Do you feel like you’re running ragged trying to get your social media out the door? You have Hootsuite and Buffer, but scheduling isn’t the problem, actually CREATING is the problem.
I totally understand that. When your week is just getting started, the last thing you want to do is sit down and try to create social media graphics. You have no idea where to pull the content from. You don’t know what tools to use to get the job done most efficiently and effectively.
Here’s a list of 4 strategies that will hopefully change your social media game for the better. Let’s kick it.
1. Get a Transcript of that Sermon
Your church is probably already archiving the sermon via video and audio, why not go the extra step of getting that audio transcribed? Here’s why you should get a transcript:
- Posting the sermon transcript on your website underneath your video helps your SEO.
- Posting your sermon transcript is a nice thing to do for the deaf community in your area.
- Getting a sermon transcript helps you easily create content for social media!
I think those first two are great reasons enough, but the sermon transcript changed my way of working. I no longer had to listen to it over and over again trying to find great quotes or places to cut video, I could easily highlight those spots and start creating.
By eliminating the search, you free up more time to be creative and get content out the door.
2. Create Graphics
There are many ways to create graphics today and there’s no excuse to not create them. Social media posts that contain an image will always outperform just text. Content that has images, on average, gets 94% more views than content that has none. So your social media posts need (almost require) images. But where do we get these from? Where can we create great images?
If you are creating graphics then I recommend using Canva or Photoshop. Canva is free. You can also get Canva for Business (premium Canva) for free using your church’s non-profit status. Photoshop isn’t free but is the gold standard for creating and editing photos and graphics. Personally, I don’t think one is better than the other for social media graphic creation, but I would say that I think Canva is a bit quicker since they have templates for quote art already created for easy use.
3. Ask Questions
If you’re looking to increase social media engagement in your church, then asking questions is a great place to start. Here are types of questions you could be asking:
- Direct/Specific: What’s your favorite bible story?
- Current Events/Time-related: Happy Thanksgiving! What are you thankful for?
- Yes or No/Survey: Are you ready for Sunday? Do you think we should change the bulletin?
- Experience: What is your favorite moment or quote from yesterday’s sermon?
Keep the questions simple and try your best to not sound like a robot. Also, try to reply to each comment.
4. Cut Some Video
Video almost always outperforms anything on social media. You should upload these videos natively if possible. This means if you have a video, you should upload it directly to Facebook rather than uploading it to YouTube and then sharing the link to Facebook.
Conclusion
Social media is an amazing tool and we can use it to disciple and evangelize if we open ourselves up to it. Hopefully, these tips will help you have an easier time figuring out what to create for your church’s social media.
