We all know that if you want build an effective social media campaign, you typically start with Facebook and Twitter. Both of these tools seem to have become the bedrock of most churches’ social media strategy. However, if you rely solely on these tools, you may be missing out on areas of growth by not utilizing new tools that are quickly establishing themselves as players in the social media market.
While I could give you an exhaustive list, I don’t want to waste your time. So here are three tools that your church may be missing out on and how you can use them as part of your social media strategy.
Tumblr
In recent months Tumblr’s made news because of it’s selling to Yahoo for 1.1 billion dollars. So what’s the deal with Tumblr? Tumblr creates a space for you to post quotes, links, videos, audio and photos all in one place. It also features a very easy to use sharing option that can allow your content to quickly spread across the Tumblr system.
One way you can use Tumblr is like a catch all for items that you want to share with your congregation, but aren’t really important enough to put on your main website. Think of it like the b-sides of a record or scraps from preparing a meal. It’s great content you want to share with your members, however it doesn’t earn prime placement on your website.
Pinterest is stereotypically known as the place where women congregate to share decorating ideas and pictures of Ryan Gosling. However, it’s a lot more than that. It’s a great way to work with your church members to visually brainstorm. With Pinterest you can create a group board where you can collectively pin ideas for what the new children’s area might look like or a redesign of the church logo. It allows you to let your church members visually submit ideas, comment and like the “pins” (that’s what posts on Pinterest are called). This gives everyone in the church the feeling that their voice is being heard.
We all know of Facebook’s 1 Billion dollar purchase of Instagram, but did you know if was one of the fastest growing social networks of all time? Instagram’s ability to deliver a Facebook like visual news feed, has quickly become a favorite amongst the young adult audience. I’ve covered before various ways you can use it for your church and shown churches who are great examples of how to use it. If you haven’t signed up, do it today and give Instagram a spin.
Questions: Do you use any of the tools? If so, how? Is there another social media tool that has been great for you church? Click here to share below.