Home Outreach Leaders 7 Tips for Church Marketing and Communication

7 Tips for Church Marketing and Communication

3. Social Media Isn’t a Digital Bulletin Board for Events

One of the major mistakes churches make as it relates to their social media presence is that they essentially use their online platforms as a bulletin board for whatever events are coming up. 

Every post is just an announcement image with the event name and information, along with the somewhat ominous phrase, “You don’t want to miss it!” Veiled threat as marketing copy aside, one other thing these posts typically have in common is this: almost no one engages with them.

And that’s because, despite how often they encounter ads on these platforms, people don’t come to social media to be marketed to. They come to social media to be social. 

Only accounts that offer socially engaging content will appear in the newsfeed of the people who follow them. Thus, the bulk of the time spent on your church’s social media plan should be used to create that type of content. 

It is only then that you have the credibility to sparingly include posts that advertise church events and initiatives. Strive to keep those posts to only about 20% of your church’s posts—what church communications expert Brady Shearer calls the “1-In-5 Rule.”

4. Don’t Sleep on Google Ads and Boosted Social Media Content

Since church marketing and communication is meant not only to inform those within your congregation about the church’s goings on but also to raise awareness of the church in the community at large, your church would do well to invest in social media advertising or Google ads—or both. 

In fact, Google actually offers grants to nonprofits, including churches, worth up to $10,000 to raise awareness of purpose-driven causes and organizations.

Social media ads are also an effective way to create awareness. Be sure that these ads include high quality videos that give an accurate representation of what your church is actually like. This will make them more authentic, as well as more effective.

5. The More Stage Announcements You Have, the Less People Listen

For many ministry leaders, they perceive Sunday morning stage announcements to be the end-all-be-all of event promotion—the one thing that will solve for their low signups and infuse church wide enthusiasm into their cause. 

But the fact of the matter is that it almost never works out that way. And the more announcements you have during a worship service, the less likely that any of them will be effective at burrowing themselves into the brains of your congregants.

I sleep with a sound machine at night to help me fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. But a lengthy announcement time that includes every little thing happening at the church will work just as well. 

To more effectively utilize your church’s Sunday announcement time, keep the number of announcements to a minimum. One announcement per week is ideal, and the absolute maximum is three.