Podcast Episode #208
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We cover a pair of recent posts on how your church can effectively use Facebook and Twitter.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
- Many times pastors do not realize how critical daily Bible reading is to the overall discipleship of the church.
- The ministry benefits of blogging as a church staff member far outweigh the time and effort it takes to blog.
- The more your church is known in your community, the more opportunity you will have to impact the community for Christ.
- Your posts on Facebook and Twitter should be targeted to your audience on each specific network.
- Post engaging content on social media that people will want to share.
- If a parent requests a picture of their child to be removed from social media, take it down. Don’t make it an issue.
- Not every church event needs a Facebook event set up for it.
- Encourage your members to share or retweet church social media posts—but post content worth sharing.
- If your church is not using Facebook and Twitter, you’re missing a huge opportunity to reach people.
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Feedback
If you have a question you would like answered on the show, fill out the form on the podcast page here at ThomRainer.com. If we use your question, you’ll receive a free copy of I Will.
I enjoyed this podcast and believe it gave some very helpful hints.
I like how you added to keep content fresh and relevant for your church on Facebook.
Just as some observation/warnings/food for thought, I’ve seen many churches that obviously do not have someone running the Facebook page with an idea of what to post.
Sometimes these ministry Facebooks are filled with too many shares (“inspirational” phrases or cheesy pictures) that often times make the page look unorganized and cluttered. Any pertinent information gets quickly lost and it becomes annoying to those who follow the ministry page.
I also have noticed churches who will (probably inadvertently) post or reshare articles &videos that are fake “Christian” news. It’s always good to verify. In these cases, it seems the churches do not know what type of content to post.
Lastly, I’ve noticed some ministries that will post pictures or videos that obviously in conflict with the church’s doctrinal convictions. Another real example: a church who was staunch KJV only had someone posting NIV scripture sayings. The church was very conservative in music but seemingly had no problem posting Christian inspiration pictures and videos of modern worship music. While it may not be a big deal, it doesn’t give a clear picture of the church.
Facebook and Twitter are powerful tools and should be used to their potential, guided by someone who understands best practices. Thank you for providing this blog and podcast
What app would you recommend for sending out daily bible reading reminders when most of the church doesn’t use twitter? I was thinking about one of those text-this-word-to-this-number to “opt in” things (notice my techno ignorance).
Thanks for your work.
Paul
I recently wrote a step by step guide on how churches can use Facebook Ads to better reach their audience. It’s a very cost effective way to get your message out to masses of people.
http://travisstephens.me/facebook-ads-for-churches/