Your church's social media profile

Introduction

Thinking it through

Going Deeper

• Take a look at the Church of England Digital Charter mentioned in the video.
• Read this Digital Labs blog for more insights about getting started on social media.
• Another Digital Labs blog on creating and maintaining a social media profile is also worth a read. 
• There’s an excellent chapter about social media for churches in the book 'How Village Churches Thrive'. It helpfully outlines the differences between several social media platforms. Although the book is geared to churches in rural areas, the suggestions and information could apply anywhere.
• Another useful book for all aspects of church communication, including social media, is '100 Ways to get Your Church Noticed, by Neil Pugmire. It also has an accompanying website.

Ideas for posting

Going Deeper

• How often should you post? This Digital Labs blog offers some thoughts.
• This Digital Labs blog helps you apply the laws related to using photos and videos online. 

Helpful resources

• Here on the Church of England's Safeguarding pages, there is a template photo consent form along with a template privacy notice to go with it. 

Scheduling tools

Here are some popular social media scheduling tools. Some of them offer free plans or special discounts for charities, which churches are eligible for. Remember to check with your line manager/PCC before registering or subscribing to any new tool. 

General tools (often with charity discounts)

• Meta Business Suite is free and designed for Facebook and Instagram
• Buffer: Popular and user-friendly. It's known for its clean interface and straightforward scheduling. Offers a 50% discount for non-profits. It has a good free plan to get started with, which allows you to connect up to three channels.
• Hootsuite: A professional-level tool that allows you to manage many different social media accounts and streams in one dashboard. They also offer a 50% discount for non-profits on their paid plans.
• Canva: While known as a design tool, a paid Canva Pro account (which is free for registered charities) now includes a Content Planner that allows you to schedule your designs directly to social media platforms. This is an efficient option as you can create and schedule your graphics all in one place. For more about Canva Pro, and how to access it, take a look at this Digital Labs blog.

Church-specific tools

These are not just schedulers but all-in-one church communication platforms that often include social media integration.

• ChurchSuite: This is a comprehensive Church Management System widely used in the UK. While not a dedicated scheduler itself, it's designed to be the hub of church life. Many administrators use it to plan their communications (like news stories and events) and then use those same assets to post on social media.
• Hubb.church: A UK-based platform designed to be a central communications hub for churches. It helps you manage your news, events, and blogs, and has features to help you push this content out to your social media channels, streamlining the process.

For a church administrator starting out, getting the free Canva Pro account is often a good first step, as it combines the design tool you’ll need with a simple and effective scheduler.

Final thoughts