According to research from Kepios 4.74 billion people logged on to social media last month. That's 59.3% of the global population.

Every person your church or business wants to reach is on social media. Are you leveraging social media to reach more people?

If you want help with this check out my Church YouTube package here.

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Someone sent me this article the other day that shared social media demographics from 2022 for each platform. No surprise here but Facebook was the number one platform with most users per month at 2.91 billion followed by Instagram at 2 billion. YouTube which is also the number two search engine behind Google lists 2 billion+ users daily. So I’ll let them and Meta (owner of Facebook and Instagram) fight out who’s actually number one. TikTok came in fourth with 1 billion months users and rounding out the top 5 was LinkedIn who lists 431 million monthly users.

This article does a deep dive on the demographics of each of these platforms giving ages and gender of who is using the platforms as well as how often they are logging on to the platform. No matter if you run a business or a church, social media is a part of what you do.

Much has been written about the negative affects of social media and I won’t go into all of that here, but let’s face it going into 2023 growing your social media platforms is the best way to reach new people for your church or business.

62% of people who use YouTube log in daily. Pew Research tells us that 49% of people log in to at least one social media platform daily. Wouldn’t you like an opportunity to talk to 49% of your customers or congregation daily?

You have that opportunity through social media. Instagram has doubled their users to 2 billion people over the last three years and two thirds of the users are Millennials and Gen Z. Is there any other place on the planet that you can reach that many young people? (yes I’m declaring that Millennials are young people :)

Here are the 5 Must-Know Social Media Strategies for 2023:

1. Long-Form Content is crucial

   Double down on YouTube, podcasts, trainings, webinars, long form articles or blogs. Statistics tell us that long-form content has a better ROI and retention rate than short-form content.

   Long-form content is your anchor. It’s the place where all of your other content pushes to.

   You should be posting this type of content 2-3 times per week across the different platforms. For churches the easiest thing is your Sunday sermon. But I would suggest you create separate long-form content. Have your pastor write an article that goes deeper on the Sunday sermon or a completely separate topic and post it to your website and share on social. Have your Kids Director record a twenty minute video on how to help parents teach their children to pray. The opportunities are endless.

   If you’re a real estate agent record a video explaining what the market is doing. Or how to get your house ready to put on the market. If you’re in the medical field maybe you own a doctor’s office or nursing practice write an article about flu season and how to prevent getting sick. If you’re a physical therapist do a Facebook Live showing people how to stretch their hamstrings and let people ask questions and then post the video after. Again the opportunities are endless.

   Contact me for more ideas!

2. Micro Content

   Micro content is short bite sized content that can be consumed by your audience quickly on social media. Micro content is different from the short-form content I am going to explain next. Micro content does not mean creating separate content in short form. Micro content is taking from your long form content and using it as “clips.”

   These could be video clips, great photographs, infographics, short carousel posts and anything else that is eye-catching and can be consumed quickly. This micro content should be pushing your audience to your long-form content. This is a great way to repurpose content. You should be posting this type of content 3-5 times per week.

   Memes- Another fun way to do this kind of content is through Memes or shareable quotes.

   For example you can create 3-5 different forms of content from your Sunday sermon. Start with pulling a video clip and posting that. Then create 1-2 quote graphics to post. Next create a funny Meme using pictures from your services that highlights a point from the sermon. Then you can create a carousel post with the three points from the sermon with 1-2 sentences explaining the point. In the captions point all of these back to the Sunday sermon (your long-form content).

3. Short-Form Video

   This may be the most important piece of content you post every week.

   TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube shorts and Facebook Reels are all short-form video goldmines. The platforms want you to create these so they will naturally boost them and the algorithm will put these in front of your audience for free.

   Short-form videos will dominate social media in 2023 as people share them at a much higher rate than any other form of content. People increasingly desire bite-size, short-form content that they can rapidly consume in a time-strapped, information-saturated world. This format is perfect for social media and marketing. Create a ton of these. These are different than repurposing your long-form content for micro content. Have fun with these.

   This is a lofty goal, but the best way to do this is to post these 2-3 TIMES A DAY. The beauty of this type of content though is that it doesn’t need to be highly produced or edited. You can film these on your iPhone and post directly. The key to this type of content is volume and frequency not quality.

4. Create an online community

   Facebook groups is still the number one way to build this online community. Twitch and Discord have become popular over the last year, but there are some risks associated with both of those that your organization will need to talk through. This online community is where you can nurture and care for your audience.

   The goal of online community is to move people from social media followers to becoming a part of your community or your tribe. A place for people who want to belong to you and your church or brand.

   This is a crucial part of your social media strategy because these people are taking the extra step and showing you that they believe in your church or business and want to be a part of it. These people will also be your “biggest raving fans” and help spread the word about what you do and will help invite others.

   In this online community relationships are being developed. If you’re a church many people will join your campus Facebook group before they ever step foot in your church building. Many multi-site churches have Facebook groups for each campus as a place to connect with people. This is a great idea for ministries of the church as well. Kids, Youth, Men’s, Women’s ministiries etc. This is a much more effective idea than having each campus or ministry have their own social media account.

   And if you’re a business people will join this community before they ever buy from you. People want to know what kind of people are a part of something before they commit. This online community gives them a taste of what it’s like being a part of your church or business.

5. Email Lists are not dead

   Owning the media you are using is vital. Your email list is something you own. Unfortunately you don’t own Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc. But you do own your email lists.

   
   A growing number of states are banning the use of TikTok on government devices over possible national security threats posed by the Chinese-owned social media platform.

   This should be a wake up call to all of us that our audiences on social media can be taken away at anytime (especially churches). That’s why you need an email list that you own. If you have one now is the time to double down on it and use it effectively as well as continue to grow it. If you don’t have an email list before you post one more thing on social meida you need to create a sign up for an email list and get started on that!

   Give people a reason to join your email list. Create fun, insightful, helpful content to engage people in your newsletter. Sending an email to your list weekly is better than monthly. You are 6x more likely to get higher click-through rates through emails instead of tweets. Also, email is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter.

   Email is personal. It is going directly to someone’s inbox. You don’t have to rely on the algorithm to put it in front of someone. Email is also targeted meaning anyone who is on your email list has made that decision which means they are interested in you and your organization or what you’re selling. There are tons of tools available

I’ve created a Church YouTube package where I work together with you and your church to implement a strategy to reach more people for Jesus through YouTube. You can find out package details and prices here.

Contact me here to sign up or get more information.

Social media can feel overwhelming at times. I get it! But it doesn’t have to be. Take it slow and create a strategy that works for you and your church or business. Think about why you’re doing it and get others involved. I would love to help your church or business (or your personal brand) grow on social media in 2023.

Reach out to me today to talk through how we can work together to reach more people through your church or business on social media in 2023!

Cheering for you!