7 Deadly Sins of (Church) Social Media

While having social media platforms is a great start to reaching your attendees and potential audience, there are several big mistakes that you can make once you’ve gotten your name out there, so we present to you - the 7 Deadly Sins of Church Social Media!

• Posting without a Strategy  - Planning ahead for your social media messaging helps you communicate clearly and effectively. Without strategy, your communication will be last minute and haphazard - and therefore ineffective.

• Forget about Your Social Media Accounts - Leaving your comments unanswered or your inbox unattended can create distance between your church staff and your attendees. Having this be someone’s task on a weekly or even daily basis is very important in helping people feel connected to your community.

• Posting without thinking about your other communications - If your social media post is a serious post about a story of life change and a separate light hearted email comes direct from your senior pastor… there is a disconnect and your audience will feel it. Come up with an easy schedule or calendar for sharing who is communicating what, where, and when. 

• Lacking Authenticity - Pulling back the curtain to what God is doing at your church will create authenticity. Don’t be afraid to allow other staff members to write blog posts or long form social media posts.

• Mishandling Current Events - Whether you are going too far to the left or right, or perhaps you are simply silent on a topic, mishandling current events can lead to mistrust or disconnect with your audience.

• Posting with No Call to Action - If you share information about an upcoming way for people to serve, share exactly how they can get involved or what you expect them to do with this information. People will act if you give them the steps (and the smallest number of steps will increase the follow through!) - Share, comment, send an email, sign up form link, etc are just a few ways you can create a call to action.

• Publishing Announcements Only - Don’t just share your promotional stuff! Share pictures from mission trips, introduce your staff… if you need help on posting ideas, we have a blog for that.