We’ve been preaching about churches being on social media for so long, I think we may have overstated our case.
I see more and more investing their time in Facebook, Twitter and Google+; meanwhile, overlooking the most important piece of the social media puzzle.
The problem with investing so much into social media, is that it’s out of your control. On a whim, Facebook/Instagram, Twitter, Google+ and others can change their policies or even completely disappear. What happens to all that content? What happens to all that energy? The problem is even further compounded when social activity is busy in multiple places, leaving your data completely fragmented.
So what’s the missing piece?
The Church Website
The church, ministry or non-profit website is the missing piece of the puzzle. As many have put their focus on social media, they’ve lost sight of their home turf, their home page.
The purpose of social media, is create a boon or extension from your website. It is a means to direct, guide and point people back to your website. Social media should never be the centerpiece.
Social networks can come and go, but your website will always remain. I don’t discount the importance of social media. This isn’t meant to be an over-correction, but a re-alignment of your online communication strategy.
What About the Stuff?
So what about all that stuff you like to share?
Get your blog active!
This is a great way to build-up your SEO and create an archive of what you’ve shared. Don’t be scared of “round-up” blog posts or “top resources.” Moreover, don’t underestimate the power of cultivating a community in your blog comments instead of social media. Why should any of us be willing to fork over all those pageviews and activity to someone else?
Conclusion
Like I said, using social media is great, but it’s not the end-all that many make it out to be. Many like to pursue social media before bulking up their website and blog, because it’s easier and requires less of investment; but with less of an investment, there is less of a return.
Blog on.
Dave Shrein says
Leo Laporte (the tech guy) has long stated that you should always point people to the location you control. On FB, Twitter, etc, our goal is to drive traffic back to our website. Plus, all that traffic driving back to our site improves our search results in Google and Bing.
Eric Dye says
Very true. I think this idea should be taken beyond the aspect of SEO and cultivate community on church websites, making it more of a hub instead of social media pages.