11 Proven Social Media Tips for Small Churches

Table of Contents

1. Choose Your Platforms Carefully

2. Use Engaging Captions

3. Post About a Wide Range of Topics

4. Create Clear Guidelines

5. Post Consistently

6. Tell Stories About Real People

7. Proactively Engage

8. Avoid Controversy

9. Use Videos

10. Monitor Your Success

11. Schedule Your Posts

Bonus Tip: Manage All Your Socials with Ease

In today’s hyper-connected world, social media allows churches to reach out to more people than ever. According to recent stats, 84% of churches have a Facebook page, 87% of which operate the channel to interact with their congregation.

While other social media platforms are less common among churches, almost 40% of larger churches use Twitter, and almost 30% use Instagram.

So, how can your church get on board this trend and build strong bonds in the local community? If you’re new to platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, you may be wondering where to start. To help you hit the ground running, we’ve collated some handy tips below.

Why Is Social Media Important for Churches?

First things first - why should you use social media to promote your church and services?

Here are just a few benefits to consider:

• Churches with a strong social media presence tend to appear more welcoming than those without. If you’re looking to cultivate an atmosphere of community togetherness, social media will encourage new people to get involved with your church.

• Social media represents a quick and inexpensive way to inform your congregation about the latest church updates, Sunday services, charitable activities, and more.

• Churches help to spread positivity and caring messages on social media, potentially supporting those who feel isolated or depressed.

• Online activity can help build a sense of community among congregants.

How Can I Promote a Church Using Social Media?

Successfully promoting your church’s activities requires a coherent and carefully considered plan. The following tips will help you reach a wide audience and keep users engaged:

1. Choose Your Platforms Carefully

Platforms such as Facebook are perfect for churches, as they’re more community-oriented than other options. However, it’s up to you how many additional platforms you use. Instagram is great for reaching younger community members.

A Google Business Profile is an often overlooked platform that churches can utilize to provide important information to their community, including location, hours, and contact information.

By posting on this platform, churches can boost their visibility in local search results and attract potential members to their physical location. Ultimately, a Google Business Profile is an indispensable asset for any small church seeking to appeal to and retain community members.

Twitter works for some churches, but it’s a little riskier thanks to its potential for political debate. Finally, platforms such as LinkedIn are best avoided, as they’re primarily targeted toward the business community.

2. Use Engaging Captions

As a representative of the church, you juggle many responsibilities, including social media marketing. Engaging captions are crucial for social media posts to grab your audience's attention. To create a captivating caption, use clear and concise language, highlight the main benefit, and add a call to action.

However, it can be challenging to come up with fresh ideas. Fortunately, Hookle app offers a solution.

Its AI feature generates high-quality posts for your church with just a click, saving you time and effort. Additionally, the app allows you to publish your posts across all your social channels in one go, streamlining your social media management.

3. Post About a Wide Range of Topics

Your target audience will be broad, encompassing everyone from regular churchgoers to those who have just moved into the local area. As such, you must produce different types of content that appeal to specific groups.

For example, current congregants will benefit from announcements about meeting times and special events, as well as links to devotionals and relevant books they may enjoy. To capture the wider public’s attention, it’s a good idea to post compelling stories about how church volunteers have positively impacted the community.

4. Create Clear Guidelines

Every church requires social media policies to ensure their message is consistent and they don’t upset followers.

Questions to consider include:

• Will you use your accounts for advertising purposes? If so, what types of advertising will you permit?

• What kind of imagery will you use? Maintaining a brand esthetic with a striking logo will ensure your accounts are eye-catching.

• What kinds of external links will you use on your social pages?

• Will you allow volunteers to create social media accounts on your behalf? How will you ensure their content is appropriate?

• How will you handle inappropriate or offensive comments that users post to your account?

5. Post Consistently

Wondering how many times a church should post on social media? While there’s no need to post constantly, updating your channels with positive content at least three times a week will help you build a following.

6. Tell Stories About Real People

Social media pages full of stock imagery and generic messages are unlikely to gain much traction. If you want people to feel emotionally invested in your church, you’ll need to post stories about real people.

Fortunately, churches are brimming with good news stories. Say, for example, your congregants hold a charity bake sale. Posting images of delicious cakes and cookies alongside quotes from the participants is bound to attract likes and engagement.

7. Proactively Engage

Responding to direct messages and comments shows that your church listens to people and is willing to answer their questions. Of course, responding to messages is challenging when you’re busy, so try to allocate regular sessions to check your inboxes and engage with followers.

8. Avoid Controversy

Unfortunately, social media is a hotbed of tense political debate. If you’re not careful, you may be dragged into an unpleasant situation that could taint the reputation of the church. Try to avoid political issues at all costs and avoid posting images of information about church members without their permission.

9. Use Videos

Video content tends to attract more likes and shares than images and text-only content. If you don’t have any footage to hand, a simple graphic reminding members about church events could grab plenty of attention.

10. Monitor Your Success

All social media platforms include analytics centers showing how many users interact with your content. Remember to track this data to assess which posts attract the most attention. This strategy ensures you don’t waste time posting content no one reads.

Looking for a simple way to monitor performance? Hookle simplifies monitoring of your social channels into one simple metric called Social Score. With the Score, you can see the overall success of all your social channels in one app. Pretty neat huh?!

11. Schedule Your Posts

Keeping your social media accounts active can be time-consuming - especially when you’re juggling other parts of your business. One of the simplest ways to stay consistent without burning out is to schedule your posts in advance.

Most major platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, now let you schedule posts natively right inside their apps. This helps you plan ahead and ensures your content goes live even when you’re busy.

But if you manage multiple platforms, using an all-in-one scheduling tool like Hookle can save you even more time. These tools let you create and schedule posts for all your platforms in one go, keeping everything organized and effortless.

Scheduling allows you to stay visible online, maintain consistency, and still have time to focus on running your business - or take that well-deserved break.

Manage All Your Socials with Ease

With the help of these tips, you’ll be well-equipped to start promoting your church online. By using the right tools like Hookle, you can streamline your social media management and save valuable time.

With Hookle, you can create, schedule, and publish posts to all your social media accounts - including Google Business Profile - from one simple app. Its AI-powered content suggestions even help you come up with post ideas, captions, and hashtags tailored to your church community.

Don’t just take our word for it - try it yourself! Download Hookle free today and make your church’s social media presence effortless and inspiring.