Social media is often one of those intangible areas of ministry. It’s hard to write down on a time sheet that you spent 3 hours this week on Facebook and have anyone take you seriously! At the same time, social media is an inescapable reality that we have to tackle at some point.
At Never The Same we have just over a dozen different social media accounts when you include all areas of ministry (Never The Same, NTS Camp, Claim Your Campus, Don’t Climb Alone, Eat Dirt Mud Run) and the different social platforms out there. Since coming on full time, part of my role is to manage all of these moving parts. Some of you reading probably have more accounts and some of you aren’t sure what social media is; but, I’d like to give you three ways to make running your social media easier in the next 3 posts. Today, I will focus on the first.
1. SIMPLIFY YOUR CONTENT
When I first started, I just stared blankly at my computer for the first week or so, trying to wrap my head around what I was going to post on all of these different platforms! That first year was marked by constant content creation and trying to figure out what worked best for each platform.
Eventually I realized that I needed an actual plan (just a head’s up, that’s the key to simplifying your content)! With my plan, I was able to map out the entire year’s worth of content. To make a plan, you have to decide when you want content to go out and what type you want to send. For your plan, first decide when you want content to go out. For us it’s Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Each of those has different content that goes out to different platforms.
Once you figure out the WHEN, then you have to figure out the WHAT. Since I was looking at 3 days a week for a year, I knew I had to create 156 pieces of content for each area of our ministry. That’s a daunting task, but because of the plan, there is an end in sight.
You’ll have to figure out what content you want to share. Do you want to share a blog post for parents every Thursday morning, videos or images of the games you played the week before, or ministry news, invitations, and inspiration? Whatever you decide, one of the most important factors in content creation is quality. As you make videos, scour blog posts, and create infographics, make sure it’s appealing. If you don’t know how to do that, enlist help!
**Someone once told me that if you spend more than 5-10 minutes creating one piece of content, you’d never finish all the content you need.
Now that you have your timing and your content decided, you get to start creating! As you create, be sure to keep the content organized so it’s easier to find when it comes time to share it.
Kyle Wood
Director of Operations & Communications
Never The Same
© 2015, Never The Same