Social Media

Churches, businesses, nonprofits, as well as individuals are all using social media to grow their online communities to share information, sell products, and spread the Gospel. Relying on social media has likely moved from a trend to a necessity.

Church communicators are always striving to share the word of God as well as their church’s news with their congregation, community, and beyond. Social media’s ability to make sharing this information easy and fun is growing rapidly. There are helpful rules and best practices to live by when using social media for the Church that can inspire followers, instill confidence and keep your accounts safe and in good standing.

No one wants to talk about or even think about their church closing. Yet 65 percent of churches are in decline or have hit a plateau. So what does it actually mean to close a church? And when a church closes, what happens to the church technology and communication channels like social media and websites?

Is your church finally ready to dive in and start using Instagram? While you're nowhere near the last church on earth to take the plunge and join the Insta-church party, you will be joining this online community at a time when the platform is at its peak. Churches and users have learned some pretty savvy tricks to keep their accounts visible, viral, and performing their best. So where do you start?

Whether your role in your church is that of a pastor, Sunday School teacher, social media coordinator, or any other position involving communication, you are in a competition for people's attention.

Things are changing at Facebook. On January 11, 2018, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook is moving “from focusing on helping you find relevant content to helping you have more meaningful social interactions.” Many people are still trying to figure out what this means. Businesses and organizations are already working hard to keep their customers and communities engaged and their posts seen.

Instagram has become the ‘place to be’ for social sharing of images and videos for individuals, businesses, and organizations like churches. With nearly a billion users, it also seems to be the place for fun. Ask any millennial and they will say Instagram is where they spend their time following and catching up on the news of the day and with their own social circles.

What makes one social network stand out from the rest in our techno-saturated, app-centric digital world? Instagram has taken the world by storm and created legions of devoted users and followers. 2017 saw its member base surge to 800 million individual users and 25 million business users.