7 social media post ideas, with examples

31/05/2019

As the person looking after social media for your church, there’s nothing worse than being stuck for ideas, and it's easy to fall into a routine of only posting about upcoming services and events.

Our social media pages offer an exciting opportunity for us to reach new people, share the good work of our churches and explore faith. With this in mind, we’ve found seven examples of posts to inspire your social media this week.

1. Prayers and reflections

These topics don’t need to be confined to a Sunday service, and sharing these during the week is an effective way to let your community know you are thinking of them, listening and praying for them.

Here are some ideas for posts you could share:

  • Use video to pray with your community mid-week. Have you tried Facebook Live?
  • Ask them what they would like prayer for
  • Share a prayer from the Church of England account
  • Share a verse and reflection based on the Sunday message.

2. News from your local community

Our churches play an important part in communities, offering support, praying for needs and raising the profile of local initiatives. Share local news articles or posts from local pages that may be of interest to your community.

St Mark’s church in Pennington share local news and interest stories, and as a result, they have become more known in their community.

3. Updates from events, projects or initiatives

It’s not possible to fit every update in a Sunday service, so social media can be an effective way to keep your community informed and share the good work of your church.

Stories from church projects are some of The Church of England’s most widely read and shared posts.

Ideas:

  • Behind the scenes from your building project
  • A story from a cause you are supporting
  • Pictures from a recent event
  • Update from an initiative, and its impact

We’ve covered some ideas for what to share before, during and after events, in this blog.

4. A bit about who you are

What better way for your community to get to know you than sharing a bit about your leaders and volunteers, your beliefs, or what they can expect when they attend church.

We know that people use social media as a window to check you out before attending, so this is the perfect way to give them an idea of what life looks like at your church.

One church fed back that a new visitor attended the church based on the welcome they read on the church’s A Church Near You page, showing just how important it is to consider words and images on social media, A Church Near You and websites.

5. Get involved in national Church of England campaigns

The national campaigns are designed to support local churches by creating shareable resources, to help you reach your communities, and share your faith. There are many ways you can use the resources we provide and personalise it for your audience.

Hull Minster took the daily reflections from our #LentPilgrim campaign and made short videos for their Facebook community.

6. Answer questions your audience are asking

What is Good Friday? What is prayer? Does God love everyone?

Answering questions like these is not just for Sunday. Short videos, blogs or social media posts are all tools you can use to start conversations about faith and reach new people.

Don’t forget to think about the next step for those curious to find out more; do you have a group where they can ask questions, or would you like to invite them along to a Sunday service?

Our video ‘What is Ash Wednesday’ was widely watched on YouTube by 18 to 24-year olds wanting to learn about the meaning behind the day.

7. Be curious

Do you know what’s going on in people’s lives Monday to Saturday? How they like to spend their free time? Or, what books are they reading? Get to know the people who are part of your online community by initiating conversations.

Don’t be put off if no one comments at first, but you could personally ask a few supportive people to respond to give others permission to join the conversation.

Liz Morgan
Church Digital Champion

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