Social media can be complicated, but there are fixable mistakes churches make online that can be remedied if they are aware of their mistakes and understand what to do to facilitate better engagement on social media moving forward. Here are four common mistakes churches make on social media and how to fix them.

Not Responding to Comments and Messages

As we discussed in our blog on social media management, social media goes two ways. It’s not only a matter of sharing content for users to consume but also engaging with them in meaningful ways when they comment or send messages. This helps build community, which should be a goal of any church, and it also helps you get in the habit of paying attention to the questions, feelings and interests users have. This can help you cater content toward what people are already commenting and messaging about, which will help increase engagement.

Set time once or twice a week to monitor your church’s social media accounts and respond to any comments or messages that come through, or set up alerts so you are notified whenever somebody does comment or message your church so that you can respond in a timely manner.

Ignoring Analytics

Social media platforms have built-in analytics tools for administrators of pages to see how their content is performing; this should inform the types of posts you’re sharing. If a certain type of post (i.e., videos, graphics, events, photos, etc.) is not performing well, consider transitioning to post types that are getting more visibility on a given platform. Churches should always be tweaking the types of content they share based on what people are actually seeing and engaging with.

Posting Too Little

While there is no magic number for how many times a week a church should post, consistently posting two to three times a week per platform as a minimum is a good starting point. Less than that, and a social platform’s algorithm may think your page isn’t active or relevant, which will decrease the likelihood of your posts showing up in users’ feeds.

If you are a UCC church, one way you can help get to that two-to-three-post minimum is by sharing content from UCC National’s social pages, which will always have content relevant to what’s happening in the denomination along with inspirational and biblical content.

Only Promoting the Church

Even though it is your church’s social media account, not every post should promote the church. It’s okay for you to post about upcoming events, capital campaigns and special services, but make sure to balance any self-promotion with content that educates, entertains or inspires your audience. For example, you could try adopting a rule where for every post you share that promotes the church, you also share two posts that highlight the community or lay leaders in the church in some way.

Don’t forget: social media can also be fun, so don’t forget to sprinkle in posts that bring smiles to your users’ faces.

The UCC Everywhere (UCCE) program is a state-of-the-art website builder for church leaders within the UCC. For a monthly or annual subscription fee, churches, Associations and Conferences get their own site along with other digital marketing tools and support to make sure their message is reaching faith-seekers in their community via the appropriate virtual channels.