{"id":16776,"date":"2019-12-13T15:22:15","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T20:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qgiv.com\/blog\/?p=16776"},"modified":"2023-08-31T10:06:04","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T14:06:04","slug":"five-steps-to-build-a-successful-social-media-strategy-for-your-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qgiv.com\/blog\/five-steps-to-build-a-successful-social-media-strategy-for-your-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Steps to Build a Successful Social Media Strategy for Your Church"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Social media is the church\u2019s modern-day extension of phone\ncall invitations, pamphlets, sign waving, and more. If your church is looking\nto promote an event, increase service attendance, serve its community with\nuplifting news, and more, social media is the tool to make it happen! Almost\nhalf of the world\u2019s population is on social media. Sixty-nine percent of adult\nAmericans use at least one social network and spend, on average, two and a half\nhours on their social networks per day.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To get your church\u2019s message in front of supporters and potential members on the platforms they use daily, you need a social media strategy<\/strong>. Keep reading for six steps to build a social media strategy for your church!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Identify Your Audience<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Identifying your target audience is a necessary step for any communications plan. Identifying your target audience will impact how you write your posts (formal versus informal for example) and will help you determine what platforms your church should be active on. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look at your current congregation\u2014what is its demographic makeup? Different demographics (age groups, genders, etc.) flock to different social media platforms. The platforms your congregants are most likely on are the platforms you want to invest time in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facebook<\/strong><\/a>\n\u2013 <\/strong>Facebook is the most popular social media platform. 68%\nof adult social media users are on Facebook.<\/a> 74% of female social media\nusers use Facebook while 62% of male social media users use Facebook. 51% of\nsocial media users ages 13 to 17 are on Facebook, 81% of 18 to 29-year-olds, 78%\nof 30 to 49-year-olds, 65% of 50 to 64-year-olds, and 41% of social media users\nover 65 use Facebook.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instagram<\/strong><\/a>\u2013 Instagram has\none billion active monthly users and 400 million active daily users<\/a>. 39% of\nfemale social media users use Instagram while 30% of male social media users\nuse Instagram. 72% of social media users between the ages of 13-17 are on\nInstagram, 64% of 18 to 29-year-olds, 40% of 30 to 49-year-olds, 21% of 50 to 64-year-olds,\nand 10% of social media users over 65 use Instagram. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

X<\/strong><\/a>\u201324% of female social media users use X while 23% of male social media users use X. 32% of social media users ages 13 to 17 are on X, 40% of 18 to 29-year-olds, 27% of 30 to 49-year-olds, 19% of 50 to 64-year-olds, and 8% of social media users over 65 use X. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

LinkedIn<\/strong><\/a>\u2013 LinkedIn is primarily used for B2B marketing and connecting professionals. LinkedIn has over 660 million registered users.<\/a> Gender wise, LinkedIn is evenly split with 25% of female and male social media users using the site. 29% of social media users aged 18 to 29 use LinkedIn, 33% of 30 to 49-year-olds, 24% of 50 to 64-year-olds, and 9% of social media users over 65 use LinkedIn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your church is looking to diversify its congregation, look at platforms outside of what may be used by your current members. If you do this, maintain your church\u2019s voice\u2014don\u2019t change the way you represent your church. You want new visitors who come to a service or event to feel comfortable and like what they saw on social media was an accurate portrayal of your church. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Create Clear Goals for Your Social Media Presence<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

According to the Sprout Social Index<\/a> report, the top three goals marketers have for the social media channels they manage are to increase brand\/organization awareness, generate leads\/sales (to your church this may mean generating new members or converts), and increasing engagement. These three broad goals should guide your post content and overall social media strategy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When you create social media goals for your church try to\nmake them concise and measurable. Who is your goal targeting? When do you want\nto reach your goal by? Follow the EGAD acronym outlined in Managing Public\nRelations<\/em> by Peter Smudde: E<\/strong>ffect, G<\/strong>oal, A<\/strong>udience,\nD<\/strong>eadline. <\/strong> View the examples\nbelow to see EGAD in action!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Increase awareness of our church by gaining 100\nnew Facebook page likes from Tampa Facebook users by April 1, 2020. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Increase our X engagement rate by 3% by posting visual content and polls by January 1st<\/sup>. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Reach more people with the good news by\nincreasing the number of clicks to our sermon video landing page from social by\n5% by January 1st<\/sup>. <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    If this is your church\u2019s first time to sit down and talk about goals for social media, feel free to start broad and then narrow your focus. Read more about goal setting for social media here.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    3. Use Platforms That Cater to Your Audience and Your Church Has Time to Manage<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Each social media platform has its own expectations and\nposting \u201cnorms.\u201d Posting\nregularly is an expectation that comes with social media<\/a>. If you don\u2019t post\nregularly your followers won\u2019t know what to expect and the value of following\nor liking your church\u2019s page becomes unclear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Try and post daily on Facebook and LinkedIn. X best practice is to post at least three times per day (this can include retweets of other users\u2019 content). Post at least once per day on Instagram, even if you\u2019re just posting to your story.<\/strong> If your church is only able to post on X once per week, for example, try sticking to Facebook and posting daily on that platform till you have the bandwidth to expand managing other platforms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In addition to evaluating what you have the time to manage, look at your congregation\u2019s demographics to determine what social media platforms you should manage. If you have an older congregation, for example, investing your time and resources into Facebook instead of X is a good choice. If you have a booming youth program X and Instagram would be great platforms to invest time in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    4. Create Posts That Meet Your Goals and are Tailored to Your Platform<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    What are your church\u2019s social media goals? Every post you\ncreate should achieve a strategic goal\u2014having clear goals will help legitimize\nsocial media as a communication tool to your church leaders and result in\nquality content that provides a clear value to your followers<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Your posts can be informative<\/em> (informing your\nfollowers of a guest speaker who will be giving a sermon, announcing a\npartnership with a local food bank for the holidays, releasing Vacation Bible School\ndates, etc.); and your posts can focus on motivating your audience to take an action<\/em>\n(asking for Sunday school volunteers and providing a link to a volunteer signup\nform, sharing the dates of your Easter service times and asking your followers\nto share it, releasing your pastor\u2019s podcast with the goal of driving traffic\nto the podcast webpage, etc.). Whether you\u2019re trying to increase service\nattendance or volunteer registrations, all your posts will fall into one of\nthese two goals\u2014informing your audience or persuading your audience to take\naction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ask yourself after you\u2019ve drafted a post\u2026what value does\nthis bring to our followers? Is it informing them of something? Or is it\noffering them an opportunity to take an action? When you craft posts aimed at\ninspiring action make sure your call to action (CTA) is clear and you provide an\navenue for your followers to act (this can be a link to your  webpage or the phone number to the church\noffice). The last thing you want is a post asking for volunteers with no clear\nway for your followers to sign up!<\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"\"
    The CTA in this post by Bethany Community Church<\/a> (a client who uses our donation forms for special giving campaigns) is clear and a link is provided so followers of the church can listen to the podcast. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

