LEADERSHIP: Effective Use of Social Media

I posted previously about using social media in churches and having a designated volunteer to organize, post, and keep track of how the congregation utilizes social media to relate information and events to and interact with the general public and regular members. Social media can be a powerful tool but keeping up with it can be very time consuming. One way to manage all all of this is by using a website call Hootsuite, a social media management website that will allow you to schedule postings to Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, and Twitter. Imagine being able to create all your postings once a month!

It seems as if everyone is on Facebook. Many congregations have pages that members can LIKE and pastors post items like titles of sermons or Bible studies, etc. Here are a few other ideas:

• Post regularly (via Hootsuite if necessary). As mentioned earlier this will help you manage your time, organize, and schedule your postings. 
• If you have one volunteer to organize social media postings have a specific mailbox and let people know which days postings or scheduling of postings occur.
• Choose specific people as Facebook "admins" who can post events and information on behalf of the church.
• Post items such as: upcoming Bible studies, scripture, prayers for specific needs, and/or shout-outs for groups who organized/hosted events or programs (not individuals or somebody will get upset that they were inadvertently excluded) and don't forget posting appropriate photos.
• Ask for people to post prayer requests every week. (They can respond to a post/request by an admin.)
• Choose specific people to check the page regularly for important member postings or messages.