using a tool like Canva. When sharing these quotes on platforms like Instagram or Facebook, you can encourage your followers to save the post to a collection or bookmark it to help them memorize the verse.
This approach goes beyond simply encouraging people to repost or comment on the verse. It provides a way for them to engage with the content actively and commit it to memory.
Create Podcast Around Your Sunday Message
Use podcasts to engage with your church congregation by recording and sharing your Sunday prayers as podcasts. This makes the content more searchable and shareable for your followers.
You can also create additional podcast episodes that delve deeper into the message, providing a chance to expand on the ideas from the previous Sunday's prayer more informally. This can help people connect with your church on a deeper, more personal level, increasing the impact of your message throughout the week.
By sharing links to the podcast on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, churches can make it easy for people to access and listen to the podcast. They can also use hashtags related to the podcast to help it reach a wider audience.
Share Videos From Your Worship Team
Share engaging music-related content with your church congregation by filming and posting videos featuring your worship team on social platforms like YouTube and Instagram. This can be a powerful way to connect with your audience on an emotional stage, as music has the ability to reach people on a deep level.
If it's not feasible to film a full-scale video during a worship service, consider having a worship leader or small group record themselves. You can also experiment with different formats and approaches, such as performing covers or original songs. It's essential to do your research and ensure that you have the necessary licenses and permissions to stream the content without being flagged by the social platform.
Church-related videos can be flagged on social media for community standards violations, copyright infringement, or sensitive or controversial content.
Use The Pastor’s Social Media Accounts
There's no doubt that today people trust people more than organizations. This makes it super important to connect with your ideal audience through personal accounts.
You can delegate the work of managing the pastor's social media accounts if they don't find the time to manage them. This will help to maintain a solid social presence of your church and ensure that your messages and content align with your vision and values.
Create A Facebook Group For Your Volunteers
A Facebook group is an extremely powerful medium to extend your church's online influence. After close friends and family, groups are the second most potent factor in Facebook's algorithm.
You can easily use Facebook groups to grow your audience and reach effectively. You should start by creating engaging content for your group audience by asking relevant questions and sharing useful information and resources. Facebook groups help to foster a sense of community, where you can encourage your followers to interact with each other.
Read more: The Ultimate Guide To Facebook Groups
The Best SMM Tool For Churches: Engage Your Congregation & Amplify Your Message
Statusbrew is a social media management tool that is widely used by churches to streamline and optimize their social media efforts. Here are some key features of Statusbrew that churches widely use:
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Scheduling and publishing: Statusbrew allows churches to schedule and publish content across multiple platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, on which they wish to expand their social presence. This can help churches save time and ensure that their content is being shared consistently and efficiently.
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Social listening: Statusbrew's social listening feature allows churches to track and responds to brand mentions, keywords, and hashtags across social media platforms. This can help churches monitor the conversation around their brand and engage with their audience in real-time.
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Analytics and reporting: Statusbrew provides a range of analytics and metrics that can help churches track the success of their social media efforts. This includes data on reach, engagement, and conversions, as well as insights into the demographics of their audience.
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Collaboration and team management: Statusbrew helps churches collaborate with their team members to publish content, create approval workflows, and assign conversations to specific team members. This can help churches coordinate their social media efforts and ensure everyone is on the same page.
Book a free demo to understand how we can help!
Ready To Maximize Your Church's Social Media Impact?
Social media can be a valuable tool for churches to connect with their congregation and extend their reach online. Social media platforms allow churches to share relevant content, engage with their audience, and build community.
Some strategies that churches can use to leverage social media effectively include creating themes for different days of the week, interacting with their followers through dialogue and discussion, creating podcast content around their Sunday message, posting music and worship videos, and establishing a Facebook group.
By implementing these strategies, churches can effectively engage with their congregation and amplify their message online.
If you are in search of the best social media management tool for your church, give Statusbrew a try and see how it can help you share your message and connect with your community.
Statusbrew is an all-in-one social media management tool that supports Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and even Google My Business.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
Here are some commonly asked questions about social media for churches:
Which is the best social media platform for churches?
The social media channels churches should be on are determined by the audience they are trying to attract. However, churches widely use Instagram and Facebook to maximize their online presence.
What should churches post on social media?
Churches can highlight testimonies from their church members, quotes from the Sunday prayers, share verses from the Bible, interview their pastor, or promote an upcoming event in the form of social posts.
How should pastors use social media?
A pastor should post consistently, engage and respond to comments, and create an atmosphere where the community feels welcome to share their thoughts.
Some types of posts that pastors can use on social media are personal reflections on faith, spirituality, or current events, behind-the-scenes content of the church and prayers and encouragement.
While posting such and more types of content on social media pastors should be cautious of what is posted, use links wisely, engaging with followers and be transparent and authentic while also protecting confidential information.
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