    Once you\u2019ve set a goal for your post make sure it meets best practices for each platform. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Facebook <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    Always strive for concise copy! Posts should be no longer than 470 characters. The sweet spot ranges from 200-300 characters. Images uploaded with posts should be 1,200 by 630 pixels. Hashtags aren\u2019t used to follow trending topics like they are on X and LinkedIn, so only use hashtags if you\u2019ve branded a series with a hashtag (#PastorToddPodcast or #VBS2020 for example).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    X<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    Only 280 characters maximum are allowed in a tweet. An image uploaded in a post (shared image) should be 1024 x 512 pixels. Hashtags and emojis are encouraged! Use hashtags to help your posts be found by X users that may be interested in your content. <\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"\"
    Short, sweet, and to the point! This tweet by Faithbridge Church<\/a> (a client who uses our donation forms for special giving campaigns) uses a graphic to convey valuable information so the tweet itself isn’t text heavy. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

    LinkedIn <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    Posts should be no longer than 500 characters. The sweet\nspot ranges around 300 characters. An image uploaded in a post (shared image)\nshould be 1104 x 736 pixels. Use hashtags to help users find your content. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Instagram <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    Copy should be under 300 characters. Photo thumbnails are 161 x 161 pixels, but images should be uploaded as 1080 x1080 pixels. Rectangular images can be uploaded to Instagram as well, but in the thumbnail view the edges of the photo will be cut off. Use hashtags and emojis in your post description.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    5. Brand Your Content<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Determining the visuals and messaging you\u2019ll use to\nrepresent your church ensures that you have a clear framework to build posts\nand graphics in. This design and messaging framework make up your church\u2019s\nbrand. Branding done well can add legitimacy to your social media accounts,\nincrease engagement on your posts, and even result in more traffic to your\nwebsite. To clearly brand your content you should have the following: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Logos sized for social media <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    On each platform you manage you should have your church\u2019s\nlogo as your profile picture so your account can be easily found by those who\nattend or recognize your church. This helps solidify your brand identity and is\na step in making your church visually recognizable. You can incorporate your\nchurch\u2019s logo and mission statement on your cover photo for added brand\nrecognition. <\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
    \"\"
    Faithbridge Church<\/a> has done an excellent job branding their Facebook page by featuring the church’s logo as their profile picture and incorporating adding their logo to an interactive cover video. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

    On Facebook a business page profile picture is 180 x 180 pixels and a cover photo is 820 x 312 pixels. On X a profile picture is 400 x 400 pixels and the header photo is 1,500 x 500 pixels. On LinkedIn a business page logo is 300 x 300 pixels and the cover photo is 1536 x 768 pixels. For Instagram your profile image should be 110 x 110 pixels. Sizing your profile and cover photos for each platform is necessary to ensure your photos aren\u2019t blurry or cut-off. Use sites like Canva<\/a> or editing software like Photoshop or Lightroom<\/a> to resize your images. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A color scheme that represents your church <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    Look at your church\u2019s website, pamphlets, and welcome\nbrochures. Any common colors that stand out can be incorporated into your\nsocial posts to carry the church\u2019s brand onto your content. Canva<\/a> and Adobe\nSpark<\/a> are great tools for creating social media graphics\u2014you can even\ncreate a color pallet to use in all of your posts which creates a branded look.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Fonts <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    An important part of creating and maintaining a brand is choosing a font to represent your church. Most organizations have a principle font and two or three sub-fonts. Fonts can vary extremely, so creating visual consistency by limiting the number of different fonts used from one to three in your designs is important. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Conclusion<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Social media is an excellent tool for your church to share\nits mission and communicate with supporters. With these six tips you can begin\nto create a social media strategy that engages your community and increases\nawareness of your church. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For more insight on creating a great social media strategy for your church, check out these blogs: <\/p>\n\n\n\n