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Advertising Branding Marketing Podcast Social Media Tools

Podcast: Can we duplicate content across Social Media Channels?

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This week’s tool: Open-Edit-Print.com

 

Church Graphics… Simplified Save Time. End Frustration. Attract Visitors.Get Unlimited Access to Done-for-you Media and Graphics for Email, Social Media, Worship Slides and Print Promotions. Get a free trial here!

 

Stacey asks about which Social Media channels to be on to connect with a young demographic, and if cross posting is a good idea:

  • Facebook is still the largest user base, so don’t let it go.
  • If you’re using Facebook consistently and seeing growth, reach a younger demographic on instagram or twitter – both have it’s perks as far as content and strategy.
  • Maximize the strengths of each platform (twitter is real time, instagram is image driven)
  • Send a consistent message across each platform, but it doesn’t have to be an identical message.
  • It’s cool to cross-post. Some people prefer one channel over another, so they won’t know you’re cross posting.  Other people will see the same post, but at different times or in a different context.

Have a church communications question you’d like answered? Ask it here.  We’ll reply to all of them and pick a few for our podcast!

 

 

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Categories
Advertising Guest Services Social Media

Using Social Media to get new church guests in your door

One of the reasons (if not THE reason) that Social Media is so popular and engrained in our culture is that humans have a need for interaction, engagement and relationship, and too often I hear of social media managers at churches saying “I just want to use my page / account / channel to let people know what’s going on” – basically, they’re saying “I want to broadcast”.

Here’s a timeline I see over and over:

Broadcast information about an event > Pay to Boost the broadcast post > No guests show up, just our members > Paying was a waste of money > Broadcast information about next event

 

But what if we created a social media model centered around relationships.  There are 2 types of relationships that we can leverage: Existing and potential.

Existing Relationships:

Outside of Social Media, there are these real life people (I know, sometimes hard to wrap your mind around) who have real-life friendships.  I’m not knocking friends who have met on Facebook, but there are relationships and connections that you have with people all around you that happened outside of social media and are strengthened through that connection.

Give you current people the tools to invite their friends, family, co-workers or neighbors on Social Media. Here are some ideas:

  • For Easter or Christmas, usually 3 weeks ahead, we send out an email blast to all of our members with 5 or 6 images that act as invites to our Easter weekend or Christmas Eve services.  They are worded to be coming from the person that posts them, not our church, like ‘Would you join me at Easter?’ or ‘My family would love to celebrate Easter with you!’ or ‘Send me a private message, and I’ll save a seat for you.’  This gives our people an easy image to share that has all of the elevate details.  Some people will post to Facebook, twitter or instagram and others will send them as a text message or in an email.
  • We create images that say something about being welcome at Life Church. Often “It doesn’t matter what you’ve done, you’re welcome at Life Church.” When people share them to their personal profiles for their friends, it’s so open ended that it often start discussions for them, either publicly or privately and sometime IRL (…in real life…).

 

Potential Relationship:

Create ads or event-based posts to be focussed on the opportunity to build relationships. Even in our connected, digital culture, there are lots of people who are lonely, and looking for people to build friendships with.  When creating content for the purpose of promoting the opportunity to build relationships, give clear details and a simple way to respond.

  • Love riding your motorcycle? We’re riding on Saturday morning at 8am leaving from Life Church.
  • Moms: If your infant was choking would you know what to do? Learn with other moms at our CPR class Thursday, 10am at Life Church.
  • COFFEE SHOP GRAND OPENING: Bring this coupon for a free coffee! (have people from your church hanging out at your new coffee shop to talk with people in line or sitting in the seats and introduce themselves, etc.)

Using Facebook targeting, you can target people in certain geographic areas, with certain interests, age groups and relationship statuses (ie. married, single engaged) and this is the best way to narrow down your audience to someone who may connect with what you’re offering. (Click here for more about that…)

Outside of ads, use Social to connect with other organizations and businesses to spread your awareness:

  • Thanks to XYZ restaurant for catering staff lunch today!
  • These guys are fast! Our Air Conditioning wasn’t working this morning at Church and they had to fixed before service started.  THANK YOU!
  • Share or RT or Like posts about other events in your community – maybe from other non-profits or worthy causes promoted by businesses – to get exposure for your church.

Here is a Facebook live video I did on our Church Marketing Ideas Facebook group

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rkChVp-xzs

I would love to hear what’s worked for you to attract new guests with Social Media.

 

 

Categories
Advertising Podcast Social Media Tools

Podcast 9: Which Social Media channels could you use for your church plant?

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This week’s tool:

More than a backup storage mechanism, dropbox is a great way to share files between departments, send proofs to other team and get their feedback on the sidebar next to the document itself. For live collaboration, have a shared dropbox folder to save images, quotes and videos from your phone, tablet, laptop desktop or all of the above. Click here to sign up for free trial account!

