Don’t Silence Your Phones: 4 Powerful Ways to Integrate Social Media Into Your Worship Services
Like it or not, people are going to use their mobile devices during your church service. For better or worse our phones are now attached to us and go everywhere we go.
Our churches can either fight against this relatively new phenomenon or we can work with and use it to our advantage. The question becomes, how can we enhance our worship experience and help people learn despite being slightly distracted by their device?
Suggested Tweet: " How can we enhance our worship & help people learn despite being distracted by their device? @jdb_creative"
Social participation can play a big role in connecting people and creating a sense of community during and around your live services and events.
Here are 4 easy strategies that can help encourage social participation during your worship services and beyond.
1. Select a Hashtag.
Choosing a hashtag is the most important part of gaining audience participation. It gives your church experience an identity and allows people to easily see conversations taking place around your event. Select something that makes sense and is not too difficult to remember.
Try not to use hashtags like #firstbaptistchurch9oclockservice or #studentministrypizzaandpoolparty. These hashtags are not easily remembered and on certain social channels take up to much real estate. Choosing a hashtag thats easy like #YOURCHURCHNAMELIVE is a great way to continue conversations all through the week.
2. Monitor and Respond.
Social Media is about creating community and conversations. The same applies for your live event. While the service is happening you need to have someone monitoring the hashtag feed and responding to issues and questions. Use on screen graphics that shows the service hashtag and encourages people to share certain content. During the sermon or key section of the event make sure you are guiding the conservation by strategically posting content you want to be shared and talked about.
3. Involve Your Leadership and Speakers.
A key piece of this integration idea lies in who is participating. Encouraging your pastor to participate in the live conversation can be a cool way to enhance the social experience for participants. A simple tweet or Facebook post from your worship leader when the set is complete can really help make the conversation a huge success. Showing a few behind the scenes photos and videos with your leaders is also a very important way to create buzz around your live service and event.
4. Close The Deal.
One of the most important aspects of creating an excellent live social experience is continuing the conservations. A social event doesn’t have to stop just because people leave your facility. That is what makes social media such a great tool. Give those who participated a way to continue the connection process and encourage attendance and participation for next week’s experience. Make sure you friend, like and connect with all the new (and old) contacts you made during the event.
Social Media is here to stay. Churches who decide to leverage this technology will see growth and success. Social is a great place to keep the buzz alive. Learning to effectively incorporate your social media channels into your live experience has truly unlimited potential.
