What's working for me on social media
I’ll be honest, scheduling social media posts is one of my least favorite parts of communications work. Why is it so hard to think of clever posts, find quality pictures, and write it in a way that encourages a stream of comments to come in?
Why? Because it is so. dang. hard.
And now during Covid-time, our social media game matters even more.
I recently took on a 10-hour a week communications position with a church, and naturally social media is one of my responsibilities. Since I want to bring my A-game, I started how I begin every new project - with research.
As you might imagine, most of the churches and bloggers who write about church social media are not found within mainline denominations, which is my context. That meant there was a good bit of translation I needed to do, and half of what was suggested didn’t fit the churches I work with.
So I just started posting. I posted what program staff members wanted to highlight within their areas; I posted sermon quotes; I posted any random things I could think of. Not much of it got any traction.
As with any church, the posts that received the most reactions (likes, loves, etc.) and comments were the ones that related very directly to the church.
Day-long Series
The first set of posts that made me take notice was a day-long series. A handful of church members dedicated numerous hours to working on the grounds and one of the church buildings to make them ready for use.
After a general post about what would be coming that day, throughout the day I posted pictures of different areas and thanked the specific people who worked on that spot. The comments flowed in!
Week-long Series
The staff at the church suggested our second series: Worship Behind the Scenes. They all contributed photos and captions to be posted throughout the week. This series helped the congregation feel connected to what was happening Sunday mornings even while worshiping at home. And once again, the comments flowed in.
Why this Works
For the Audience
Connection. With a series of photos + captions, the page followers are getting to connect with a topic at a deeper level. So far our series have centered on people and places of the church, and since most of us are distant from them these days, it resonates on a deeper level.
Comfort. There’s also comfort in knowing what’s coming. They know to check back either throughout the day or week to see what’s coming next. Or if they miss a day to check the feed for a previous post.
Comments generate comments. Once one or two people comment on a post, the post will not only be shown to more of the page’s audience, but those comments provide encouragement for others to share their thoughts.
For Me
Daily Posts. Since it’s always a scramble to think of what to post, having a week-long series takes the guess-work out of posting daily. I use the series content to anchor the week’s posts, and then add in announcements and one-offs as needed.
Batching. I love to batch my work - to knock out many tasks within a category - and a series makes that possible. I figure out the flow of the posts either on paper or in a Google doc, and then post away.
It’s fun. I never thought I’d say posting to social media (for someone else) would be fun, but there you have it. I love getting a deeper look into the church, and getting to know new aspects of the congregation.
When this won’t work
This type of posting needs staff buy-in. I live in Ohio, and the church I work for is in North Carolina. Obviously, I’m not physically with them on a regular basis, so I have to rely on others to take the pictures, caption them, and get them to me.
Often, the more you can involve multiple members of the staff in the social media process (not necessarily the posts themselves), the better the result will be. But not all staff members want to participate. My advice: be gentle and give them specific (easy) tasks that are within their wheelhouse.
I’d love to hear from you if you’ve done social media series in the past or are thinking of trying one now. What did/will you do?
If you’re interested in grabbing the social media calendar I made, head to my free resources page.
Blessings,
Jo