 

Nicole asks about how many social media channels her church launch needs.  Here are a few ideas:

  • Get intentional and successful on one channel before expanding to other channels.  You’ll be more engaged with your audience if you do one channel well, rather than a few channels poorly.
  • If you’re not sure which one channel to start with, I would recommend Facebook: It’s already got the largest audience, and the most versatile options for what you can post.
  • If you’re not sure if you need a Facebook page or Facebook group, read this info here!
  • You’re going to have a lot of decisions to make in your first 30 days managing your Social Media. Here is an article about what to expect and what conversations to have with your team.
  • When you’re ready to move to a second channel, consider instagram. You can do live ‘stories’ like snapchat, video and image posts with longer status than twitter.

 

 

Have a church communications question you’d like answered? Ask it here.  We’ll reply to all of them and pick a few for our podcast!

 

 

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Categories
Advertising Podcast Social Media

Podcast: How to create a Social Media strategy with Katie Allred

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This week’s Social Media tool:

 

sm_logo_fbIf you’re wanting to make a major decision that will affect your church, feedback is your friend.  There are a few ways to get that feedback, whether by posting a poll on Facebook, sending out an email and asking for a reply, or handing out a piece of paper at a service.

Better than anything else, we’ve found that using an anonymous online survey, like Survey Monkey gives us our fastest and highest quantity of results.  Learn more about Survey Monkey…

 

Here’s an awkward screen shot of Katie and Adam on Skype during our podcast interview!

Connect with Katie Allred:

 

Have a question you’d like answered on a future podcast? Ask here!

 

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Categories
Social Media Tools

11 Free Tools for Church Communicators

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77_dropbox-logo1. Dropbox:

Store your files in the cloud, backup important projects and work on them across multiple devices.  Start a project on your desktop, access it on your laptop at a meeting, then on the weekend if someone wants to see a project, pull it up with your iPhone app and email it to them.

Invite team members to start their own free account, and you can share folders with recurring digital assets (like logos or letterhead) or shared documents (write a document, then send the link to someone else to proof read).

Each time you invite a new user, dropbox will say ‘thanks’ by increasing your storage space, and their free account is enough to get you started, backup your working files and try it out for as long as you’d like.

 

chat-slack-color2. Slack:

Slack is a chat app on steroids.  If you’re using a Facebook group or text message thread to communicate with your team, imagine being able to group your chats: communication projects, personal needs, funny comments, feedback, stage design ideas or communications about your upcoming volunteer banquet.

Slack includes different “channels” – chats based on topics.  When you upload a file, like a design proof, for instance, other users can comment on that proof so you know how to make revisions.

Slack also comes with multiple add ons, so you can find an app for finances, expense tracking or communication integrations.

 

3. Unsplash:

Royalty and copyright free stock photos – use however you when, wherever you want as much as you want.  From their site:

“…you can copy, modify, distribute and use the photos for free, including commercial purposes, without asking permission from or providing attribution to the photographer or Unsplash.”

Landscapes, people, cityscapes, coffee mugs, abstract textures, device mockups or specific concepts – they have them, and they add 10 photos every 10 days.  Every time you check back, their library seems to grow.

(if you can’t find what you’re looking for, there are plenty of other stock photo libraries, but personally, I use bigstockphoto.com)

 

4. Evernote:

screenshot-2016-11-19-00-45-50Save passwords, creative ideas, and details you may need to reference later in a way that groups related topics, but is easily searchable for specifics.  Snap a picture of a rough sketch and make some notes to remind you what it’s all about, then share those notes with someone else, along with project timelines and task lists.

Quick integrations will allow you to grab a website page to save and read / reference later along with searchable notes about why that page is important.

 

 

mailchimp-logo5. Mailchimp:

Create email newsletters that blow text emails away with Mailchimp’s drag and drop builder.  Add pictures, your logo, texts, links to blog posts and Social Media sharing buttons, and allow them to look after your list administration.

Add a button on your Facebook page or website where people can sign up, and then when someone unsubscribes, Mailchimp looks after your list.

I recently wrote a post on ThatCC.com community blog on 5 ways to maximize the effectiveness of your email list.

 

6. Open.Life.Church:

lifechurch_open_network_logo2x-cf176ee6f27d2a4fa59afcdf3dfa78c4Living out their value of irrational generosity, Life.Church based in Oklahoma has created a pile of tools, apps and training content to serve the church.

My favorite tool is their resources section, which I use regularly for sourcing pre-made scripture art.  They also have complete series packages, quotes from speakers, leadership material, kids collateral and music for your projects. (Check out their details on specifics on how and when you can use those materials.)

You’ll need to sign up for an account to access their resources, but the account is 100% free here.

 

7. Canva:

unknownNot everyone can take the time to learn Photoshop, and if you’re looking to create some quick graphics for social media, Photoshop is probably overkill anyway, so get a free account from Canva – preloaded background images, fonts, design layouts already sized for Social Media and end results that will make you look like a seasoned pro!

Want to take some workload off of your plate?

Invite department leaders to your canva account, upload your logo, and specify the fonts they can use.  From there, they can pick from multiple pre-made layouts, put in their info, and then download the file.

 

8. Hootsuite:

screenshot-2016-11-18-23-59-38Schedule social media posts across multiple networks for specific dates and times, see interactions across multiple networks on a single dashboard (DMs from Twitter, Facebook page messages, etc.) and manage multiple accounts – for instance, connect a youth group twitter account, a church twitter account, and a Facebook page.

