Have you considered a social media ministry for your church? It allows you to connect with current and potential congregants and donors no matter what circumstances arise.
As we’ve seen in 2020, unforeseen situations can come up and make it difficult to connect. However, a social media ministry is a powerful way to overcome those challenges.
The Intent of a Social Media Ministry
Before you start a new ministry within your church, you (as a church leader) will need to communicate what its intent is and how it will encourage growth.
A social media ministry is a form of intentional outreach designed to take your message out to the world through social media networks. Its objectives include the following:
To interact and build a community
To raise awareness of the church, programs, and activities
To provide content to increase spiritual growth and maturity
To educate
To nurture donors
To spread the Gospel message
You might be thinking, “But this is what we do from our physical location already.” The benefit of a social media ministry is it lets you move beyond the church doors and into nearly every corner of the world—over time, of course.
Social Media Stats
Before listing 5 benefits of your church being on social media, let us consider 3 simple statistics…
More than 1 billion people log into Facebook daily.
Roughly 500 million people use Instagram daily.
Around 186 million people use Twitter daily.
Now, with that said, doesn’t it make sense to consider a social media ministry for your local church?
As we’ve stated, a social media ministry allows you to stay connected no matter the distance or circumstance. Here is a breakdown of benefits.
5 Social Media Ministry Benefits and Ways to Implement Them
Reach those who are unable to attend services for various reasons. There are a number of reasons congregants can’t attend services throughout the week, from physical distance to physical ailments. However, a social media ministry allows them to stay connected and remain part of the community.
This type of ministry is ideal for those who are elderly and even for families who struggle to get to a Sunday morning service regularly. (Who hasn’t struggled to get the kids dressed, fed, and out the door in time to get seated in the sanctuary BEFORE worship starts?) An online community or study allows them to fellowship virtually.
Implementation: Create a private Bible study Facebook group. We suggest starting out by posting a video once a week to your Facebook page. This video could be an overview of the study material and lesson. Encourage people to tune in and comment. Post related study questions throughout the week.
Encourage your donors and supporters. Any supporter of a church or ministry wants to know they are making an impact. While social media groups should be focused on building a community rather than building donations, there are ways to encourage donors without a direct ask.
Implementation: Leverage an impact story. The Bible is full of powerful impact stories. The human brain identifies with transformation stories. After all, we are all living one of our own. Your church or ministry can highlight a transformation story from a program or donation on your Facebook group page.
Start your impact story by stating how the person or group was struggling before your donors provided their support. Remind the donors of their impact. End by projecting how their support will continue to change lives and meet future goals.
Reach the younger generation. We know the younger generation is online. In fact, according to a Pew Research report, “Almost all Millennials (nearly 100%) now say they use the internet, and 19% of them are smartphone-only internet users—that is, they own a smartphone but do not have broadband internet services at home.”
Implementation: Create an online presence on top of social media platforms. We suggest starting with one platform, Facebook, and getting this bridge built before moving on to others such as Instagram or Snapchat.
This isn’t to say that once you are present on Facebook, you no longer need to develop and build on what was started. You’ll want to continue to grow this ministry by scheduling posts, producing graphics, uploading videos, etc.
Build a brand through recognition and authority. If you have a message that changes lives, people need to be able to recognize and easily share your church or ministry with others. Through social media, you can build brand authority and recognition.
Implementation: Develop a style guide. A style guide is a great place to start. This creates a cohesive look, feel, and voice that everyone on your team can easily reference when producing content for your social media ministry.
Lead people to human interactions. Although social media is a powerful tool for reaching the lost, hurt, and future generations, we can’t deny that people still want human interaction. A social media ministry can help satisfy that desire.
Implementation: Schedule various in-person meetings throughout the year. This can be something else to add to your social media arsenal. Build up excitement as you plan for regularly scheduled in-person events. Make an announcement on social media platforms.
