A church or organization’s social media functions as a first impression for many visitors. Therefore it is crucial that churches stay on top of their social media platforms.
However, in our experience, this simply isn’t the case. While 85% of churches report having a Facebook page, only 17% report having a Twitter or Instagram page. I imagine having a Pinterest page is even less.
And that’s a shame, because Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest still provide a valuable outlet for churches to communicate and be found on Google. They let the potential visitor know that your organization takes the technology age seriously.
The Biggest Problem Facing Churches and Social Media
The biggest problem facing churches with social media is that the job of updating the actual pages falls on either the pastor or a volunteer. While volunteers are awesome at many things, making sure that the algorithm of Facebook and Instagram is fed daily with content is probably not something many volunteers want to do.
So then it falls on the pastor.
Because you don’t have enough to do already. *Insert eye roll*
Maybe you try to handle it yourself.
You schedule out posts for a few weeks.
And then you forget to update it for 6 months.
Uh-oh.
You know it’s too important to be neglected but you have a million other tasks to do that HAVE to be done.
Why Your Church Secretary Isn’t the Answer
Perhaps the pastor thinks, maybe I can delegate this out to our church secretary or administrator.
However, as I mention here, that isn’t a wise idea. Church administrators are gifted at many things, but their chief responsibility should be the behind-the-scenes work that no one sees. You need someone who is proficient at social media and understands the basics of hashtags, algorithmic posting and social media insights. It would also be helpful if they understood some basic elements of graphic design.
It’s not that your church secretary CAN’T do that. They possibly can. It’s that they already have a lot of other things going on and social media is far too important to be left on the back burner.
How a Church Virtual Assistant Can Help with Your Social Media
Actually, the heading should read how Ministry Assistant Services can help, because we are the only agency that offers a unique solution to the problem above: a project manager-based approach.
Instead of assigning you one virtual assistant who has to handle ALL of your tasks, we assign you a project manager, who supervises a team of virtual assistants–each with giftings in different areas.
So those gifted at administration are handling administration and those gifted at graphics are handling graphics.
Here’s how it works:
1) You Communicated Expectations
How often do you want to post? What type of posts would you like to see? What platforms would you like to found on? What aesthetic would you like your posts to have?
After you let us know, we’ll get to work.
2) You Give Us the Login
We’ll connect your social media to our scheduling platform and start crafting posts for a month out.
3) Relevant Posts
We’ll make sure to create posts for major holidays and events in the life of your church. We don’t want to create generic “arms lifted high nature scenes with Bible verses” (I mean, we can if you want) but we’ll create images that make your church stand out.
Send us pictures! We’ll incorporate them directly into your posts.
4) We can use your sermon clips or podcast clips
We can take sermon or podcast and turn them into clips to be used for social media as well.
In other words, we can do complete, end-to-end social media management for a wide array of platforms.
In the end, this helps with communication, first impressions and long-term engagement for an audience.
What Platforms Can a Virtual Assistant Help Manage?
At Ministry Assistant Services we can help manage a variety of different platforms that we believe will help your organization be found more easily.
We’ll help set up your Facebook page and make sure it is current, on-brand, optimized for Google.
Instagram Help
We’ll make sure that your Instagram account is updated with aesthetically pleasing graphics, and relevant content that inspires and encourages your followers.
Pinterest Help
While many organizations overlook Pinterest, you shouldn’t! It is still a great way to pin relevant content for your church and be found through Google. We’ll help set up your Pinterest account and pin relevant information for your organization so you can be found easily.
Twitter Help
Are you a leader who likes to Tweet? We can help craft a Twitter profile for you that is active and relevant, and full of engaging content.
Youtube Help
Youtube is the second largest search engine in the world, behind Google. We can help you utilize it effectively. We’ll search important hashtags, upload the video, add descriptions that are helpful, create thumbnails that grab attention and name your video in a way that people will actually FIND your video. We can also do some light video editing work (cutting, making clips, adding intros) to your video.
Can a Virtual Assistant Help Grow My Social Media Account?
This is a question that we are asked most frequently and the answer to that is–maybe.
We need to be realistic about social media and churches–there is a lot of content being posted daily. Consistent posting helps Instagram and Facebook users find you more easily, but does not guarantee you will grow as a result.
What I tell churches is this: the growth of your account is a byproduct of great content. If you create great content that is edifying for your current followers, then sometimes your account will grow as a result.
What we do not promise is that we can make you a celebrity pastor or get you 10k followers. There are specialists out there who get into the minutia of that strategy, but we currently do not offer that.
We have often found that an easier way to get past the limits of the algorithms is using paid advertising–a service we also offer.
How Much Time is This Going to Take?
Most of our virtual assistants can crank out months worth of content in under 10 hours. Imagine having personal, digital content for the next several months for just a few hundred dollars.
You simply cannot find a better value. These are not generic posts–this is created, custom content made with your brand in mind.
But nevertheless, it is an investment. What I often tell church and organizational leaders is to consider it part of their missionary work–to show Christ in the digital space and to reach their local community virtually.
Do You Want to Hire a Virtual Assistant for Church Social Media?
We can help. Our team is ready to take this crucial piece of ministry off your plate today for one low hourly rate! Click the button below to schedule your free 15-minute consultation and we’ll see how we can help you with your social media.