Your free Hootsuite account will allow you to connect 3 social networks, give you access to some training courses, allow you to schedule content across those channels and give you some suggestions to 3rd party content your audience may enjoy.

(If you’re looking for a specific feature that Hootsuite doesn’t offer, you could also try Buffer.com or SproutSocial.com)

 

9. Recur Post:

Hootsuite is great for pre-scheduling posts for a specific date and time, but what if you have content that you want to automatically be re-posted? Recurpost.com allows you to build a library, and determine when and where those posts are shared.

logo-blueThe content you’re looking for is ongoing content (sometimes called Evergreen content): A blog post from your Pastor about what it means to be baptized, a reminder to download your podcast, an invitation to sign up to join a volunteer team, or an image that people can share to invite their friends to service.  This type of content could be as relevant on a Monday in December as it is on a Thursday in April, or anywhere in between.

Build a library on this content, and RecurPost will put it on repeat at the frequency you choose – Let’s say you have 20 posts and you want to post once a day to twitter and once a week to Facebook.  After 20 days, twitter will start back at the first piece (while Facebook is still on it’s 3rd post).  If you add 3 new posts to the library, your daily twitter post would now only repeat every 23 days.

Your Recurpost free account will allow you to build a library of 100 posts, and connect up to 3 social networks.

 

10. Project Management Software:

Most major software options have a free account (not just a free trial) to allow you to organize tasks, create checklists of recurring projects, assign projects to different team members and give status updates to different departments.  There’s a lot more to get into the benefits of each one, but here are some of the most popular options:

  • Asana – Free for teams up to 15 people.
  • Basecamp – 30 day free trial
  • Trello – Free forever, with limitations on functions
  • Podio – Free forever with limitations on functions.

 

 

Whats your favorite FREE tool that’s not on this list? Comment below so we can all check it out!

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Categories
Advertising Social Media Tools

Facebook Boosts: 1 tip to maximize your effectiveness

There is one way that I’ve found to maximize the bang-for-your-buck with boosting Facebook posts: Timing.

screenshot-2016-10-02-20-18-34Since the beginning of Facebook, there have always been 2 sides to paying for advertising: Advertisers want to pay as little as possible to get as much exposure as possible, and Facebook wants to make as much money as possible… Facebook also has a balance on their hands – they don’t want to give you too much exposure for too little money, or too little exposure for too much money and at the same time, they don’t want news feeds to be covered in boosted posts from pages you didn’t like.

If you pay $100 to reach 5 people, Facebook may be happy that they made $100, but you won’t like do that again.  If you reach 10,000 for $5, you may only spend $1 next time to get the reach you’re hoping for, then Facebook investors wouldn’t be happy, and the people actually using Facebook, may see so many ads that they choose another platform, then nobody is happy…

Once you’ve decided in your audience, budget and duration, there’s one more way to get the best reach possible for your advertising dollars, and that is WHEN you decide to boost.  Pay for your boost AFTER your organic reach has run its course.

 

How Organic Reach Works:

When you post something to your Facebook status, Facebook uses a REALLY complex set of algorithms to decide who they will show your post to. Again, they’re trying to create the best experience possible for their users so they continue to use Facebook.  These algorithms can be over-simplified into:

  • Post type (images and video get way more engagement than just text)
  • Previous engagement (someone who liked, commented or shared your last status will likely also enjoy this one – have you ever noticed it’s the same people who keep liking your posts?)
  • Date posted (What you see in your news feed is usually from the last few hours? Sometimes if a post is getting a lot of engagement, it may have been posted a few days ago. Not much shows up from last month or last year without some new engagement or boost.)

So organically, your post will gain some exposure on it’s own for free… LET THIS HAPPEN!!

Don’t boost your post before it hit its organic reach… if you do, you’re spending money paying Facebook to ‘boost’ your post to people who would have seen it for free.

Check out this recent video that we boosted:

screenshot-2016-10-02-20-22-26

You can see the organic reach was 2764 and the paid reach was 1044.  It would have been a complete waste or money to post the status, then immediately ‘boost’ it – we may have only had 2000 people see it AND have paid money for that!

Once I saw the organic reach start to fade away, I tried a few other opportunities for engagement.  I asked questions about comments that people had left on the post.  When they respond to those questions, Facebook sees engagement and will show it to a few more people.

I sent a link to the video to our staff and asked if they would like to share the video (it was a clip from our last service where our Pastor was sharing some thoughts and it resonated with some of our staff specifically).

screenshot-2016-10-02-21-53-16

THEN… after letting it play out organically, engaging with the comments, and asking people outside of Facebook to visit and share the post (don’t do this all the time to the same people… it could get annoying) , I chose to pay for a boost.

In this case, I posted September 29, then let the organic play out.  By October 1, it was dropping drastically, so I added a boost October 1.

When you decide to do the boost, Facebook will ask about your audience, budget and duration. Here are some tips on making the most of those options.

 

Use the comments below and let me know how this has worked for you!

