The sheer amount of content getting shared online is one of the biggest distribution hurdles marketers face. As Perri Robinson, head of marketing at Meltwater, says, “No matter how good (your content) is, it matters how you are distributing it.” – 5 Ways to Get More People to Your Content
A complaint among churches could be summed up like this: It’s challenging to get content from the various ministries in the congregation for the purpose of sharing online. As WorldVenture’s Digital Engagement and Disciple-Making Coordinator, I get it. We have over 500 appointees and teammates worldwide. My job is to get content from them that engages our audience. Our mission is to make disciples of all people, including making disciples online. As a trainer of churches who are interested in doing digital discipleship, getting content is key for engagement and can be a resource for your supporters and congregation to spark conversations with the unloved, the unchurched, and the unreached.
Just throwing content up on your social media without thought or prayer is unthinkable. Instead, consider how you can strategically use content to engage with your community as a church, a missionary organization, or a ministry. In 5 Ways to Get More People to Your Content, they write,
“Developing a relationship requires more than an email that says, ‘Check out this content,’ Perri says. ‘I create a dialogue. For example, I’d say, ‘I found tip five really useful, have you thought about doing this as well?’”
Who are Your Influencers?
Most people who attend your church are online. Identify the ones who have their phones and are taking pictures. Follow and friend them on social media. Pay close attention to what they post and their privacy settings. If it’s public, share the post to your page or group with an open-ended question as suggested above. If you work for a missionary agency, ask first before you share even if it is a public post.
Use your Facebook page to tag organizations and influencers that provide useful resources for your congregation to use on their own social media to start godly conversations. In this, you join with other like-minded organizations by generously sharing their stuff on your timeline. One other suggestion in getting content for your organization’s social media is persistence.
At first, getting content will be frustrating. People will forget. Your emails will end up in spam. They will get irritated because you asked again. Most people who are not social media people will not understand the issue of timing.
Advertising on Social Media
Start a Budget Line Item for Social Media Advertising where people in your congregation can donate to help you reach your community with advertisements towards specific interests and people groups. Small churches can benefit from this.
Get to know your community, their issues, trends, and be involved in local Facebook groups. Boost or advertise your best and most well-like content to get the most out of your money. Target specific people and interests.
Bring on The Experts
My favorite example of great advertising was an article about how a toilet paper company in Turkey hired a child development expert (versus providing answers via Google search) to help parents in potty training. Overnight, they had millions of likes on the page itself. Your church, ministry, and missionary organization
Offering value to your readers is an old concept. Early bloggers adopted this. Give your audience something of value to apply to their own lives. We should never market our churches, organizations, or ministries. We should build relationships with our communities and help our congregations understand social media to use it to make disciples, to mentor, to share the Gospel.