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CREATIVE MINISTRY
Use Instagram To Promote Your Ministry
Does your church have an Instagram account? If not, let us encourage you to get one. It’s free and, especially for young people, it is the social media platform.
CREATIVE MINISTRY
Does your church have an Instagram account? If not, let us encourage you to get one. It’s free and, especially for young people, it is the social media platform.
If you do, do you wonder about what to post on Instagram every day? We’ve rounded up 10 Instagram post ideas for church. Rest assured, they are all easy to do. We encourage you to pick one and give it a try.
Before we dive into our Instagram post ideas, let’s review some basic. Most importantly, even more than Instagram’s cousin Facebook, Instagram is a visual platform. Said another way, images and photos rule on Instagram. It’s a visual social media outlet where you speak primarily through images. Instagram can be used to make connections, foster engagement with the community, collect feedback, build awareness of your ministry, and establish a community. And again, if you are trying to connect with young people, Instagram is the place to be.
By the way, if you need help learning how to use social media, or how to create content for posts, we’ve got several free tutorials to guide you. We’ve also got a growing library of social media templates you can use to make creating posts even easier.
Now that you are ready, here are 10 Instagram post ideas for church:
Everyone loves getting access to something “behind the scenes.” Try taking photos that show views or angles that most people don’t see of your church. Here’s an example from Virginia-Highland Church in Atlanta, GA.
While this view of the sanctuary is a common for clergy and members of the music ministry, most of the congregation has likely never viewed the room from this perspective. Creative photos and videos showing some of the work that goes into preparing a worship service each week can be informative … and helpful. Use “behind the scenes” photos to help recruit more volunteers for ministry.
This is one is easy. After all, you’ve got the entire Bible to work with here. People love to read positive thoughts, and messages. Why not come up with a positive quote of affirmation? You can use any element to portray positivity. And if you need design help, use Adobe Spark Post to easily create a professional image featuring your message. We’ve created a tutorial that shows you how to use Adobe Spark Post. You can also use a free online tool to create an Instagram Story. And yes, we’ve created a tutorial to show you how to use that tool, too.
Pro Tip – the algorithms that Facebook and Instagram use look at the engagement of a post (how many people are “liking” and commenting). Recent tweaks to the algorithm favor commenting over likes – so you want to create posts that spark healthy discussions. A great way to do this organically is by posting a question. For example, you might ask a question based on your most recent sermon. Or, you might ask a question that helps set the stage for your next sermon.
The key is to make your question visual. Here’s an example:
More and more, Instagram (and Facebook) posts focus on video. Again, Atlanta’s Virginia-Highland Church uses video in an interesting way. The church often posts short videos on social media from their clergy. The videos are quick, one-minute messages on a topic. Often the topic reflects something that is currently in the news.
The church uses the videos as a way to show the church’s relevance to modern issues (for our United Church of Christ readers – God is still speaking).
Another nice touch – the church often adds captions to the videos so the deaf or those with hearing difficulties can still enjoy the content.
If your church is on social media that means you have social connections. Mention someone else on your profile. Post a picture of their work, and tag them. For example, maybe there is a bakery store down the street from your church. Post a photo of one of your favorite pastries from the store and tag them. Spread some love. First, you will bring a smile to their face and support a local business. Plus, chances are good they’ll post a “thank you” response.
Instagram (and Facebook) can be a lot of fun for hosting challenges. For example, challenge your congregation to post images of what they are giving up for Lent. This concept gives you 40 days of content. Encourage people to use a specific hashtag (#) for their contributions to your challenge. For example, you could use the hashtag #FirstChurchLent2022. If you get enough people using this hashtag, it will begin to trend and go viral.
Every church has amazing members (or staff, or clergy). Feature them on your account. Give them some love. Post their photo and share some interesting information about them (with permission, of course). This is a great way to promote a sense of community.
This may seem like an obvious suggestion, but many churches fail to do this with consistency. Promote events happening at your church. Social media is a great place to tell an audience beyond your typical attenders about all the great things you are doing. Here’s an example:
Do not underestimate the importance of building an email list. Ask your social media followers to subscribe to your email list. But then, take care not to spam them or send them messages that do not align with your ministry.
By the way, if you want to subscribe to our e-mail newsletter, click here.
People love to get free incentives, offers, information and quality resources. Is there anything free you offer on your blog/website? Share it with your Instagram followers. Just because your church does not sell products doesn’t mean you don’t have options here.
Maybe you can post a free Bible study resource? Or a list of suggestions to help people pray? Make your freebie authentic and people will respond.