Categories
Advertising Social Media Tools

Facebook Boosts: How to set your audience, budget and duration

No matter the size of our budgets, we all want to get the most out of them, especially with something digital – like Facebook boosts.  It’s different if you choose to buy a sign (like from churchbanners.com) and spend $X and end up with 5 new signs for your church. But, when it comes to digital, we not only have to aim to get the most from our posts, but often we also have the justify those costs to someone who doesn’t understand how Facebook advertising works.

There are 3 aspects to getting the most from your Facebook Post Boost: The technical details, the content of your ad, and your timing strategy.

Heads up: There is a difference between a Facebook ad (like what you see in the right column on desktop) and boosting your Facebook post.  This article is just about hitting the “boost” button on a status update on your Facebook page.

The technical details of promoting on Facebook:

Facebook Boost ButtonIt seems really easy to just hit the “Boost” button on your status update, but then it becomes really easy to get overwhelmed by the details Facebook wants in order to start promoting your ad.

The 1st question is your target audience:

Facebook Boost options

Your audience.  You can see from my screen shot that I currently have 8 audience demographics setup.  Once you create one, Facebook automatically saves it for future use (and if I was more organized, each audience type would already be labelled instead of “audience 1…” but, y’know…)

Think about who you’re trying to reach with this post.  Don’t assume you always want to target “People who like your page and their friends.”  This use to be the only target audience, (like back in the day when I was a young lad…) but then when Facebook did their IPO in May 2014… (yes, I remember how that changed everything…) they opened up the options.

If your post is about a fall carnival, or an outreach event, or a workshop to attract people to your church, then I would recommend creating a target audience for your event and your region. (Age group, geographical region, similar likes, etc.)

If your post is targeted to something like “This weekend’s potluck” or “A message from Pastor” then you may choose to target just people who like your page.

A boost for “People who like your page and their friends” is something that I would say is mostly for businesses (ie. bring a friend this weekend for 2-for-1 ice cream) where you may want to not only reach people who have engaged with you, but also people who are their friends.  In some cases this may be applicable, but other times, if it’s not applicable to your ad, you could be spending boost dollars on people from out of state, or friends of friends who are not your target demographic.

 

2nd Question – Budget and duration:

screenshot-2016-10-02-20-19-53Specify your budget, and how long you’d like your ad to run.  This works on a “behind the scenes” auction based on attention. Facebook doesn’t want to overload timelines with advertising, so your ad is competing for space with other ads.

(If you open your phone, and scroll to the top of your Facebook feed, you’ll see one post from a friend, then a status boost, then friends posts.)

This exposure is based on how specific of an audience you’re targeting. If you’re charging “people in your county” then Facebook can slap your post on just about anyone’s news feed who’s not falling into anyone else’s targeting.  If you’re targeting 18-20 year olds in your neighborhood who have attended college and work at McDonalds and like Michael W Smith’s page, your audience is going to be a lot smaller, so to come through for your specs, Facebook has to take away other ads from that audience and give it to you… you’ll hit a much more specific audience, but your reach will be far less.

Your duration will spread out your budget.  If you have a an event coming up this weekend that you need more registrations for, then you could choose to make your duration 1 or 2 days and have lots of people see it in a short amount it time.  If it’s a generic boost like “Come check out our church” then it may not be urgent to have every ad be seen tomorrow, so you could spread it out over a few days.

 

boosted post reachAfter your ad, you’ll get to see some insights on your post – some will be organic (the amount of exposure your post got just from being posted through likes, comments and shares) and paid (the amount of exposure your post earned because of your boost.)

Read about the #1 trick I use to make the most of my Facebook budget!

Categories
Social Media

The Ultimate List of Church Social Media Post Ideas

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(31 ideas) We’ve all done the obvious posts, and then hit a wall of creativity. I wanted to create this list so you can refresh your creative juices with some ideas and have no excuses for 31 days. At the end of the month, start back at the top of the list – 31 days from now, no one will remember what you posted! Read more… 

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(5 ideas) Coming up with content to share from your church blog or social media can be a daunting task sometimes. I always encourage church communications leaders to look at what they already have to work with before dealing with the struggle of coming up with something original and new.  Read more…

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”https://adammclaughlin.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Screenshot-2016-09-13-00.04.01.png” show_in_lightbox=”off” url=”https://thatcc.com/community/5-content-ideas-for-your-church-blog-social-media/” url_new_window=”on” use_overlay=”off” animation=”off” sticky=”off” align=”left” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#000000″ show_divider=”on” height=”2″ divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on”] [/et_pb_divider][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”https://adammclaughlin.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/25-Quick-Ideas-for-Your-Churchs-Social-Media.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url=”http://darrelgirardier.com/25-quick-ideas-for-your-churchs-social-media/” url_new_window=”on” use_overlay=”off” animation=”off” sticky=”off” align=”left” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]

(25 ideas) I’ve got a swipe file in Evernote. Every time I see an idea love, I clip that idea to Evernote and tag it. Then when I need to come with an idea to promote something on social media, or create new content for the church or myself, I search my swipe file. Read more… 

