Influencer Tactics: How to Make Social Media Ministry Easy

In the world of content creators and social media influencers, the content calendar seems to be all the buzz. But what exactly is a content calendar and what does it have to do with your ministry?

What is a Content Calendar

Have you ever heard the old adage, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail?” Well, a content calendar keeps you on track to steer clear of the epic social media fail. 

According to Hootsuite, a content calendar is, “a tool to help you plan and schedule all your social content in advance.” It is, therefore, undoubtedly your organizational lifesaver! 

Here’s a fun fact, many of the influencers you might be following on your personal account are likely using one! Why? Well, it makes your life and planning for your business or organization a lot easier! It also saves you the headache of trying to figure out what to post and whether you’re missing an important date or not. Content may be planned a week to a month in advance! Or, if you’re really ambitious, it can even be planned for the quarter! 

Benefits of a Content Calendar for your Ministry 

So, you may be wondering how to use social media for church growth or how to use social media marketing for ministry. Well, there are some benefits to using a content calendar in these endeavors.

1. It keeps your ministry organized

Ministry is already unpredictable enough without you having to add unnecessarily disorganized frustration to the plate. A content calendar will allow you to know exactly what needs to be posted and when. 

2. Saves you time

By planning and preparing in advance, you can save so much of your time. This is especially helpful if you don’t currently have an official social media ministry. Content can be prepared and queued on a platform like Planoly so that all you have to do is sit back and let it happen. 

3. Creates space for ministry originality

Failing to plan your content in advance leaves you little room for creative originality. You’ll find yourself going about your week and then remembering to post and hastily finding some inspirational quotes to post just so you can say that you did it. With a content calendar, you can prepare content that fits the brand of your ministry. Your content can be fresh and directly related to the mission and vision of your church making your ministry just as professional as it will start to look!

4. Includes all the important dates

Resurrection Sunday, Pentecost, Christmas...you’ll be well prepared to post for these, and many other important dates. This is also super helpful if you follow the lectionary. It’ll also allow you to prepare any posts for church meetings (likely through a membership newsletter), baptisms, communion, church anniversary, and any other important dates to your church community! 

5. Encourages higher quality

Planning in advance allows you to get a picture of what your feed is going to look like. This is especially true if you use a planning app like Planoly. Apps like this one allow you to upload your content, including captions and hashtags, and displays what your page will look like. An advance look will help you to see what looks good and professional and what doesn’t. Remember, your social media presence helps onlookers to get a picture of sorts of the personality of your ministry. Poorer quality social media presence suggests a poor quality ministry. What message does your social media preach about your ministry?

How to create a content calendar for your ministry

1. Audit your current social media (Hootsuite)

   • What platforms are you on?

   • Which ones work/don’t work?

   • What message are you communicating on them currently?

   • Is your ministry mission and vision communicated here?

   • Whose content are you posting? Yours or #Repost?

2. What kind of content do you want to post?

   • Sermon quotes 

   • Important Flyers

     • Like revival

     • Pastor/church anniversary

     • Choir concerts

   • Worship photos

   • Behind the scenes

   • “Join us” graphics

   • Last-Min. Updates 

3. How often will you post?

   • 2 Sermon quotes per week?

   • 1 Worship pic/week?

   • 2 BTS per week?

4. Create a content storage

A content storage is a digital space where you will store all of your content once it’s created. Examples might be a Google Drive folder, external hard drive, flash drive, etc. These should include photos, graphics, BTS videos, worship pics/videos, etc.

1. Create content!

   • Social media graphics template

   • Any newsletter or blog

   • Video 

2. Download or create a calendar

   • Network

   • Date

   • Time

   • Content-type

   • Content

   • Copy

3. Fill in the calendar

Plan for the week/month. Actually create what you are going to post. For example, if on Mondays you want to post a sermon quote, you should be writing the quote on an image card and putting it into your content storage. Then, you should write your caption (copy) and put it in your calendar exactly how it should be posted. Do this for at least the week. 

4. Schedule the posts

Use a platform like Planoly or Hootsuite to queue up your content so that it’ll post FOR you on the designated day and time. 

Ministry-Specific Tips 

1. We all know that ministry can have unpredictable moments so create a contingency plan for the unknown. For example, have a designated graphic template created for emergency updates/announcements and create a slot for those graphics to be posted when necessary.

2. Templates will save your life in social media ministry. Since it is fairly difficult to know what the sermon or midweek worship message will be about, creating templates will allow you to simply add text to the pre-created graphics and post.

3. It may be helpful to create content on Fridays so that you are not scrambling on Sunday night or Monday morning as a lot of ministries take Monday's off. Figure out which day is best for your particular ministry.

4. Use the branding colors of your ministry when creating graphic templates so that your page can have uniformity and look more professional. Also, if you’re a fan of filters, use only ONE filter for all of your images.

5. Check out Canva to create your professional-looking flyers.

Conclusion

A content calendar will take your social media ministry to the next level. It will help add some structure and ease the pain of figuring out what to post next. So, consider adding a content calendar to your social media marketing ministry.

Think about it, if your church is already creating the ministry calendar for the full year, why not, likewise, plan ahead for your social media marketing strategy? It only makes sense...right?