The pandemic quickly silenced the leaders doubting the importance of a social media presence for the church. It’s exciting to see many churches doing a great job and also really wild to watch churches hustle to catch up. Some did really well, and some were just a hot mess. I’m trying to be kind, but some of what I witnessed was and still is cringe-worthy post after post. Let’s talk about social media mistakes I see churches making every week.
Let me first be clear about what is really needed for social media and the church. What every church needs the most is a simple and consistent presence on a few platforms. The church never needs to worry about being everywhere, but you must be where your people and the people you want to reach are. Our church has chosen to focus on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and we are only on Twitter to have a professional presence. Instagram and Facebook are where we focus. We work hard to keep it simple, honest, positive, and consistent. We want anyone checking out our church to get an idea of our culture and our vibe as a church…that is all. It’s just one tool, and we trust our website to be where people really exploring our church to gain a full picture.
Let’s talk about common traps I see…
- Incorrect information on profiles. / You can’t help folks connect with your church when you have bad info on your profiles!
- Bad logos. / You need designed logos for your social media platforms. PLEASE pay attention to this!
- Links back to websites that are not professional. / Your website and your search rank on google matter more than anything. Great social with a bad website is a nightmare.
- Stock photography overload. / Stock is helpful for many things, but it’s also important to get real shots of your real environment so you can reveal who you really are.
- Argumentative tone. / These are the churches that are constantly posting something they are mad about. Not helpful!
- Low-quality video. / It’s really not that hard. Please get tools to help your capture quality video and sound and film with good light.
- Infrequent posts. / Posting once a week? Why? Get a plan and work it consistently. You never know what day someone new will check out your church.
- Constant infomercial. / These are the profiles that basically make announcements. Some promo is great, but you can use social media to encourage spiritual growth instead of just more church attendance.
- Celebrity driven vs. community revealing. / These profiles try to lift up a few staff members as the church celebrity and author of every amazing quote to try and draw people in vs. shining the spotlight on the church as a whole and many people in the church.
- Everything is HYPE tone. / This is when every post tries to convince people everything your church does is amazing when you know that’s not true. When everything is amazing, your real quality efforts are diluted.