Social Media 101

#MarketingYourMinistry

What is Social Media?

 Social media is a conversation

 Social media is interactive

 Engagement matters

 Social media tells a story

 Social media builds community

Who are you chatting with?  Your audience determines your platform

Wanna talk to everyone? Go to Facebook

  72% of online adults use the site.

Wanna talk to young adults? Use Instagram

  55% of online adults ages 18-29 are here.

Wanna talk to urbanites? Use Twitter

  30% of online urban adults under 50 are here.

What are you talking about?  Talk about your Mission  That’s what you do.

 Talk about your Ministry  That’s how you help others

 Talk about Yourself  Not so much

These 3 things are the “Story” of your church

What do you want folks to do after visiting with you?  Do you want them to share your post?

 Do you want them to comment?

 Do you want them to “like” or “love” your post?

Then Ask Them with a “Call To Action”

Your answers are your Content Strategy

 Where you chat

 Who you chat with

 What you chat about

How Do I Do All This?

Social Media Best Practices

How often do I post?

 1-to-2 times a day – especially weekends!

 Spread posts out

 Use analytics to schedule content

What should I post?

  Use insights to see what your audience likes and shares

  Videos are most effective

  Photos or illustrations come next

  Make sure all posts have a visual element!

When should I post?

 Use insights to see when your audience is online.

 Otherwise, use these rules for Facebook

 Saturday and Sunday between 8:30 a.m. and 8 p.m.

 Thursdays and Fridays between 1-4 p.m.

What are Insights?

 Facebook provides data that shows what posts are most effective

 You can also see when your audience is online

 You can monitor other churches and copy their techniques

What are Insights? Pt. 1

What are Insights? Pt. 2

What are Insights? Pt. 3

What are Insights? Pt. 4

How do I get followers?

 On Facebook, invite your friends to like the page

 Put flyers around the church

 Announce in the bulletin and/or on the monitor

What must be on my Facebook page?

How do I extend the reach of my posts?

 Use @ before a name to tag specific folks where appropriate.

 Use hashtags (#), so the content is searchable (e.g #MarketingYrMinistry)

 Use your calls to action

What churches are doing it right?

 Brentwood Baptist Church www.facebook.com/brentwoodbaptistchurch

Hillsong Church   www.facebook.com/hillsongchurch

 Saddleback Church www.facebook.com/saddlebackchurch

Resources and Info

www.canva.com   A good, free site for designing graphics for social media

Socialmedia.church    A podcast on using social media for all types of situations

  Pew Research Center: Internet Science and Tech   The go-to site for research on all things Internet, including social media