[Find all posts in the Mind the Social Media Gap series here.]
I’m going to be honest with you here, most people do not understand social media very well. Of all the parts where you need to mind the social media gap, all the others have big ramification for failure but this is the one that the high majority fail at. And honestly, this stage may have the biggest margin for success for a ministry than the rest.
Remember that the social media gap is about not doing church social media like you would your own personal account.
I say all that above to highlight this, we are all self-centered and inauthentic people. You have heard parts of this stage throughout these different steps, but now it is time to stop tiptoeing around and just call it like I see it.
- Generation X Are Inauthentic Online, Millennials Are Too Conceded
I say this because both generations are doing it wrong (yet is always seems to be the other generation’s fault for the failure. Here is what I want you to hear. You need to be authentic and other focused with your church’s social media account. Don’t have the answers? Admit it and figure out who does. Post stuff about your church, sure. But be relational and always keep the target audience at the forefront of your thoughts with every post. - Avoid Spamming. Start Conversations.
Statistics have shown that simply asking people to answer a question or reply to a challenge with boast engagement greatly. Take a chance and see what they say. But note that this is a dialogue and you will need to respond to questions, comments, and replies. Otherwise you are an emotionless organization that is disconnected from it’s audience and I certainly don’t have time for you in my News Feed. - Who is Owning This?
So here are some rapid fire questions. Who is responsible for replying to comments? How long is too long for a reply? Is a reply on Friday after 5PM going to have to wait till Monday morning? - What To Do In A Crisis?
Social media crisis is always possible. A pastor does something stupid, a volunteer gets a DUI, or the church gets negative press. How are you going to respond? Delete a message and you get a short term break, but then they might become vengeful and you’ve just dug a wedge between you and them as well as everyone that reads your comments. Debating about predestination on social media might give you a bad rap. How are you going to approach news people wanting a public statement? It’s better to have these figured out now than in the heat of the moment. - Is It All About You?
What if I said the church that plays well together may actually get more traction online. I might be a little bit hippy with this, but I think that the Church is more than a building and so 1st Baptist retweeting great news or events from the United Methodist Church down the street is great! Even better, how about you let them know you are praying for them. Community between churches are possible, why not be the first to make this happen?
Is it possible to be relational online?
[…] Developing Relational Social Media Social media is only a marketing and spamming tool until you engage with people. Here we want to find out who is going to be responding to comments and reshares/retweets, how one would engage with negative responses, who are allies on social media, who are industry leaders to connect with, and how frequently you plan to engage with other people and business accounts. […]