Craft a mission-focused social media calendar for your church

A mission-focused social media calendar enables you to plan and schedule content with a clear purpose. This organizational tool can help you use social media as a means of ministry and not just entertainment. 

Let’s explore the significance of crafting a church social media content calendar, its tangible benefits for your church and the practical steps to create one.  

The benefits

A social media calendar can ensure your digital presence remains impactful and aligned with your church's mission.

• It keeps everyone on the same page, promoting a cohesive message. A calendar will help you avoid embarrassing and conflicting miscommunications.
• It fosters accountability and transparency. Everyone with access to the calendar will know who will post as well as when and what will be posted.
• It prevents repetition. Do you ever feel like you’re posting the same thing again and again? A calendar helps maintain a fresh and engaging online presence.
• It promotes equality. A social media calendar offers a visual representation of the planned content during a given time frame. As such, you can easily discern how much of your online presence is being devoted to each ministry.
• It allows for strategic content planning, which can maximize engagement. By using social media insights and metrics, you can plan and schedule posts to air when your audience is most active.

The mission

The first step is to define the goal or goals you have for your social media ministry. Outline who you want to reach and what you want to say. 

Ask yourself:

• Is social media primarily an avenue to convey church information to existing members?
• Am I trying to spread the gospel, promote church activities, or both?
• Do I want my content to appeal mainly to churchgoers or to an unchurched audience with the hope that it would spur them to visit in person?
• Do I want to provide online spiritual resources for all believers?
• Do I see social media as an avenue to spread information or entertain an audience?

Your objectives may be multifaceted, and that’s OK. Craft a cohesive and compelling mission statement that outlines all of your goals.

Next steps

Select the social media platforms you will use. Determine which platforms will help you meet your goals. All platforms are not created equal. Avoid TikTok if you want to post an entire sermon. Use YouTube for shorter text posts. It's essential to recognize that YouTube and TikTok videos are different. The ideal Instagram post may have fewer characters or another image size than a Facebook post. As a reference guide, have a chart with the specific parameters for each platform.

Determine your post frequency. Decide how often you will share content on each platform to maintain a consistent online presence. Research recommendations for post frequency for each of your social media accounts. Examine previous social media metrics/insights to determine when your audience is most active. Make a plan for how often and what days and times you will post to each platform.

Define content buckets or categories. Categorize your content based on themes or topics that resonate with your church's values and mission. This categorization ensures a variety of meaningful content. 

Some examples include:

• Sermons or spiritual content.
• Announcements.
• Recruitment/sign-ups.
• Worship.
• Community engagement.
• Missions.

Jot down how often you will use different types of content — videos, reels, stories, text posts, pictures. Diversity will help to keep your content engaging and relevant.

Craft the calendar

Use a social media calendar template or create your own to map out when and where you'll post content across your chosen platforms. Fill your church social media calendar with posts according to your defined content categories and formats. This can be as simple or as complicated as you might like. 

Here’s an example:

Sunday, June 10:

Sermon — Facebook Live@ 10 a.m., YouTube video after service, website video after service (John, IT)

Monday, June 11:

Announcements — Facebook group, email — post text before 9 a.m. (Terry, admin.) 

Encouragement — Facebook public page, Instagram — Bible verse meme/sermon quote @ noon (Don, Pastor & Sandy, graphic design)

The format of your calendar is less important than the information it includes. Note the day and date, the platform, type of content, time it should be posted and who is responsible for posting it. 

If you use a digital calendar, include links to more-detailed information. For example, the announcements under Monday, June 11, could be linked to a list of announcements that Terry needs to include in her post.

Create and evaluate content

Finally, create content that highlights your church's values. Check your calendar to see what needs to be created and when it needs to be ready.  

Canva, Meme Generator and other social media tools can help you generate creative content. Compare each post with the mission objectives you set. If a post is not in alignment with one of your objectives, ask if it is necessary or relevant. 

Frequently, review your mission statement and evaluate how well you are meeting your goals. Use your calendar to get ahead and schedule posts in advance.

This systematic approach to content planning will reduce stress and help you craft a purpose-driven social media calendar that effectively supports your church's mission and outreach.