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(15 ideas) Stop me if you’ve heard any of the following statements about social media: “You need to engage the conversation.” “Content is king.” “It’s all about building relationships.”
When I was put in charge of my church’s social media efforts for the very first time, these were the cliches that drove my decisions. However, despite my best intentions, I simply ended up posting funny YouTube videos on our church Facebook page. Was my church being too uptight when they asked to me to stop? Or was I just being stupid? (Likely the latter). Read more…

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”https://adammclaughlin.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Screenshot-2016-09-12-22.52.52.png” show_in_lightbox=”off” url=”https://prochurchtools.com/15-social-media-ideas-for-your-church-to-use-this-week/” url_new_window=”on” use_overlay=”off” animation=”off” sticky=”off” align=”right” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#000000″ show_divider=”on” height=”2″ divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on”] [/et_pb_divider][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”https://adammclaughlin.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Imagination-Social-media.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url=”http://www.stevefogg.com/2012/12/13/social-media-church-imaginative/” url_new_window=”on” use_overlay=”off” animation=”off” sticky=”off” align=”left” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]

(11 ideas) Social media can be used in many imaginative ways by churches to engage with their audiences. I’ve chosen to show you 11 examples from Facebook, but you can use Instagram, Pinterest or Twitter. It doesn’t really matter which social network you use as long as long as you are actively engaged on it. I’ve written before about how to engage on social media before. I strongly recommend you read this before you put any creative tactics in place for your church on your social media platform of choice. Read more…

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(20 Ideas) Instagram has proven to be a major player in the social media world and an extremely valuable tool for ministry. Since we are such a visual culture, this is a great avenue for sharing your church’s story that goes beyond traditional text posts. Here are twenty creative ways that I’ve seen churches utilizing this great network. My hope is that you will be inspired and perhaps add them to your social media strategy. Read more…

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”https://adammclaughlin.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Screenshot-2016-09-12-22.57.10.png” show_in_lightbox=”off” url=”http://thecreativepastor.com/20-great-ways-to-use-instagram-at-your-church/” url_new_window=”on” use_overlay=”off” animation=”off” sticky=”off” align=”right” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#000000″ show_divider=”on” height=”2″ divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on”] [/et_pb_divider][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”https://adammclaughlin.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/b2ap3_large_10-post-ideas.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url=”http://gospelpowered.com/gp-blog/10-post-ideas-for-your-church-facebook-and-instagram-feeds” url_new_window=”on” use_overlay=”off” animation=”off” sticky=”off” align=”left” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]

(10 ideas) Over 70% of people with access to the internet use Facebook.  Social media is becoming an increasingly important part of most peoples’ daily lives, and using social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram is a guaranteed way for churches to engage with people mid-week, rather than only reaching them from Sunday to Sunday. Here is a list of 10 different post ideas to include on your church’s social media feed. Read more…

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(15 ideas) I believe periscope has the potential to be a game-changer for how we share the gospel and minister in our churches. Here are 15 ideas for how you can use Periscope in your church and ministry. Remember, for security and legal reasons, you can make broadcasts private and only let followers you choose view your broadcasts. Read more…

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”https://adammclaughlin.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/15-WAYS-TO-USE-PERISCOPE.-In-Page-Image.png” show_in_lightbox=”off” url=”http://twelvethirtymedia.com/trends/15-ways-to-use-periscope-at-your-church/” url_new_window=”on” use_overlay=”off” animation=”off” sticky=”off” align=”right” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#000000″ show_divider=”on” height=”2″ divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on”] [/et_pb_divider][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”https://adammclaughlin.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Screenshot-2016-09-12-23.03.52.png” show_in_lightbox=”off” url=”http://www.sundaymag.tv/good-bad-ideas-church-social-media/” url_new_window=”on” use_overlay=”off” animation=”off” sticky=”off” align=”left” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]

(10 ideas) Using social media effectively for your church can be harder than it might seem. That’s why we put together this humorous good/bad ideas list for your church social media accounts.

If you’re already following these good ideas, you’re probably using social media in a great way for your church. If you’re following these bad ideas, please just stop. Stop now. You’re hurting us all.  Read more…

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(8 ideas) It’s exciting to see more and more churches developing their online presence and making a Kingdom impact in the world. Of course we’re always excited at @stickyJesus when we encounter any church that’s passionate about digital missions. Read more…

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”https://adammclaughlin.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Screenshot-2016-09-12-23.06.33.png” show_in_lightbox=”off” url=”http://stickyjesus.com/2011/04/8-ways-to-use-your-social-networks-to-increase-your-churchs-reach/” url_new_window=”on” use_overlay=”off” animation=”off” sticky=”off” align=”right” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#000000″ show_divider=”on” height=”2″ divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on”] [/et_pb_divider][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”https://adammclaughlin.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Screenshot-2016-09-12-22.39.53.png” show_in_lightbox=”off” url=”http://thecreativepastor.com/twenty-effective-social-media-posts-your-church-should-try/” url_new_window=”on” use_overlay=”off” animation=”off” sticky=”off” align=”right” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]