In essence, a social media ministry can be the gate that people enter to find out about your church or ministry, get involved, and ultimately become a supporter, all while finding a sense of belonging and community.
Bonus Benefit…
It’s FREE! Yes, you can buy schedulers, along with content and graphic-creation tools, but getting started on any major platform is free. You just need a reference point.
Click HERE to download our FREE Social Media Tool Kit!
Considerations When Starting a Social Media Ministry
A full-time person to manage the social media platforms – This would include organizing a schedule for posts; gathering information regarding programs and activities; and ensuring the messages, posts, and images are cohesive with your ministry’s brand identity.
This person would also need to understand and know how to manage comments and posts from the community.
A part to full-time person to produce written content – It would be asking a lot of the social media manager to produce content in addition to handling their other responsibilities. Finding a person to create content and work closely with the manager is ideal. Together, they can coordinate what to post and when, as well as determine which links to include in posts that then take followers to deeper content on your website.
A part to full-time person to produce video and/or build images and graphics – Similar to your written content producer, a video and image builder can work with the manager (and the writer) to create a cohesive look and voice. This job can be a big undertaking, but neglecting it can be detrimental to your ministry, as video content has some of the best ROI when it comes to awareness and marketing.
In Summary…
The impact a strong social media ministry can have on a community, a church, a ministry, donors, and congregants cannot be overstated.
This type of ministry…
Reaches those outside of the church
Engages those within the church
Builds your church’s brand and voice
Encourages donors by showing their contributions are making an impact
Leads people to greater connection and interaction
A social media ministry is a powerful way to walk out your faith in the digital age.
If you are concerned with spreading the message of hope every day of the week and beyond the walls of your local church, then a social media ministry could be the answer. In times of struggle, people are scouring the web looking for answers, peace, and understanding.
Your online presence makes a difference in so many lives. Get out there. Be social and spread the good news!
Not sure where to start?
Our team can help you build a strategy to grow your social media ministry. Learn more about how our church marketing services can help you grow!
How Social Media Ministry Benefits Your Church
Have you considered a social media ministry for your church? It allows you to connect with current and potential congregants and donors no matter what circumstances arise.
As we’ve seen in 2020, unforeseen situations can come up and make it difficult to connect. However, a social media ministry is a powerful way to overcome those challenges.
The Intent of a Social Media Ministry
Before you start a new ministry within your church, you (as a church leader) will need to communicate what its intent is and how it will encourage growth.
A social media ministry is a form of intentional outreach designed to take your message out to the world through social media networks. Its objectives include the following:
To interact and build a community
To raise awareness of the church, programs, and activities
To provide content to increase spiritual growth and maturity
To educate
To nurture donors
To spread the Gospel message
You might be thinking, “But this is what we do from our physical location already.” The benefit of a social media ministry is it lets you move beyond the church doors and into nearly every corner of the world—over time, of course.
Social Media Stats
Before listing 5 benefits of your church being on social media, let us consider 3 simple statistics…
More than 1 billion people log into Facebook daily.
Roughly 500 million people use Instagram daily.
Around 186 million people use Twitter daily.
Now, with that said, doesn’t it make sense to consider a social media ministry for your local church?
As we’ve stated, a social media ministry allows you to stay connected no matter the distance or circumstance. Here is a breakdown of benefits.
5 Social Media Ministry Benefits and Ways to Implement Them
Reach those who are unable to attend services for various reasons. There are a number of reasons congregants can’t attend services throughout the week, from physical distance to physical ailments. However, a social media ministry allows them to stay connected and remain part of the community.
This type of ministry is ideal for those who are elderly and even for families who struggle to get to a Sunday morning service regularly. (Who hasn’t struggled to get the kids dressed, fed, and out the door in time to get seated in the sanctuary BEFORE worship starts?) An online community or study allows them to fellowship virtually.
Implementation: Create a private Bible study Facebook group. We suggest starting out by posting a video once a week to your Facebook page. This video could be an overview of the study material and lesson. Encourage people to tune in and comment. Post related study questions throughout the week.
