I read today in a report from Adweek’s SocialTimes that 7 in 8 messages to businesses go unanswered when attempted to engage the company through social media. The accompanied infographic asked the question: “What if (the) customer service team failed to pick up the telephone 88% of the time? Unacceptable, right?” The question I ask is, “How many churches even have a social media account to answer?”
More and more people are turning to social media for information. This is a change in the thinking of most churches. Many churches believe that they are providing adequate coverage as long as they have a website. I would say that this is a start, but if they are not at least active on Facebook, they are completely missing the mark. I say Facebook because it is the largest of all social media providers. I recommend that a church would have a Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter account.
Many churches, in fact, do have a Facebook account. However, it takes more than just using Facebook as a webpage. The key word in social media is “social.” It is not enough to post activities on Facebook or even Twitter. There must be a dialogue to make a connection. The infographic mentioned that in the Real Estate Industry, there are 11.7 times as many posts as there are replies. The ratio, I believe, is much worse for churches on social media.
Replies by churches on social media can be simple:
- Answering comments posted on the page.
- Interacting with members on the page—particularly when asking for prayer or celebrating good things in life.
- Sharing photos from members’ Facebook pages when they post regarding church activities.
- Moderating trolls from the churches comments.
These replies can go a long way to making the Church’s social media presence stand out in a world of noise.
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