(20 ideas) For most churches that I talk to, it’s not a lack of desire that keeps them from regularly posting on their social pages, but a lack of content. Have you ever been confused or frustrated about what to post on your church’s social pages? It definitely can be overwhelming to come up with new ideas every week, right? Read more…

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(18 ideas) Every church approaches social media with different strategies and varying levels of success. Most of our carefully crafted social posts typically draw about the same level of attention. But every once in a while, we hit one out of the park.
We reached out to some church communicators and asked this simple question: What’s your church’s most popular social media post? Read more…

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”https://adammclaughlin.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2015_09socialarticle.jpg” show_in_lightbox=”off” url=”http://www.churchmarketingsucks.com/2015/09/18-of-the-most-popular-social-media-posts-for-churches/” url_new_window=”on” use_overlay=”off” animation=”off” sticky=”off” align=”right” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#000000″ show_divider=”on” height=”2″ divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on”] [/et_pb_divider][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”https://adammclaughlin.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Screenshot-2016-09-12-23.15.49.png” show_in_lightbox=”off” url=”https://digiproud.wordpress.com/2016/01/04/10-things-yours-church-should-do-this-year-on-social-media/” url_new_window=”on” use_overlay=”off” animation=”off” sticky=”off” align=”left” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]

(10 ideas) Social media and social networking is an ever changing landscape. Websites and apps come and go, ideas and strategies change and evolve. It’s more than just setting up an account and keeping things updated regularly. But don’t let that scare you. It doesn’t mean you have to spend your life keeping up to date with it all – Here are some ideas to keep your social media presence expanding. Read more…

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(16 Ideas) I’ve looked at nearly 10,000 church Facebook posts and have seen a lot of great ideas and designs for churches.  Below is a sample and brief description of what I saw in each of these Facebook posts from four different churches. Read more…

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”https://adammclaughlin.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Screenshot-2016-09-12-23.18.52.png” show_in_lightbox=”off” url=”https://churchm.ag/church-facebook-posts-examples/” url_new_window=”on” use_overlay=”off” animation=”off” sticky=”off” align=”right” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#000000″ show_divider=”on” height=”2″ divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on”] [/et_pb_divider][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”https://adammclaughlin.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Screenshot-2016-09-12-23.52.50.png” show_in_lightbox=”off” url=”http://www.creativechurchguys.com/10-social-media-posts-your-church-needs-to-try/” url_new_window=”on” use_overlay=”off” animation=”off” sticky=”off” align=”left” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]

(10 ideas) My goal with this article is to help you brainstorm some different types of posts your church can use on social media. These great tips can be effective on multiple platforms such as instagram, twitter, and facebook.

A trend you will see on pretty much all of these posts is that they are image heavy. According to a study done by eMarketer, 75% of Facebook posts in 2014 were photo posts. The reason? Because they are effective. Read more…

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(10 ideas) Does your church have a Facebook page? If you aren’t using Facebook, you may be missing out on a whale of an opportunity to communicate with your congregation through a channel that many people use every day.

As you seek to determine which communications tools to use to best get your message across and increase your reach, consider how your audience likes to receive information. Facebook now has more than 500 million active users, with the average user being connected to 80 pages, groups and events. People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook. Read more…

[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”https://adammclaughlin.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Screenshot-2016-09-12-23.40.14.png” show_in_lightbox=”off” url=”http://www.umcom.org/learn/top-10-umc-facebook-posts-for-your-church” url_new_window=”on” use_overlay=”off” animation=”off” sticky=”off” align=”right” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_divider admin_label=”Divider” color=”#000000″ show_divider=”on” height=”2″ divider_style=”solid” divider_position=”top” hide_on_mobile=”on”] [/et_pb_divider][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”https://adammclaughlin.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Screenshot-2016-09-12-23.42.01.png” show_in_lightbox=”off” url=”http://blog.ourchurch.com/2011/03/15/7-ways-to-engage-with-people-on-your-church-facebook-page/” url_new_window=”on” use_overlay=”off” animation=”off” sticky=”off” align=”left” force_fullwidth=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] [/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]

(7 ideas) A lot of churches are begining to use Facebook pages to connect and communicate with people both inside and outside of the church. Unfortunately, though, a lot of church Facebook pages look like the Sunday bulletin – lots of announcements and no interaction. Read more…

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(101 ideas – yep, really…) Social Media Marketing is extremely important for churches. It helps you stay connected to your members and helps you reach the unchurched. So why don’t churches post consistently on social media? One of the most common reasons we hear is “I don’t know what to post about.” If you struggle with social media writers’ block, we have great news! Read more…

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(10 ideas) Is your church on Pinterest? There are many amazing facts and figures out there about the power and influence of Pinterest, but for many of the bloggers and social media people I talk to today, more traffic comes to their sites from Pinterest than from Facebook. They have more engagement, more followers, and more leads. Enough said. That’s why I want to help you get started on Pinterest if you haven’t already or help improve your Pinterest experience if your church is already on board. Read more…

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Categories
Advertising Social Media

Engage your online audience during service

heartYour weekend service is a marketer’s dream come true.  Never take for granted that it is just part of how church has to be done.  Outside the church world, marketers would be in heaven if every week for multiple hours, everyone on their team came together to create a live event.

