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Social Media for Churches: How to Build Your Strategy

Social media is important for churches if they want to grow and foster a community. Here’s how to get it right with our easy wins.

Posted 1 year ago

Written by

Julia Cohen

Posted 1 year ago

Having a social media presence is important in any industry or community if you want to recruit new members, educate people or foster the audience you already have – and churches are no exception. In today’s article, we’ll help you build the right social media strategy for your church, come up with content ideas, and implement easy wins especially if you are short on time and resources.

Jump to a section ✨

Why is social media important for churches? 👀
Which social media is best for churches? 🌟
How often should churches post on social media? 📆
Social media strategy for churches: how to connect with your community ✨
Social media content ideas for churches 📸
- Here are a few things to remember when it comes to running your church’s social media account ✅

Why is social media important for churches? 👀

Social media is a great communication channel for churches because it allows them to attract new, potentially younger members, connect with local communities, spread their message, and educate in a creative way. It is a marketing channel that you should utilize, integrating events, fundraisers, or services, spotlighting some of your community members and what new joiners can expect, making the thought of coming to service more inviting and potentially less intimidating.

Which social media is best for churches? 🌟

Most social media channels can be helpful for churches, based on what you want to achieve. Depending on what resources and time you have, the channels you should make your first priority are Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. The channels you choose can also be determined by the audience you are trying to attract. If you are recruiting older members, your main focus will likely be Facebook, whereas if you are looking to recruit younger members to the church, your main focus should be Instagram and TikTok. If you are using social media as a way for other members to access content like videos of full services, you can also think about using YouTube as a way to upload and share longer-form videos.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Freedom Church (@freedomchurch)

How often should churches post on social media? 📆

Posting consistently is the key to success, no matter what niche you are in. And often, churches may not have a dedicated social media manager, relying on volunteers to help create and drive content. So, before you start thinking about volume, think about how many posts you are able to commit to, a week (per channel) – we’d recommend a minimum of at least 2 times per week if possible. Once you have decided what is achievable just make sure to stick to that schedule, and you’ll likely see success.

Social media strategy for churches: how to connect with your community ✨

There are a few things you can implement into your social media strategy as a church that are easy wins and will help you grow. Let’s walk through a few of them now!

1) Hashtags

Hashtags have been ingrained in social media’s DNA since day one, and are still an extremely useful tool when it comes to growing and reaching communities. This is because they allow you to directly present yourself to people who are actively searching for churches, or church-related content. Hashtags work as a search tool, and if you’ve used a specific hashtag like ‘#londonchurch’, people who are searching for ‘London churches’ on Instagram may see your content. However, you still need to implement a strategy – just because you use the hashtag #londonchurch, doesn’t automatically guarantee that you will appear in that search result – it all depends on how you rank on that hashtag. So, how do you make sure you rank?

Hashtags & Analytics

Find, manage, and analyze hashtags for Instagram.

We’ve got a whole strategy guide to help you with your hashtags here, but let’s quickly run through the basics.

Firstly, you want to make sure you use hashtags that are relevant to your content. For a church, this might be things related to your location like ‘#londonchurch”, or specific topics you might talk about in services. If you use a random hashtag, it’s likely your content won’t rank.

Next, you want to make sure the hashtags you are using are the right size for your account. By that, we mean paying attention to how many people are posting in that hashtag, and the average engagement the top posts get. If the engagement doesn’t match up to yours, it is likely that you will find it harder to rank on that hashtag. For example, ‘#love’ is such a popular hashtag that it would be extremely hard to rank on it. In order to find out which hashtags are the right size for your account, you can use Flick, which will allow you to search for ‘topics’ related to your content, and suggests hashtags based on your current performance and size.

2) Location tags

Because churches are extremely location-based, it’s important you make use of this on social media. Use hashtags to tag your neighborhood, and pin your location on posts, so people know where to find you. You should also add your location to your Instagram bio so that when people do discover your page, they will know exactly where you are based.

Another great idea is collaborating with other organizations and businesses that are in your area. This will allow you to reach an audience of people that you already know are in your area – an easy win!

3) Trends

Trends are arguable the quickest way to grow on both TikTok and Instagram, whether that is by using trending songs/audio, or recreating a trend based on a pop-culture moment. They are usually fairly simple and easy to execute, you’ll just need to have your nose on the ground when it comes to seeing what’s trending. The best way to do this is by scrolling through your TikTok or Instagram feed, but TikTok also has a pretty handy website that allows you to see what’s trending on their platform: the creative center.

You can also find trending audio on Instagram by scrolling through Reels. When you see a song with an arrow icon (pictured below), it means it is currently trending. Below is an example of someone hopping on the ‘POV’ trend on TikTok:

@tembercadette758 no cause why we gotta sing the chorus 10 times?😂 #christiantok #christiantiktokcomunity #pentecostaltiktok #churchtiktok ♬ original sound – TheQuiteFranklyShow

Social media content ideas for churches 📸

Now that you’ve got the basics down, let’s delve into a little inspiration for the best-performing types of content you can post as a church.

1) Spotlighting talent: Have a church choir? Why not recruit them to make some short-form videos to showcase their talent?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Bethlehem Judah COGIC (@bethlehemjudah)

2) Day in the life: Let people get to know who works at the church, and what they do day to day. This is a great format for not only educating your community and followers but also so people get to know the personalities that they could expect to see if they join.

@krystalmuigai thought I’d show you a bit more of what I get up to #InstaxChallenge #dayinmylife #fyp #mediateam #church #christiantiktok ♬ Just a Cloud Away – Pharrell Williams

3) Snippets of services and inspirational quotes.

4) News about events and fundraisers

5) Run a Sunday school and have fun activities going on? Let people in on the setup or any fun activities you do.

@ecfcuk.es Comment who had the best fit 👇 #ecfcukes #churchfitcheck #church #churchtok ♬ Hatin 4 Me – Majic Juan Ayeedoe

6) Testimonials from church members

7) Q&As about sermons and answering FAQs in your Instagram Stories.

8) Create Facebook groups to allow existing church members to stay updated, interact, and network.

9) Host Livestreams

Here are a few things to remember when it comes to running your church’s social media account ✅

Always engage with comments and interact with people who are engaging with you.
Encourage feedback, and actively ask your followers to comment on what they’d like to see from you.
Try to post as consistently as possible.
Use different formats, like Stories, carousels, short-form videos, and images.
Use hashtags and location tags to help with discovery.

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Why is social media important for churches? 👀

Which social media is best for churches? 🌟

How often should churches post on social media? 📆

Social media strategy for churches: how to connect with your community ✨

Social media content ideas for churches 📸

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