Start with Strategy: Identify the Real Audience Behind Your Church’s Social Media
You post three times in a week. One about an upcoming event. One with Sunday service times. One promoting the newsletter. Everything looks clean, consistent, and on brand. But engagement stays flat. No comments. No new visitors. No noticeable difference.
After a few weeks of this pattern, you find yourself asking the question you hadn’t thought to ask before:
"Who am I even posting for?"
Who Is Your Church’s Social Media For?
One of the most important questions to ask when you start taking your church’s social media seriously is: Who are we actually talking to?
Some people believe social media should be used mainly for the congregation. It’s where you post reminders, updates, devotionals, and general church news.
Others view it as a tool for reaching people who haven’t yet come through the doors.
So, which is it?
Let’s take a look at both sides.
Why Your Social Media Shouldn’t Only Be for Church Members
Let’s be honest. Social media is not a reliable way to communicate important information to your congregation.
1. The algorithm doesn’t work in your favor. Unless your church members regularly engage with your content, there’s a good chance they’re not seeing your posts. On Instagram, following a page doesn’t guarantee your content shows up in their feed. On Facebook, unless someone manually turns on notifications or is in a highly engaged group, your posts might get buried. With a current average engagement rate of 2%, social media just isn’t reliable for important information.
2. It doesn’t feel personal. An invitation to an event through social media might get the message out, but it doesn’t feel like someone is reaching out directly. It’s fine for awareness, but it lacks personal connection. You are much better off utilizing email or text to get those important messages out to individuals.
3. You risk using too much insider language. If you’re only speaking to people who are already familiar with your church, it’s easy to fall into habits like using acronyms, internal references, or language that doesn’t make sense to someone new. That can turn away potential visitors who feel like the content isn’t for them.
Why Your Social Media Shouldn’t Only Be for Outsiders Either
On the other hand, focusing only on reaching new people comes with its own issues.
1. You might start chasing numbers instead of staying focused on purpose. When reach becomes the goal, it’s easy to focus on likes and follower counts. That can result in building a large following that isn’t local, isn’t connected to your church, and won’t ever show up on a Sunday.
2. You overlook the people already committed to your mission. Your church members are already invested. They’re likely to share your content, invite others, and engage with your posts when it reflects the mission they’re part of. Ignoring them leaves a lot of potential on the table.
Your church page should reflect your actual church. At the end of the day, the church isn’t just a brand. It’s a body of people. If your social media presence doesn’t represent the culture, values, or experience of your congregation, it can start to feel disconnected from the real community behind it. Your members should be able to look at what you’re posting and think, Yeah, that feels like us. When content reflects their experience, they’re more likely to engage, share, and feel connected to the mission behind it.
So, Who Are You Talking To?
The real answer is both.
You should create content with people outside your church in mind, but in a way that equips your church members to share it. The goal is to speak clearly to someone who doesn’t yet attend while also giving your congregation tools they can use to spread the word.
Your members may not always be the main audience, but they’re a key part of your distribution. They can like, share, send, and repost what you create, but only if it’s worth sharing.
Think back to when churches used to print holiday tracts and encourage members to hand them out during the week to invite people to church. That method may have worked at the time, but things have shifted. Today, your social media content serves a similar purpose. It gives your church members something they can share with their friends, coworkers, and family, whether that’s reposting to their story or sending a post in a direct message.
Even though your content is created with non-members in mind, it functions as a tool for your members to use. It gives them a simple way to introduce others to their church family and live out their faith in everyday conversations online.
And here’s the thing: when 20 people from your church share a post, your potential reach doesn’t just double or triple. It can grow by tens of thousands. That kind of reach doesn’t require a paid strategy. It just requires shareable content and people who believe in what you're doing.
Church members are far more likely to share content that reflects their identity such as who they are, what they believe, and the kind of church they’re proud to be part of. If your content feels off-brand, overly polished, or disconnected from the culture of your church, it won’t resonate. And if it doesn’t resonate, it won’t get shared.
On the other hand, when your content captures something real about your church’s heart or mission, it taps into that sense of belonging. People want to say, “This is my church. This is what we care about.” That’s what makes them repost it, send it to a friend, or even save it for later.
What Does This Look Like in Practice?
When you post about an upcoming event, write in a way that makes sense to someone who isn’t already involved. Avoid acronyms. Answer questions that a potential visitor might have in their minds. Use normal language.
Make your content easy to send to a friend. Something simple like:
"New to town or just looking for community? Join us this Sunday for coffee and a chance to meet people your age."
That doesn’t assume the reader knows anything about your church, but it also gives a church member something they can share with someone they’ve been meaning to invite.
Before You Post, Ask:
Would someone who’s never been to our church understand what this is about?
Would someone who attends our church feel comfortable sharing this with their network?
Your content should help you reach new people, but most often, it will do that through the people who are already with you.
Dr. Kailey Spilger
Guest Writer, Ph.D. in Communication
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