Southbridge Fellowship is a congregation of approximately 700 in Raleigh, N.C.
Struggle:
One struggle has been shifting our audience from relying on print materials and bulletins to relying on the website as our main hub and center for communication.
In the last year we went through a complete website revamp. Our focus shifted from putting tons of information in the weekly bulletin to providing short bullet points and then directing people to the website for next steps. It’s a slow process because the bulletin was the main source of communication for so long.
We haven’t received complaints during this shift, but we’ve had comments about missing information because it wasn’t posted in the bulletin. Our audience is used to being fed entirely through that medium so it’s taking time to change that mindset.
Victory:
Our Facebook presence has really grown and is a great place for connecting with people throughout the week. We’ve hit a stride with content and posting so that’s been a win.
Our Facebook engagement has doubled in the last year. We use a social media scheduling program and post two to three times a day. Photos/videos from Sunday mornings are usually the most popular posts. We share photos of volunteers, the worship team, baptisms, behind-the-scenes and special events.
On a typical day, we will share a verse, a resource (like a sermon video or blog post) and then promo an event or class. We’ve tried to balance between encouraging/equipping and not solely promoting events. Scheduling posts has been great for consistency but our real-time posts from events and Sunday mornings receive the biggest response.
Photo by Metro Tiff
