If you read marketing commentary often you have surely heard this phrase: Content is King.While I personally agree and disagree with that statement on different levels, the fact remains that in order to get engagement you have to provide something to engage with…a.k.a. content…
CHURCH CONTENT ADVANTAGE
There is no organization in the world that has a “content” advantage like the church. No other organization yes-or-yes has to prepare weekly content to stand in front of a crowd of people and speak non-stop for 30-45 minutes.We often don’t think about the hours and hours of time our church leaders put in to make that time window possible Sunday after Sunday. But every week, without fail, we hear a message.The problem is as follows: Sunday comes. The message is given. People leave, forget about it, and move on with life. Then Sunday comes again.Most churches don’t take full advantage of this content to achieve the objective of continued discipleship and online engagementHere are 5 basic ways to use weekly message content outside of Sunday to increase Online engagement and “e-Discipleship”:
1. SERMON PODCAST
This can be hosted on your website or an outside service. Allowing on-demand access to a recording of the weekend’s message is a great way to reinforce the content to your audience as well as increase your reach to people who couldn’t be there or live on the other side of the world. This is easy to setup with a simple audio recording and a camera of decent quality.
2. SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
Using Facebook, Instagram, twitter, etc. to drip out content throughout the week can be very helpful to engage your church community. I’ve seen great success with post using pictures from the weekend gatherings and activities paired with quotes from Sundays messages. Also, you can use a short video clip from the sermon podcast to emphasize the main point or challenge from the message on Sunday. Also, a FB Live with your Pastor to share something personal with the congregation is always a great way to get more people engaged during the week.
3. BLOG POST
This can easily be created by summarizing the message from Sunday and writing a few paragraphs that expound on the idea and make it very practical for everyday life. These posts are especially effective if given a catchy or challenging title. Hint: this doesn’t have to be word-for-word the content from the message, but can latch on to one key point or challenge and go deeper.
4. DEVOTIONAL OR STUDY GUIDE
Again, this is easily created by summarizing the message and breaking it up into bite-size pieces for reading throughout the week. You can include scripture passages and other references so the reader can go deeper and study the subject in a more detailed manner.
5. EMAIL SUMMARY VIA NEWSLETTERS
You can email out to your church community the key takeaways from Sunday’s message to remind them to take action and participate throughout the week with the challenge given on the weekend. This could be a simple 5-bullet email once a week, that calls them to action. This email could also link to the Podcast, blog post, or devotional guide to increase.If you are interested to continue learning about this, here is a link to a great podcast by Church Communications that talks even more about some of the amazing content advantages we have in the church. I highly recommend that you check it out!
DOWNLOAD THE CHURCH CONTENT CHECKLIST
Most churches don’t think about maximizing engagement or don’t know how to easily leverage content they already have. So, I’ve created a short checklist for to help you maximize the effectiveness of all your content. This shows you how I think about the possible use cases and channels for each piece of content to increase engagement and disciple. This is one of the fastest ways to build a deeper connection with your community and grow your church.This is one of the fastest ways to build a deeper connection with your community and grow your church. Download the checklist here
