According to the Hartford Institute of Religion Research, more than 40% of all individuals claim to attend church every week. However, considering the fact that many people state that they visit their local church every Sunday just for the sake of being good Christians, realistically speaking, we can say that only less than 20% of the population in the U.S. actually attends church service at least once a week.
So, if you’re a concerned clergy member who wants to do good for society, you probably wonder if there are any modern-day measures you can take to motivate the local population to attend church service more regularly and make them connect better with their local community. In that regard, nowadays, digital marketing for churches is a crucial prerequisite if you want to grow your congregation.
Digital marketing for churches must be engaging and successful with that audience to draw in new worshipers. Traditional marketing strategies like billboards, direct mail, advertising, etc. have been used for years to promote churches. Since the beginning of the epidemic, digital marketing for churches has changed from being a “good-to-have” to a “need-to-have.”
But like any successful marketing strategy, you need to put out a list of tactics that will pique people’s interest in joining you. Here’s what you can do.
Produce Quality Online Content
The creation of good content that is pertinent to one’s target audience is an essential step in the digital marketing process. Therefore, you would effectively be assisting individuals with their internet material while also marketing your church at the same time.
You may, for instance, interview the Pastor of your church and ask him to respond to a few of the most often-asked questions. Your audience would benefit from you making this material available to them in the form of a video, podcast, article, and posts on social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. When you accomplish this, not only do you provide valuable insights to your audience, but you also establish them as a thought leader.
Beginning your journey in content marketing is a really simple process. You already have a wealth of information at your disposal, including several different types of sermons and teachings from the Bible. Putting together an editorial schedule is the first thing you should do. While you’re at it, you should also make decisions on the sort of material, the platform, the schedule, and so on.
You may additionally make infographics based on the history of your church, its services, and its most notable accomplishments, and then post those infographics on your social media accounts and sites to engage your audience. Now is the time to send out invitations to your existing members, friends, and family, asking them to share your social media accounts with the followers they already have in order to increase your reach. However, if you don’t feel confident enough in this approach, you can always enlist the help of social media marketing professionals to help you get more Instagram followers, Facebook likes, and Twitter followers, and thus enhance your church’s overall reach in society.
Make Contact With Members Of Your Community Via Texting
Texting is one of the most efficient methods to have one-on-one conversations with members of your congregation and is an essential component of digital marketing for churches. In that context, you should know that one third of adults in the United States favor texting over all other kinds of communication.
Texting is connecting with other individuals using short message service (SMS) and multimedia message service (MMS). When people come to visit your church, you have the option of asking for their contact information. You may also acquire the contact information of prospective congregation members via your marketing channels by employing an online form and offering something of value in exchange for the information. After they have provided the necessary contact information and opted in (or given permission) to receive text updates, you will be able to initiate the distribution of automatic updates through text messages.
Maintain A Website That Is Easy To Navigate
Last year, over 17 million individuals who do not regularly attend religious services admitted that they visit the website of a church at least once a week. According to this research, a website should be considered the central component of your online presence. People will have an easier time finding you online and learning more about you as a result of this.
There are many different platforms available to assist you in the process of building a website. WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace are three of the most popular website-building platforms. Additionally, they make it possible for you to routinely update your website with new material such as blog posts and content related to your church. For instance, you can write articles about different saints each day, such as St Benjamin and therefore describe their history and other interesting facts about them.
Strong search engine optimization (SEO) is what you need if you want to show up in the search results whenever people look for a church like yours. The first thing you need to do to be on the top page of search results is to make sure that the content of your website contains high-volume, relevant keywords.
Invest In Advertising On A Pay-Per-Click Basis
A great strategy to use if you want to appear on the first page of search results is to run pay-per-click (PPC) advertising on search engines and target people who reside in your region or who have relocated there lately. When individuals search for something like “church near me,” it’s more likely that they’ve already made up their minds to go to one of those churches. Your chances of luring them in will improve if you can provide answers to the questions that they have.
The fact that you will only have to pay for advertising when someone clicks on your ad is a significant financial benefit.
Final Thoughts
You witnessed how your church’s internet presence may be improved by utilizing several methods of digital marketing specifically designed for churches. Now, let’s look at how you may construct a communication strategy that will help you break through all the noise and differentiate yourself from the rest of the crowd.