Like it or not Social Media is here to stay in its many and various formats.
I like to say that Facebook has now become the front porch of America. So, if you want to increase giving this summer you had better be where your members are and they are on Social Media!
Do you doubt that? Consider these facts from Statista…
“As of 2017, daily social media usage of global internet users amounted to 135 minutes per day, up from 126 daily minutes in the previous year.”
So how would you use Social Media to get your message out AND get people to contribute to support the work you are doing? Let me share with you a strategy I put together for a client church, South Biscayne Church now a satellite campus of Fellowship Church. At the time I was working for them they were preparing a summer mission trip to the Ukraine.
Here is a review of what we did to focus upon the story of the mission and to get people to want to give to support that mission.
1.) Pre-Event Tease Out
One month before the mission team left for Ukraine we began through all their platforms trumpeting the call to prayer and support for the Ukraine mission. One thing we did was start a blog site for the pastor who would then real-time report out what was happening. The picture in the upper left is one post that advertised his blog.
Notice also they started a hashtag for prayer for the Ukraine trip. These posts heightened awareness of the upcoming trip AND gave us an opportunity to make an “ask” to support the trip. I recommend at least one Social Media post a day across all your sites to build awareness and support for your summer mission initiative.
2.) Live Reports During The Event
With the Internet you can report back to your members and donors with live feeds or recaps like what you see attached.
Each night after the events of the day the pastor would blog a few paragraphs report of the days actions. These posts contained pictures of ministry in action. It showed who they were impacting but also showed members at work in ministry.
This was a few years ago but now you could easily do this with live reports through many of the current Social Media platforms. Be creative!
3.) Post Event Report & Thank You
The picture at the left is a screen shot from Facebook of the same church reporting back the results of the Ukraine mission trip. I had told them how important it was to thank donors. At the time of this trip, Facebook, had just allowed short video’s to be embedded into a page. South Biscayne used their cell phones and took videos of Ukrainian students thanking the church for sending a mission team to their country.
Showing people WHAT their gift did and thanking them for that gift paves the way for the next gift!
4.) Show & Tell
Do you remember that from your grade school days? One way to increase giving is to use the same concept. Show and tell people WHAT you are doing and they will GIVE you money to support that cause. With people averaging 135 minutes a day on Social Media is there a more effective way for free to get your story in front of people? Get started today using Social Media to tell your amazing story of life change this summer!
Mark Brooks – The Stewardship Coach