Social Media Best Practices for Churches.
A Simple Guide to Engaging Your Congregation Online.
Updated Sep. 2024.
Why Social Media Matters for Your Church
Social media offers churches an opportunity to reach their congregation where they already spend time—online. But with the demands of ministry, managing social media can feel overwhelming.
The good news is you don’t need to be a social media expert to connect with your congregation. In this guide, we’ll walk you through simple, effective social media strategies that will keep your congregation engaged throughout the week. And with tools like Post Sunday, creating great social media content for your church only takes a few minutes.
1. How Often Should You Post?
One of the most common questions we hear is, How often should we be posting?
We recommend selecting your three favorite videos from the service that work as standalone clips and posting them throughout the week—one on Monday, one midweek, and one on Friday.
In addition to video clips, reflections on the service, such as key takeaways or inspirational moments, also perform well. Creating quote images that summarize a powerful moment from the sermon is another great way to keep your message alive during the week.
To ensure your posts are varied and engaging, try to balance these different types of content:
Keep your message top of mind: Posting throughout the week keeps your congregation engaged and reminds them of your church’s presence, even when they’re not attending services.
Reinforce the message: Videos and quotes can reinforce the key messages from your sermon and help people reflect on the lessons.
Encourage deeper reflection for attendees: For those who attended the service, it’s a great way to reflect on and share what impacted them.
Reach those who missed the service: These posts offer a taste of what they missed and invite them to reconnect with your church.
Make sure your posts are varied, polished, and on brand. A good mix might include video clips from Sunday’s sermon, inspirational quotes, and reminders for an upcoming event.
Tip: With Post Sunday, we automatically suggest and add captions to 4-8 clips, and you can choose your favorite 3 to post. We also create custom images based on your sermon, so your posts are ready to go with minimal effort!
2. What Kind of Content Should You Share?
The best content for your church’s social media pages is engaging—it gets likes, shares, and encourages your audience to stay connected. Here are a few types of content that tend to work well:
Sermon Snippets: Share short, engaging video clips from your Sunday sermon. These allow people to revisit key points or catch up if they missed the service.
Inspirational Verses: Highlight Bible verses or quotes from your sermon that are relevant or particularly uplifting. Pair them with a simple graphic to make them shareable.
Quote Images: Turn a memorable quote from your sermon into a styled image. This not only provides value but makes it easy for your audience to share meaningful messages.
Behind-the-Scenes Moments: Show the life of your church beyond the pulpit. Photos or short videos of volunteers setting up for an event or staff preparing for Sunday service can help make your community feel more connected.
Tip: Post Sunday makes repurposing sermon content easy by helping you transform your message into ready-to-post clips and graphics.
3. How to Make Your Posts More Engaging
To make sure your posts stand out, it’s important to create content that encourages interaction. Social media isn’t just about broadcasting messages—it’s about starting conversations. Here are a few ways to make your posts more engaging:
Ask Questions: Simple reflection prompts like “What was your favorite moment from the sermon?” or asking a question about the sermon invites your congregation to respond and engage in conversation.
Use Images and Videos: Visual content tends to perform better on social media. Even a short smartphone video can capture attention, while photos make your posts more shareable.
Respond to Comments: Engaging with people who comment on your posts helps foster a sense of community and encourages others to join the conversation.
Tip: Post Sunday helps by turning your sermons into polished, ready-to-post clips and images, so you can focus on building relationships instead of creating content.
4. What Platforms Should Your Church Be On?
Not every church needs to be on every social media platform. It’s better to focus on the ones your congregation is already using. Here’s where to start:
Facebook: This is still the most widely used platform and a great place to engage with members of all ages. We’ve found that many churches already have a strong presence here.
Instagram: Perfect for sharing photos, stories, and short videos. It’s especially good for connecting with younger audiences.
YouTube: For longer content, like full sermon videos, YouTube is ideal. It also offers a place for people to catch up on past services.
Tip: With Post Sunday, you can easily create content for multiple platforms without needing to be an expert in any of them.
5. How to Keep Social Media Stress-Free
If managing social media feels overwhelming, there are simple ways to keep it stress-free:
Automate Your Posting: Scheduling posts ahead of time means you won’t have to scramble to post throughout the week.
Create a Simple Content Calendar: Having a plan in place for what you’ll post makes things much easier. Align your calendar with sermon series, upcoming events, and holidays. Meta (Facebook) even offers a free posting calendar to help you stay organized.
Tip: Post Sunday allows you to schedule posts for the entire week in just a few clicks, giving you peace of mind that your social media is taken care of. We also integrate with Meta’s scheduler.
6. Encourage Your Congregation to Engage
Social media is most effective when it’s not a one-way street. Encourage your congregation to participate in the conversation:
Ask for Shares: Ask your followers to share posts, especially those that feature inspirational messages or upcoming events.
Respond to Comments: Make sure someone from your team is regularly responding to comments and messages. This helps build community and shows that your church is approachable.
Tip: Post Sunday simplifies the process so you can focus on interacting with your congregation while the content creation and posting happen in the background.
Your Church’s Message Matters
Your church’s message deserves to be heard all week long, not just on Sundays. By following these simple social media best practices—staying consistent, creating engaging content, and encouraging participation—you can build a strong online presence that keeps your congregation connected.
Ready to simplify your church’s social media strategy? Try Post Sunday to easily create and schedule content, so you can focus on what matters most—your ministry.