5 social media trends churches should know about in 2020
By Chris Martin
Social media manager, LifeWay Christian Resources
Being an effective social media manager means doing more than just sitting on Facebook and Twitter all day. It requires keeping up with trends and changes in trends so that necessary changes to strategy can be made.
Changing strategy to keep up with trends isn’t about being “trendy” or “cool” as much it is about being effective. When social media managers aren’t aware of what content is working well or how social media platforms have changed their rules, they are not able to do their job as well.
So here we are in 2020. What is changing and what is staying the same in the social media landscape?
Here are five basic trends that churches ought to note:
1. Every platform is increasingly different.
One of the most common mistakes I see is treating every social media platform the same. Back in the early 2010s, this strategy worked. Social media platforms were still so new, and many of them had not yet developed their distinct identities. As a result, the same content worked on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere.
Today, every social media platform has its own sort of subculture, and what works on each platform will vary. The dimensions for images and video are different. Recognize these things and create content specific for each platform.
2. People are moving from public spaces to private spaces.
Social media has always been about public connections with friends or strangers around the world. These days, private social media spaces are starting to get a lot more attention. Features like Facebook Groups, Instagram direct messages and apps like Snapchat all continue to grow in popularity.
What this means is churches should be ready and willing to use features like Facebook Messenger and Facebook Groups to communicate with church members and those in the surrounding communities about needs, events and other items.This trend has been gaining traction for a couple of years now, and it will only continue to grow through 2020.
3. Facebook ads continue to be effective.
For a long time, Facebook ads have been the most effective form of paid advertising in the social media world for most people. Why? Facebook knows more about its users than any other social media platform. Say your church is organizing an event for mothers of young children. You can create a Facebook ad targeted to mothers of young children who live within a 25-mile radius of your church, and you can even run it on Instagram as Instagram is owned by Facebook. That is far more effective than any other kind of social media ad.
4. TikTok is huge, but not worth a church’s time.
TikTok is a short-form video social media platform used primarily by teenagers and young adults. While it is growing quickly in terms of users and cultural influence, I don’t think churches need to be worried about creating content here.
5. YouTube is still the biggest social media platform in the world, so use it well.
According to Pew Research, about 73% of U.S. adults and about 90% of Americans ages 18–24 use YouTube. You may not think of YouTube as a social media platform, but it is, and it is the largest social media platform in the world. It is also the second largest search engine in the world behind Google, which is technically part of the same company as YouTube (Alphabet).
YouTube can be hard for churches, especially churches that do not have video equipment to record sermons or other kinds of video content, but I have found it to be an area of tremendous opportunity.
Creating and maintaining a good social media strategy does not need to be a top priority for churches. It may be weird to read that sentence from someone who works in social media and cares deeply about it. But it’s just true.
The local church needs to first focus on the incarnational ministry it does with people in its community before it worries about putting together a great Instagram strategy.
However, churches should work to use the gifts God has given them in all spheres, and social media is an important avenue of communication that cannot be ignored. It is important. It is difficult. But it is not ultimate. (BP)
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SBC 2020 priorities
The 2019 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) saw thousands of Southern Baptists gather in Birmingham. As we did, and as God worked through and among us, I couldn’t help but remember that the gospel truly is what unites us and brings us together.
As we look forward to our 2020 annual meeting in Orlando, June 9–10, I want to share several areas I’m particularly excited about:
- Gospel Above All
- Diversity in the SBC
- Who’s Your One
- Send Every Member
- Caring Well for the Abused
- Engaging the Next Generation in Cooperative Mission.
I want to see 15,000 messengers in Orlando, a new wave of evangelism that turns the tide on declining baptism numbers and a wave of sending in the SBC that leads us to those days of multiplication and growth that characterized the first centuries of the church, when a group of Jewish fishermen — without resources, conventions, money or public platforms — turned the world upside down.
I’ll see you in Orlando!
(Read Greear’s full letter to Southern Baptists at tabonline.org/Greear-SBC2020.)
