4 Ways Your Church Can Utilize Social Media To Reach More People For God’s Glory

[stextbox id=”custom”]This is a guest post by Corey Steiner, CEO of Steiner Media.  He is a Christian, a social media manager, and a consultant.  You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.  If you’re interested in guest posting on this blog, check out the guidelines for doing so.[/stextbox]

Does your church or ministry utilize social media to share the Gospel and inform the public of how God is moving in your church?

There is a pretty basic but highly effective formula to using social media to help your church or ministry reach more people for God’s Kingdom.  The formula consists of the following…

• Your Website
• Your Facebook Fan Page (do not use a regular profile page)
• Your YouTube channel
• Inspiration from God and some camera friendly people

Your website is kind of like the hub for all of your other media platforms.  I would highly recommend making it very obvious and very easy for people to find and use your social media.  Some churches hide their social media links which only hinders the purpose of having social media.

Both your fan page and YouTube channel should have consistent branding with your church.  All videos could have the same intro and credits with a call to join the church, a ministry or just to join your YouTube channel.  I would also advise having a little lighthearted humor in your videos.  No one likes watching something that lacks personality or fun.

Let the joy of the Lord shine in your videos.

When it comes to your fan page be consistent on posting your videos on your wall, leave a new message every day and encourage people to join the conversation by asking questions pertaining to the recent message or having trivia questions based on the Bible.

Enriching your site with FBML or custom tabs can really enhance the experience for your visitors too.  It’s great to be creative but do not lose sight of bringing glory to God in the process.

The thing that’s going to help your social media is being consistent in sharing the fact that it’s there.  I’ve seen ministries miss the bus by not putting links to their social media on all of their printed materials.  Put it out there because it’s another vehicle to giving glory to God.

Think of it this way, your social media is another ministry to help your other ministries.

QUESTION FOR COMMENTING BELOW:  If you are a church leader or are active in ministry at your church, how do you (and your church’s leadership) engage with others at your church via social media?  Have you found social media engagement to be fruitful?  Why or why not?