What Makes Content “Sticky”?

How to expand your church’s reach through social media

Matt Brown on August 9, 2017

We’ve all seen it — the cute cat video with a gazillion views, the silly meme that generates thousands of comments and “likes,” etc. But why can’t we seem to get our church posts to garner more than a few likes when, let’s be honest, we are posting about the most important subject on earth?

Is super-engagement on social media left only to those who play on Facebook all day long and know how to work the system? Or do we need to have unfathomable, super budgets to reach millions of fans, leaving “viral” attainable only to a select few who are willing to break their banks?

As someone who works with ministries to build their social media platforms, I can offer you simple steps to share better, stickier content that more people will respond to — without spending money. (I do recommend setting a budget for social media because you can reach a lot of people with very little money, but that’s a discussion for another time.)

However, before I get to the practical stuff, let me share a few insights about the inner workings of the various social media platforms.

Facebook

You should know that Facebook has a computer code called an algorithm that tracks how well your post does on your page, and then based on that performance and a lot of other factors, Facebook shows your post to more and more people if it gets positive responses.

Typically a single post on a church’s Facebook page will only reach 5 to 10 percent of the church’s Facebook fans. However, over the course of a week, your “impressions” will likely reach somewhere close to your total page fans.

Twitter and Instagram

All of your followers do not see your posts on Twitter and Instagram, partly because they don’t necessarily log in every day. So they miss your post among all the others. Other social media platforms either have incorporated, or will incorporate, similar algorithms to Facebook’s, so it’s important to know how to maximize your church’s effectiveness against this reality.

Essentially, some content is “stickier” than others, and generates more response (likes, retweets, comments, shares, etc.).  With a little effort, your church can learn how to create the best possible content to reach the most possible people (for example, triple the amount of people who typically see it).

Seven Simple Steps to Create Sticky Content

1. Ask yourself, “Would I share this post?” Chances are that if you wouldn’t share your post, other people won’t either. Make every post you do a great one. Consider adding an inspirational statement that will cause people to click “like,” “retweet,” “share,” or “favorite.” Always ask yourself: Would I share this post if I saw someone else post it?

2. Notice the posts people respond to, and do more posts like that. What posts did you recently do that generated a lot of “likes”? Based on the comments and response, what elements caused the post to do well? Include similar measures in your next post to copy some of the success of the previous ones.

You can reach thousands more people with your church’s message through social media each week.

3. Do less promotional posts — ask less of your followers. Try to keep your church’s social media pages from becoming newsletters or event listings. A good rule of thumb: Post event updates and news only once out of every three or four posts.

4. Share more inspiring content and offer your followers more value. Most people, most of the time, want to read content on social media that inspires and encourages them. You can still bring the truth of God’s Word, but do it in ways that uplift people and guide them throughout their week.

Idea: Ask your pastor for the sermon notes from the last week and pull the top quotes and verses to use for posts. Throughout the week, these posts will remind people what and how God is speaking to your church.

5. Minimize the elements in your posts so they’re easy to scan, agree with, and “like.” Don’t add too many hashtags (#) or website links. Use these tools sparingly. If you add a quote attribution, put it on the next line down and give it a dash (example: — Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.). You don’t even need quotation marks. The less people have to process, the easier it is to scan and agree with the post, and the better response it will get.

6. For 10 times better reach, upload your video directly to Facebook. I recently posted a video on YouTube that received a few hundred views, and the same video to Facebook, which received thousands of views. A video on Facebook is a powerful tool.

However, don’t upload a YouTube link (Facebook and YouTube are competitors, so Facebook will automatically limit links from YouTube, Twitter, and other competitor sources). Instead, upload your video directly to Facebook. Give it a quick summary statement that people can quickly scan and agree with, and one that causes them to want to click “like” and share!

Remember that most users’ attention spans are about six minutes. If a video is long, it may take a while to upload — and then you’ve lost viewers. I’d even suggest picking a two- to three-minute clip from the weekly message to upload directly to Facebook, with a link to the full message on your church website.

7. Post directly to each social media site. As tempting as it is, don’t connect your Facebook to your Twitter, or vice versa. If possible, it’s better to post directly to each platform; your content will perform significantly better for overall reach. Sometimes I use platforms like Buffer and Hootsuite to schedule my Twitter posts, but as a rule of thumb I try to schedule Facebook posts directly through Facebook.

Each social media platform wants to keep you engaged directly on its site, so each rewards you for posting directly by causing your posts to be seen by more people.

With a little more effort, you can reach thousands more people with your church’s message through social media each week. The results are worth the extra effort and the several extra minutes it takes to post individually. In fact, social media could be one of the most important time investments your team makes each week.

Create great impressions for those following your church online, consistently encouraging and inspiring your audience. Through social media, show them the kind of quality experience they can expect if and when they drop by your church for a visit or begin to attend your weekly services.

This article is adapted from the book Trending Up: Social Media Strategies for Today’s Church, edited by Mark Forrester (Springfield, MO: Salubris Resources, 2017). Used by permission.

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