Are you using social media to grow your church?

About three years ago Community Bible Church, San Antonio, TX, started the Online Church Facebook page with little direction or strategy. Despite our lack of a plan, and through a constant state of experimentation, the page has grown to more than 320,000 “Likes”, representing 150 countries. In the process we’ve made many mistakes, but have also found some keys to success in using Facebook to connect with people.

Here are a few tips that will help your church maximize Facebook to engage a wider audience than you ever dreamed possible:

1. Be Consistent. The biggest mistake that churches make is creating a page and rarely posting to it. Set a schedule and stick to it, I recommend posting at least once a day.

2. Inspire your Audience. Inspiring your congregation doesn’t have to just happen in your church building. It can happen online as well!

3. Ask Questions. Remember that social media is social and asking questions is the best way to start a conversation.

4. Tell Stories. There’s nothing more powerful than sharing a story of how God has moved in the life of someone in your congregation or sharing a highlight from a recent event in your church.

5. Share Information. While this is last on the list, it’s still important to let your congregation know what’s going on. This is often the only content that churches post and causes their pages to be irrelevant and ignored.

It’s important to remember that social media is social, and listening is a big part of social interaction. Beyond your posting strategy the most valuable tip I can suggest is to make sure you listen to your people. Your posts create a conversation and the comments that follow are often far more valuable than the original post can ever be.

Use these tips with your church Facebook page and see how God opens the door to multiply your connections for ministry!