—J.D. Greear
EDITOR’S NOTE: J.D. Greear is president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of The Summit Church.
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Better than the REA
Let there be light! The Rural Electrification Act (REA) of 1936 changed the countryside. The goal of getting power to rural America endeared Franklin Delano Roosevelt to the nation’s farm families.
It was a big deal in the New Deal. Only 10% had electricity then. Now rural electric cooperatives have strung 2.5 million miles of lines. Think an extension cord reaching from the earth to the moon five and a half times. They serve over 42 million folks.
One farmer said, “We never knew how good it was to have light until we got it.” Couldn’t the same thing be said about Jesus? We never knew how wondrous He is until He lit our lives.
John the Baptist got a heads up about the Jesus light. John “was not the light but came to bear witness to the light.”
Jesus was God’s World Lighting Act to offer “the true light, which gives light to everyone” He was “life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1). His light is better than the REA.
Today we bask in the Jesus who shines to dispel sin’s darkness. Genuine life begins when the Jesus light is birthed in you. No more darkness for you when He flips your switch. He reaches every dark heart that wants His power.
Shine, Jesus, Shine!
Darryl Wood
Retired pastor
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[The invitation is] a holy and public opportunity to cooperate with God’s Spirit in calling people to Christ.
Pastor Stephen Rummage
Quail Springs Baptist Church, Oklahoma City
How much more will I enjoy traveling the world when I understand the might, the mind and the love of the One who created it?
Jessica Ingram
theropetab.wordpress.com
As Christians … our New Year’s celebration is not in futility. Instead, we … celebrate a new year with exciting opportunities to see more clearly God’s plan for our lives. We celebrate the promise that we will know Him better this year — we are being transformed from glory to glory. We rejoice as we expectantly look and wait for a deeper understanding of Christ. We anticipate new doors to be opened in service of Him as we carry His image everywhere we go. We long for a new power in our involvement in the Great Commission and Great Commandments. … This new year is not one in which we will drift aimlessly, but we will walk each day purposefully. … The best is yet to come for believers in Christ Jesus!
Rob Jackson
University of Mobile
Take a second to imagine if every believer in East Asia had a thorough understanding of the gospel, a passion to share the gospel and a strategy for making disciples of all nations. It’s hard to imagine the results!
Will you pray for IMB workers around the world who are training believers to reach their own people with the gospel? Will you also pray that national believers will continue to grow in boldness to share their faith and for churches to commit to evangelism and church planting?
Through your annual giving through the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, you are joining the work in East Asia and around the world.
IMB worker in East Asia
What we would call orthodox and biblical views of marriage are, and will continue, to be a dividing line based on how people see the Scriptures.
Ed Stetzer
Author and pastor
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@dandarling
What every Christian can do:
- Pray for peace.
- Pray for our country.
- Pray for our troops.
- Pray for wisdom for our president and military leaders.
- Pray for the people of Iran.
- Pray for Israel and the peace of Jerusalem.
- Obey James 1:19 and be slow to tweet.
@SamRainer
Church: Jesus is our sole authority. Jesus is our sole message.
@itsmejwb
Simple word of wisdom that was helpful for me a while back during a trying time in my ministry and always stuck with me: “If you were as bad as they say you are, you wouldn’t have a job. If you were as good as you think you are, you wouldn’t be in this situation.” — @matalexander
@macbrunson
The world is full of people snapping their fingers at waitresses or bellowing at airline counters, hacked off employees or belligerent bosses. It’s the winsome, gracious person who walks through slammed doors that has the greatest influence in the end.
@kevinwilburn
If our lives are prayerless it’s not because of a lack of time. It’s a lack of priority and often a tendency for our self-dependence.
@DrPaulChitwood
What do a former police officer, elementary school teacher and megachurch staffer have in common?
- All are Southern Baptist.
- Each is now sharing Christ among the nations as IMB missionaries.
- I spent yesterday with them and can’t quit thanking God for them today.
Who will go?
@livingforjc
Point people to Jesus!
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