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Picture this. Easter is right around the corner. Your team is busy finalizing service times, preparing atrium decorations, tweaking the Easter landing page on your website and recruiting volunteers to welcome new and regular attendees galore. It’s crazy, it’s exciting, it’s what we live for in the Church world. Then you remember, what are we going to do with social media? If the rest of the church is preparing to usher in a momentous celebration, shouldn’t our social media reflect that as well? The short answer: yes. But how? 

Let’s start with the big picture. It’s important we remember our social media feed in the grand scheme of Easter because it’s not just a marketing tool, it’s a ministry tool. A tool that can not only help you invite people on Sunday but also serve as the starting point to a relationship with your church. 

This Easter, remember that you have three huge opportunities with your social media: 

1. Opportunity to serve others
   Think of your social media as an online outreach tool. There’s a lot of negativity on social media, so give people something positive to engage with. Take the opportunity to give people a dose of hope and inspiration. 
2. Opportunity to foster community
   Your church is more than just a weekend experience. Seize the opportunity to help your congregation create an organic community online throughout the week. 
3. Opportunity to further your mission 
   The fact is there are thousands more people online than at your church. Social media can be a tool to help you reach new volumes of people with your unique mission. 

Before you post, use these three steps to make sure you’re getting the most out of your social media: 

1. Know your audience
   Try to answer some key questions about your audience before you create content to reach them. What challenges do they have? Where do they live? What excites and motivates them? What does your audience need from you? What can your church give them that they can’t find anywhere else?
2. Set a goal
   Create specific, numerical and measurable goals. Tie your goals to your mission. What does success look like? Are you hoping to get people in the doors? Or do you hope to inspire and encourage people?
3. Start a content list
   What types of posts will you make? What topics will you cover? How will you incorporate the content you already have (books, website, sermons, testimonials, etc.)? What new content do you need to create (invitational graphics, Facebook live videos, etc.)? 

A List of 10 Content Ideas

To get you started, here is a list of content ideas/tips: 

1. Incorporate your mission statement into your regular rhythm of posts. There is no better time to share with visitors and guests the heartbeat behind why your church exists! 
2. Go behind the scenes and show your audience what it’s like to be there. Use photo or video content to make your audience feel like they are a part of the experience. 
3. Take content from past Bible studies, devotions, sermons or classes and repurpose it into blog posts, live videos, produced videos, social media graphics, etc. that help people take a spiritual next step. 
4. Shoulder tap individuals in your church (staff or congregation) to share short devotions in the week leading up to Easter. 
5. Post a verse of the day that people can share.
6. Tell stories of life-change.
7. Use Instagram story features such as polls, questions and quizzes to increase engagement and excitement.
8. Show appreciation for your volunteer teams to celebrate your congregation’s investment and create a healthy feeling of FOMO (fear of missing out). 
9. Host a social media giveaway and encourage your people to tag their friends in the comments to generate more traffic to your feed.
10. Write a text message for your audience to use to invite their friends to your Sunday services. Give instructions for them to copy and paste for easy inviting!