If you’re trying to get heard on social media, you know how frustrating that can be to build that presence online.
Whether you’re running your personal account or the social accounts for your church, you think you have a great message you want to share with the world, but for the most part, everyone keeps passing you by.
The truth is, if you have 500 followers, 5000, or 50,000 followers, the results are almost always the same. Work hard on a post, get a couple dozen (or hundred likes), and generally expect a good chunk of your audience to never even see your post (thank you, algorithm).
And, should you end up with the rare post that truly goes viral, as soon as the algorithm grabs your post and shares it with non-followers, the trolls show up to trash and argue with whatever you say.
It’s a recipe for perpetual frustration.
So what do you do?
One approach is to follow every ‘game the algorithm’ strategy that emerges, with trending audio, trending templates, hashtag everything, and chasing anything that holds promise.
And while that can generate short-term traction, it requires either a highly attentive team or too much of your daily focus to be effective.
Plus, the trolls. Did I mention the trolls?
While email and texting are still far more effective ways of communicating with your audience, being on social media is critical to reaching new people, who will often check you or your church out on social before deciding to take a step in person.
So what do you do?
Don’t Do This
You’ve seen it so many times: People trying to be influencers by starting a video with, “Everyone has been asking me about…” when in reality, no one or almost no one asked them anything.
Sure, if your last name is Kardashian or you’re Taylor Swift, people probably have been asking you about things. But for the most part, nope, it’s just hype.
You’ve also seen people who honestly haven’t trained in a field tell you they’re an expert on [insert topic here] and why YOU need to listen to THEM because the SCIENCE says [insert poorly researched idea here].
I could go on and on, but you know the drill. So, instead, I’ll just cut to the chase.
Do you know what most people on social are doing? This includes church and organizational accounts…
They’re talking about themselves.
And sure, that’s how social media started back in the day: Telling people where you had lunch on Twitter back in 2009 or Instagramming a sunset on the beach. All of that is good.
But these days, if you’re trying to get a message across that isn’t deeply personal, talking about what your church is doing or what you’re thinking about isn’t always the most helpful strategy.
If you want more traction on social media, stop talking about yourself or your organization all the time.
Using social media as a billboard or an announcement channel is guaranteed to drop engagement rates significantly.
Plus, it’s a bit selfish, isn’t it?
In conversation, people who talk about themselves non-stop get labeled as boring or self-absorbed. It’s no different on social media.
I know, you’re probably thinking, “But isn’t talking about what we’re doing why we have a social media account in the first place?” Well, hopefully not.
Try This Instead
So what do you do?
The answer is simple: Stop talking about yourself and start talking about your audience.
Imagine shifting your screen view.
Start thinking about the hopes and dreams, the pain points and struggles, the daily grind, and the unsolved issues of the person who will be watching or reading your post. That’s the key to creating content people actually want to watch and listen to.
If you serve your audience on social media with an open heart and a selfless agenda, you’ll always have an audience.
Instead of saying, “I think…” it’s better to lead with, “You may be wondering…” or, “Have you ever run into this challenge before?”
When it comes to social media, opening with “You” is a fantastic strategy because it immediately engages the listener or viewer.
Instead of posting a shot of how full the room was and not-so-humble bragging about how effective your church is, talk about someone who was in the room and the difference the ministry is making to them. Tell their story.
Instead of talking about how awesome the next series will be, think about how the series might address the most pressing issues people are facing personally, and speak into that.
It’s far better to press into a relevant issue and add a ‘by the way, we’re dealing with that this Sunday” and inviting people out, than it is to lead with “Don’t miss this Sunday!!!!” (which is, sadly, still 90% of all church social media).
Most of us naturally create content that’s about us.
- Subscribe to my channel…
- Listen to my sermon…
- We’re behind on our budget…
- I have an amazing opportunity…
- Sale on today and today only…
- We’re having a really exciting event…
Here’s the hard truth: People don’t care about what you have to say. They care about themselves. And if you speak to that, you’ll always have an audience.
Nobody woke up thinking, “I wonder what Carey is going to say today?” And nobody woke up wondering what you were going to say either.
It’s a hard truth, but the sooner you get over it, the more anxious people will be to hear from you.
Be Helpful
So if you’re speaking to your audience, what do you say to them?
The overarching answer is, “So many things.” People struggle with all kinds of issues that you can speak to.
But the micro-answer, the way to connect (almost) every time you post, is to run what you’re sharing through a ‘helpful’ filter.
By that, I mean ask yourself how your post is going to help your audience in the real world deal with the issues they’re struggling with. And then speak to that.
Do you have a series on prayer coming up? Rather than just tell people not to miss it (which they’ve already heard at least 1,000 times), you could:
- Ask people to comment on what they struggle with in prayer.
- Ask people what their questions for God are.
- Take a poll asking people how often they pray.
- Ask people what their biggest roadblock is in prayer.
- Share what your challenges in prayer are and ask people whether they can empathize.
- Share some statistics about prayer and encourage people to relate.
- Give people some tips on prayer that can help them grow in their relationship with God (and no, a 30-second tip doesn’t spoil the 30-minute message you’ll preach. It just whets peoples’ appetites.)
Sure, at the end, you can drop a 5-second reminder that your new series on prayer starts this Sunday.
But do you see the difference between any scenario above and the usual, “Don’t miss Sunday and bring a friend…” video you’ve skipped past?
Helping people is a fantastic strategy.
Naturally, people worry that if they are too helpful in their social, it will ruin the incentive to show up in person on Sunday or watch the message on YouTube.
Actually, just the opposite.
Because you helped people, you showed them that this is very relevant to their lives. And their desire to show up for the message will increase, not decrease.
Can You Ever Talk About Yourself?
Sure, you can.
90% of the time, speak directly to the heart and mind of your audience, helping them solve their problems.
But if you do talk about yourself, take a different tack. One very effective strategy is to take people behind the scenes.
If you’re writing a message, show them what challenges you faced in writing it. Or pull out an array of books you’ve read and scripture passages you’ll be preaching on.
If you want to talk about what’s happening in your life, that’s fine too. People want to know that you’re a real person. But how you do that can make all the difference.
The top Instagram story I had recently was a post about a month-long speaking trip with my wife. Rather than taking the classic shot of us at an airport ready to take off or explaining all the cities we’ll be speaking in, I posted this instead:
You could argue that this post violated almost everything I’ve written so far, but it got huge engagement with a ton of replies, DMs, and shares. The algorithm boosted it to reach 7x my usual number of IG Story viewers.
While we have a higher than typical engagement rate for IG stories than most accounts our size, this post still really took off.
Why? Here’s my take:
- It’s not the typical “polished” content you see coming from accounts like mine.
- There’s a bit of mystery: “Which countries? Which cities?”
- … And the #1 question people ACTUALLY asked me: “How on earth do you pack for 30 days in a carry-on?”
A little everyday mystery and intrigue that speaks directly into real-life situations is a great strategy.
The Bottom Line
You will always have an audience if you can help your audience solve their problems.
And that’s what you’ve always wanted, isn’t it? So there’s your new approach.
