A few weeks ago I had the privilege of spending some time with my church’s senior adults and talk about social media. Though my time with them was short, I was reminded of how passionate they are about ministry and our church.
In a world where “youth is king” it’s easy to forget about senior adults and what they bring to the table. More importantly, we can forget that senior adults can teach us a lot about social media. Here are a few examples:
Age Is Not a Factor
I’ve written before about the growth of older Americans usage of social media. In August, more data was released showing that senior adults using social media is still growing at a rapid rate. If you think that social media is a young person’s game then you’re ignoring an audience that can be leveraged to help get out your church’s message.
I can speak to this personally as I’ve seen the growth in our church’s senior adults using Facebook. Two years ago we had less than 5% of our likes from the senior adult crowd. Now we are nearing 15% and should exceed that in the next few months.
It’s All About the Pictures
Do you want to know what one of the contributing factors to senior adults joining social networks is? Pictures. More specifically pictures of their grandkids. In fact, ask any senior adult why they have a Facebook account and they’ll probably tell you it’s so they can share, like and comment on pictures of their grandkids.
If there’s one thing that I’m certain of when it comes to growing and cultivating audiences in social media, pictures should be a cornerstone of your strategy. Our team tries to make sure that every social media channel is full of pictures. While that does require a little more work on our part, image-based social media content goes a long to way to enrich our audience’s experience.
A Little Coaching Can Go a Long Way
While there’s growth in senior adults usage of social media, there’s some coaching that’s needed. Remember most of these senior adults didn’t grow up with computers much less the mobile technology that exists today.
If you want capitalize on church members using social media, then provide coaching to them. Find ways to provide the environment where questions can be asked and people can talk about their fears (yes, some people do fear social media).
Senior adults are the future of social media. They have the time, the energy and passion for helping share your church’s message on social media. It’s time embrace this hidden resource and utilize them for your church.
Are you senior adults using social media? If so, how have you engaged them? Click here to share below.