Church Marketing Sucks

The countdown is on! Easter is now only days away. If you’re feeling a little behind in your promo, have no fear. Here are a few final ways to spread the word on social media that our church is putting into practice:.

• Make Easter your identity.
  Lately, instead of using our church logo, our cover photos on Twitter and Facebook and profile links on Twitter and Instagram have been our Easter graphics. This simple tweak says “Easter’s a big deal; there’s nothing more important for us to tell you about.”
• Invite people personally.
  Smiling faces might be your best advertisement. Last year we invited people by taking pictures of our staff members holding a board that said, “Come with me to church on Easter!” This year we stepped our invitations up a notch and had them share their favorite part about Easter on video and then invite people to church. These videos were posted on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
• Create meaningful visuals.
  To break up the videos we posted, we found some great Easter images and photos and posted them on Instagram and Twitter as backdrops for quotes. (We’ve got a few free graphics you can use.)
• Share stories.
  Some of our church’s best program promotion across the board has been through sharing stories. How has such-and-such class improved your understanding of the Bible? What difference have our sermons made in your life? When people can connect what’s happening in church to real life and then share that, you’ve got a powerful advertisement. This year some of our staff members have written relevant, Easter-themed stories and shared them on both our church’s and their own personal social platforms.
• Spend some money.
  In general we try to avoid paying to share our message, but if there’s ever a time to bust the budget, Easter’s it. This year we’re running three paid advertising campaigns on Facebook. Week one we posted a promotional Easter video that acted as a social “Save the Date.” Week two we pinned a separate Easter video at the top of our page so the first thing people saw when they came to our page was information about our sunrise service. And week three (this week) we’re re-posting a special “So God Sent His Son” video we used last year to reveal a bit of the Easter message.
• Tell the story.
  At the end of the day Easter is more than one big church service you want your city to attend; Jesus’ resurrection is the hope of the world. Last year on Easter Sunday we showed a video called “So God Sent His Son” inspired by the Ram Truck’s 2013 Super Bowl commercial. The video was meaningful and so well received we decided to post it again this year as part of our advertising campaign.

So God Sent His Son from HPUMC & Munger Place on Vimeo.

Time’s almost up! Blast the Easter message this week so we can have more people in church than ever before.