At the core of what we’re doing is introducing people to Jesus; an experience that can change their lives, and for those who are on the fence, or haven’t considered the possibility of experiencing a relationship with God at your church, seeing their friends on Social Media experiencing that could open a door for them.

runningThe average American who considers themselves a church goer is at service once every 3 weeks.  You may be thinking “We don’t use social media during service because everyone who follows us is at church.” but imagine how often people are travelling for work, taking their kids to a sports league game or out sick.  On top of that, if you have multiple weekend services, there’s the opportunity for someone who came to first service to engage online with you for second service.

clockBased on your core values, and your church’s unique strengths, you may decide that some of these ideas work well for your church and some don’t. Facebook posts have a longer life span than tweets or instagram posts, so I usually go lighter on Facebook – one or two posts, and heavier on twitter / instagram.

Here are some ideas that you can engage with your online audience during your service (live event).

(Side note: Here is another article on 40 ideas to repurpose content you’re already creating – this would help you use that content through the week between live services.)

 

Music:

  • microphoneLive Stream one of the most popular songs on the list that morning (periscope, Facebook live, record and then post to youtube or twitter.)
  • Tweet the name of the next song with a link to your broadcast so people can know what’s coming or logon to watch.
  • Take a picture of your worship team and make it like a message quote, but with lyrics (works well for instagram, Facebook, twitter.)
  • Take pictures of your slides before service, then during service, post an album of all of today’s song lyrics.  People can scroll through the album while they’re singing during service to follow the lyrics, or use it if they want to sing those longs later in the week.

 

Announcements:

  • radioIf you have video announcements, break them into pieces or 30-60 seconds (like each announcement is its own video) and post them as a group on twitter as they happen live in service.  People who aren’t able to be at church will still know what’s going on and feel included, even if they’re not on site.
  • If you have Live announcements, stream them for the same reasons as above.
  • Depending on the length of the announcements, if they’re less than 12 seconds, snap chat them individually, or create clips of videos with your website link in the snapchat text.
  • Take a picture of the person doing announcements, or a screen shot of the video and include the essential details in an image on instagram (or choose the announcement that would most likely apply to an instagram demographic – youth, young families, etc.) and use that as a stand alone.

Offering or Closing Prayer:

  • quoteDoes your church have a specific method for offering and can you utilize that?  We use our offering time as an opportunity to share a testimony.  We ask people to send them through the week by email and we pick one to read.  We’re starting to have those testimonies show up as text / image (pre-made) on social during service.
  • Video a reading that everyone does together, or a tweet a screen shot of a bible verse you use during that time.
  • Snap a picture of whoever is taking up the offering, or record a video of them praying over that part of your service.
  • Record the prayer portions or the call to action portions of the close and use that video online.

 

Message / Teaching / Preaching / Sermon:

  • micTake a picture of your Pastor and add in a quote using canva, instaquote or adobe post.
  • Take a snap of your Pastor giving a quick quote (this takes Ninja Skills, but if you take enough, you’ll can throw them out by the time your get to the good one.)
  • Create a message quote over your logo, picture of your church building from the outside, picture of your auditorium or on top of your series graphic.
  • Screen shot the bible verses as you read them and tweet or post to instagram
  • If you Pastor is up for the challenge, let people ask questions on twitter during the message, and then have him or her answer them.
  • Create a hashtag and add it to your message graphic.  Retweet or reply to users who post with it during the service.

 

Before & After Service:

  • imageSetup a photo booth where people can take selfies or photos of each other.  It could be for an event like Mothers Day, Easter or Christmas, or it could be based on your current series – something worth talking about.  Maybe you’re on a starters theme, so you have a cockpit of the millennium falcon for pictures, racing theme so you can sit in a race car, Fruit of the spirit theme and you have a fruit stand, Tipping sacred cows theme so you have a cow statue people can take pictures with… these are great ways for people to create their own content (with your Photo Booth) and post on their own pages.  Try to include your logo, or suggest a hashtag to use so people who see those will trace it back to your church.

 

I would love to hear what ideas you’ve been using to engage your online audience during service.  Comment below or tweet me: @adam_mclaughlin 

 

Categories
Graphic Design Marketing Social Media

40 Ideas to Repurpose Your Church’s Content

It’s an incredible world we live in where we can create digital content to be shared, re-shared, and used in multiple ways. In a moment’s notice, a message can spread.  It’s a two-edged sword we’ve created for ourselves because a request that used to take a meeting or a phone call can now be instantly in your pocket, and our schedules are filling up with clutter, potential distractions and efficiency tools.  Knowing how and when to use these tools to your advantage can be a big help in spreading your message and using your marketing to move your church forward.

Here are a few ideas to repurpose created content with very little effort.

Repurposing Recorded audio from start to finish:

If you record a podcast through the week separate from your service like an interview with your Pastor, team conversations or testimonies, or a radio or TV show for a local station, here are some ideas.  (These won’t work as well in the context of recording multiple takes or pieces of audio that will be assembled later like studio music.  See the next area section for ideas.)