Encourage your donors and supporters. Any supporter of a church or ministry wants to know they are making an impact. While social media groups should be focused on building a community rather than building donations, there are ways to encourage donors without a direct ask.
Implementation: Leverage an impact story. The Bible is full of powerful impact stories. The human brain identifies with transformation stories. After all, we are all living one of our own. Your church or ministry can highlight a transformation story from a program or donation on your Facebook group page.
Start your impact story by stating how the person or group was struggling before your donors provided their support. Remind the donors of their impact. End by projecting how their support will continue to change lives and meet future goals.
Reach the younger generation. We know the younger generation is online. In fact, according to a Pew Research report, “Almost all Millennials (nearly 100%) now say they use the internet, and 19% of them are smartphone-only internet users—that is, they own a smartphone but do not have broadband internet services at home.”
Implementation: Create an online presence on top of social media platforms. We suggest starting with one platform, Facebook, and getting this bridge built before moving on to others such as Instagram or Snapchat.
This isn’t to say that once you are present on Facebook, you no longer need to develop and build on what was started. You’ll want to continue to grow this ministry by scheduling posts, producing graphics, uploading videos, etc.
Build a brand through recognition and authority. If you have a message that changes lives, people need to be able to recognize and easily share your church or ministry with others. Through social media, you can build brand authority and recognition.
Implementation: Develop a style guide. A style guide is a great place to start. This creates a cohesive look, feel, and voice that everyone on your team can easily reference when producing content for your social media ministry.
Lead people to human interactions. Although social media is a powerful tool for reaching the lost, hurt, and future generations, we can’t deny that people still want human interaction. A social media ministry can help satisfy that desire.
Implementation: Schedule various in-person meetings throughout the year. This can be something else to add to your social media arsenal. Build up excitement as you plan for regularly scheduled in-person events. Make an announcement on social media platforms.
In essence, a social media ministry can be the gate that people enter to find out about your church or ministry, get involved, and ultimately become a supporter, all while finding a sense of belonging and community.
Bonus Benefit…
It’s FREE! Yes, you can buy schedulers, along with content and graphic-creation tools, but getting started on any major platform is free. You just need a reference point.
Click HERE to download our FREE Social Media Tool Kit!
Considerations When Starting a Social Media Ministry
A full-time person to manage the social media platforms – This would include organizing a schedule for posts; gathering information regarding programs and activities; and ensuring the messages, posts, and images are cohesive with your ministry’s brand identity.
This person would also need to understand and know how to manage comments and posts from the community.
A part to full-time person to produce written content – It would be asking a lot of the social media manager to produce content in addition to handling their other responsibilities. Finding a person to create content and work closely with the manager is ideal. Together, they can coordinate what to post and when, as well as determine which links to include in posts that then take followers to deeper content on your website.
A part to full-time person to produce video and/or build images and graphics – Similar to your written content producer, a video and image builder can work with the manager (and the writer) to create a cohesive look and voice. This job can be a big undertaking, but neglecting it can be detrimental to your ministry, as video content has some of the best ROI when it comes to awareness and marketing.
In Summary…
The impact a strong social media ministry can have on a community, a church, a ministry, donors, and congregants cannot be overstated.
This type of ministry…
Reaches those outside of the church
Engages those within the church
Builds your church’s brand and voice
Encourages donors by showing their contributions are making an impact
Leads people to greater connection and interaction
A social media ministry is a powerful way to walk out your faith in the digital age.
If you are concerned with spreading the message of hope every day of the week and beyond the walls of your local church, then a social media ministry could be the answer. In times of struggle, people are scouring the web looking for answers, peace, and understanding.
Your online presence makes a difference in so many lives. Get out there. Be social and spread the good news!
Not sure where to start?
Our team can help you build a strategy to grow your social media ministry. Learn more about how our church marketing services can help you grow!
Lauren Zylyk