How to Reach Your City on Social Media
invitee mail service by Tiffany Deluccia
I recently read a quote by Seth Godin that got me thinking. He said, "Social media is a marathon, a gradual process in which yous build a reputation. The best time to commencement was a while ago. The second all-time fourth dimension to first is today."
That statement could be said of just about any effort to reach out to our communities, connect our church members or lead for change. Social media obviously isn't the answer in and of itself, simply it happens to be a valuable tool that tin can back up those goals (too equally a lot of others).
The options can be paralyzing, and it's easy to feel stuck in cycles of online activeness we're not certain how to evaluate or staff. So, I've listed a few strategic steps to assistance you start the marathon with an expectation of finishing well.
1) Offset slow and evaluate which social media platforms best suit your church.
Consider your church members, your city, your outreach programs, etc. Polling people tin be a proficient identify to start: You need to know what social media they use nearly then you tin can reach them where they are in the rhythm of their day. This might be different for varying historic period groups or genders. For instance, you might find Instagram is the about effective fashion to interact with older teens, Pinterest is important to 30-something women or that, surprisingly, y'all have a lot of boomers on Facebook. Start with the facts and yous'll set yourself up to be more than successful.
2) Identify the social media enthusiasts and influencers in your church.
If you're non listening, you may not realize there'due south a guy in your church building who tweets from every church building result, or a woman who shares your sermon podcast with her Facebook friends the moment it goes live. I bet you have some bloggers in your church. Effective social media is really but networking to drive online give-and-take-of-mouth and action. Information technology requires interaction with people, so listening is key. It probably won't exist worth your time if you lot simply pump out church announcements.
3) Draft a plan and schedule.
Magazine editors know the importance of an editorial calendar, and making 1 can seriously simplify your process for creating content, whether for a blog, YouTube aqueduct or Pinterest boards. When you plan your sermon series or your strategy for encouraging next steps, take fourth dimension to outline ideas for supporting those things with social media. Side notation: Video (even unproblematic footling videos like Vine) are some of the well-nigh shared content. If you lot plan ahead a bit, you can produce more creative, shareable content that volition help yous build civilization, reinforce priorities and facilitate give-and-take and participation.
4) Brand it manageable!
Being consistent is the key to edifice a beneficial social media strategy: create content regularly, respond to commenters promptly and enlist the help of your influencers proactively. You lot won't be able to do it lonely. Build a team to be accountable for the editorial calendar and for responding to people who engage. It's ok to go along the stride slow equally long as information technology's steady – this is a marathon!
v) Programme for the worst.
This may be the Trunk of Christ, simply that doesn't mean anybody online will act like Christ. Programme ahead for a crunch past taking time to evaluate worst-case scenarios. Call up through the best ways to handle those situations and determine roles for each team fellow member. Of particular importance: Found an expected length of time for responding to any negative thing that arises. As we've all seen, negativity travels fast online and silence rarely helps.
Intentionally building your church civilization takes fourth dimension, and doing it through social media is no different. So, warm upwards, stretch and have the first few steps to get up to speed.
photograph credit: j&tplaman via compflight.com
Tiffany Deluccia handles social media consulting and media relations at JDPR in Greenville, SC. She graduated from Clemson University and has experience working with diverse nonprofits and churches on social media strategy and content creation. She also founded and writes for WastingPerfume.com , a devotional web log for young women and teen girls.
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