  • Stream the video live via Periscope or Facebook live while you’re recording.  Equipment doesn’t have to be any more than an iPad or iPhone on a stand.
  • Take some still shots while you’re recording and put them on instagram to point to your periscope feed or promote your podcast.
  • Take 4 or 5 photos for Facebook as a promotional tool for you podcast.
  • Record the video (not just stream) and post it on Facebook later or upload to YouTube (the second largest search engine after Google) or vimeo to create a library of content.
  • Chop down the video into segments.  If the interview is multiple questions, make each question isn’t own video and roll out the shorter clips on Social media through the week, or posted to youtube with the question as the title so people can see that question even if they aren’t looking for the rest of the interview content.  60 second clips can go on Instagram.
  • Snapchat portions of the interview – either video or images. This will take some practise since you have a set time frame for video and you’ll want to catch a complete ‘thought’ in that video.

 

Repurpose pieces of audio that will be assembled later:

  • Record video to be used later like a how-to video for mic-ing a drum kit, or setting up a mix, or how to play a certain song on guitar.
  • Stream it (It’s like a behind the scenes video, even if it’s start and stop with multiple takes.) on periscope or Facebook live.
  • Take Snaps on snapchat or instagram.

 

Repurposing Series / Message Graphics:

With very little effort, these graphics that are already on your task list are easily modified and repurposed.  Consider using your series graphic for:

  • Facebook cover photo
  • Twitter header
  • Add a colored overlay and add a quote from the message on top.
  • Copy and paste the scriptures your pastor will use and put them on an overlay of your series graphic.  Use these during the message on the screen, then one a day on Social Media next week.
  • Add the image to your bulletin for “Our Current Series”.
  • Have a road sign printed with your graphic.
  • Print a poster of your message graphic to hang in the entrance / foyer / atrium about the current series.
  • Make your series graphic the background for your digital signage.
  • Print them on a business card as an invite for your people to hand out. Include service times and website on the back.
  • Use it in your email newsletter as a reminder to come back next week to hear the next part in the series.

 

Repurposing this Sunday’s service:

Maybe you already stream online or record the service for a podcast.  Here are some other ideas for repurposing that content that you’re already creating:

  • Have a volunteer who can write turn their notes from the message into blog post for your website.
  • Stream live on Periscope or Facebook Live.
  • Take 60 second videos for Instagram (this can be tough live… You may not know when to start recording in order to get a clip that will be 60 seconds and a complete thought. It’s worth a try to record clips and then decide if they’re instagram worthy).
  • Add a hashtag and your twitter handle to your message graphics so people can tweet you with what they’re hearing.  They generate the content for you to share at a later time.
  • Browse your friends on Facebook who are at your church.  If they post something about the message on Facebook, take a screenshot and post it on your Facebook page. Thank them for their comment.
  • Depending on the audio quality, take a song from your worship set and post it to youtube.
  • Take a clip of your opening or closing prayer. Post it on instagram, Facebook, twitter.
  • Take a clip from the message (Maybe a story or where your Pastor is explaining a scripture, or possibly the introduction to the message) to post across your social channels.  If it’s a stand alone thought, add it to your YouTube channel.
  • Post your service bumper on Facebook next weekend and invite people to join you again on the weekend.
  • Take pictures of your Pastor and text for a quote from the message.
  • Take pictures of your worship team and overlay song lyrics from the chorus of the most popular song this week.

 

Repurposing Print Material:

FreebieAlmost everything that ends in print starts as digital.  Use that digital file to your advantage.

  • If you’re designing business cards, use a template like this to mockup the design and post it on Social Media
  • Doing more than one redesign at a time? Use a photoshop template like this to show people what’s going on.
  • If the design is for youth, post it to instagram, or take a snap and add it to your story as it’s coming off the printer or being cut.
  • If it’s for your kids department, post it to instagram or Facebook where the parents will likely see it.

If it’s a print piece for an event, mock it up and use it as a reminder for the event the day before in your email newsletter or Facebook event or just generally on social media.

 

Repurposing Video Announcements (or announcements recorded by video):

  • Upload the video to YouTube.  If someone is searching for your church and finds a past announcement, they’ll realize that it’s not current, but it will still give them an idea for the kinds of activities your church participates in.
  • Include a link in your email newsletter with a screen shot from your announcement.  When someone clicks, it could go to the youtube page or a page on your website where the video is loaded.
  • Add it to Vimeo with different keywords from Youtube.  Same idea as above, but a different venue.
  • Add a channel plugin to your website so that once you upload your announcements to Youtube or Vimeo, they automatically appear in your footer or on a page on your website.
  • Upload the video to Facebook (don’t just post the youtube link.. actually, upload the video to your Facebook post.  This way, when someone scrolls over the video, it will automatically start playing rather than having to click it to play like a youtube link. In the description, add in a link to where they can sign up for the events in the video.
  • Chop your announcement video down into individual announcements.  Post one a day on different Social Channels with the link to register for each event.
  • While you’re recording your announcements, stream them live.

 

What have you found that you can repurpose easily?  What has worked for your church?