One of the big buzzwords in Christian technology and design circles is social media and its role in online engagement and community. To answer some of the questions about church social media, I’ve provided this short guide, which is the first in a series of posts about church social media strategy.
1) Quality content. Stories, art, insight, and fun content that keeps readers interested. You might also consider video if that works for you.
2) The three most important components to consider in your church’s social media vision are:
3) Focus on evergreen content over time-specific content. One way to help create more evergreen content is to create a series on particular issues important to potential members. What would be helpful or valuable to my members which I feel is consistent with my faith? Realize that time-specific content like church, community, and event announcements are still incredibly important, but this tip is more about focusing on what will be valuable 3 years from now than just 3 days from now.
4) Consider re-purposing content. If you already have a church newsletter or e-mail newsletter, perhaps 65 to 85 percent of that could be valuable to your users. One great way is to re-purpose sermon content in 1 to 3.5 minute snippets. Most users won’t be interested in listening to 25 minute lessons, so making short snippets available so they can access core lesson components in short bursts is important. One website that has done a great job of putting their content into snippets and is an example of video social media best practice in this regard is Stanford E-Corner website, which provides short themed segments.
5) Idea board. Create a document, wiki, or whiteboard to explore ideas for the blog. You might even just use a traditional paper model. This helps centralize your ideas so that no ideas get left behind. There are a ton of great free and low cost Enterprise 2.0 and Web 2.0 tools that are perfect for document collaboration (Google Docs and PB Wiki are available for free, while Zoho Docs and Basecamp are inexpensive paid platforms). This is also a great way to collaborate productively on ideas in staff and ministry groups.
6) Try to keep it personal and conversational. This is one of the core precepts of the new era of social media on the web. One way to do this is with your tone. Another is to have short interviews with community members about important issues and events.
7) Look to models and proven social media best practices. Check out the top 100 church blogs. What do they share in common? This can provide you with strategic insight about what type of content is link worthy and therefore SEO friendly.
8) Think about users. What are the 7 to 10 most relevant items? This is the same decision you might make in a Christian newspaper or magazine. Front page your most important content by putting links on the top or side menu bar. Another user-centric design consideration is to keep your design visual.
9) Aggregation. If you have multiple publishing platforms online you may consider consolidating them in one place via aggregation. Content aggregation makes it easy for users to access and view all the content on one particular topic all in one easy to use location. Widgets and content aggregation is one way for you to bring in content from your favorite Christian magazine, website, or blogger.
You will want to return to some of these concepts every 6 to 12 months as you review your church social media goals and strategies. Make no mistake, it is a time and content creation commitment. Often solving that issue is just a matter of focus and time management.
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