So you’ve built a volunteer team, you’ve created a social media content calendar but you still can’t get your church staff involved in social media. If this describes you, don’t worry, getting your church staff involved in social media isn’t an easy task.
However, there are tremendous benefits once your church staff does decide to engage in social media. When a church staff engages in social media you get the benefit of additional content, a wider online presence and a better understanding of your church.
So how do you help your church staff get started in social media? How do you make sure they know what the best social media practices are? Well, there aren’t any quick fixes, but I’ve compiled a few tactics that have worked for me and I’m sure will work for you.
Host a Tutoring Session
I would guess a good portion of your church staff wants to engage in social media, but they don’t know where to start. In fact, they may be afraid to ask. Take some time to host a group tutoring session. Invite everyone on your church staff and let them know they can join regardless of their skill level. Make the tutoring session as non-threatening as possible. Also enlist other staff who are social media savvy to help tutor church staff as well.
Show Examples
While goals and strategies are essential to making sure we understand the “why” of social media, concrete examples shouldn’t be overlooked. Giving your staff some real life examples can help them grasp concepts and help eliminate early mistakes.
Also don’t worry if your staff mimics other social media user’s tactics. Sometimes the best way for your staff to learn is by patterning themselves after someone else. Over time they will begin to find their voice and stand on their own.
Get the Early Wins
The quicker you can get wins for your staff, the sooner they will get on board with social media. I have found that an easy area to start is with building a Facebook Page for your Kid’s Ministry. Why? For one, (assuming you have the parents’ permission) funny or cute kids photos are usually make for great social media content. Second, parents are more likely to “like” the Kid’s Ministry page and the corresponding photos if their child is involved. (Vacation Bible School week is a great time to try this.)
Provide Early Feedback
As you know, sometimes it’s difficult with social media to know if you are doing it “right”. Try setting some base markers for your staff to let them know if they are headed in the right direction. The markers can be something simple like the number of new followers or retweets on Twitter.
Providing early feedback also ensures that your staff doesn’t start to form bad habits. Set up weekly or bi-weekly meetings to walk through each social media channel to make your staff understands what the best practices are.
Get them Blogging first
I’ve written before about why I think it’s important for your staff to blog. However, one reason I haven’t touched on is how blogging can make social media easier for your staff. How? Well, I find that a lot church staff aren’t sure what to share on social media. By blogging your staff creates their own content that they can share. Also, since it’s their own content they created, they have more of an incentive to share.
Getting your staff active in social media is no longer something that is a “nice” thing to do. If you care about your staff and your church, you’ll start the process of equipping them for the world of social media.
Question: So how do you help your church staff get started in social media? Click here to share below.