Instagram is a big deal! If your church isn't leveraging this specific social media platform, you will want to start after seeing these Instagram statistics:
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Believe it or not, 70% of Instagram users in the US have a post secondary education.
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35% of Instagram users in the US are between 30-49 years old. 60% of Instagram users are are 18-29 years old.
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Users under 25 years old spend at least 32 minutes a day on Instagram; Users over 25 years old spend about 25 minutes per day.
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Users spend more time viewing "Instagram Stories" than regular posts.
Although Instagram may not reach a lot of your members that are over the age of 55+, it is wildly effective for people from high school to 50 years old. Over the past year, more and more churches are leveraging Instagram because it's working! Churches have found that outside of using a custom app, Instagram actually is the second best way to engage your church throughout the week. If you're new to Instagram, view our blog post for Instagram for beginners. Here are a few creative ways that you can use Instagram to engage your church Monday through Friday:
Use Instagram Stories
Users spend more time viewing "Stories" vs regular posts - so post "Stories" throughout the week. Go search churches like @elevationchurch, @life.church, @zoechurchla and what you will find is that these churches leverage Instagram Stories the best. The beauty of stories is that you can pre record them and then post the best take or picture and import it into Stories. Some Instagram Stories Ideas:
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Share the News! - Have someone share brief video updates about whats going on at your church. Nothing fancy - just find some good lighting, stand in front of a recognizable place in your church & talk away! Are baptisms coming up? Does summer camp registration close next week? Talk about this kind of stuff & PLEASE... have fun!
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Create Live Tutorials - Are you launching Tithely soon? Maybe online giving is new for your church. Posts step by step tutorials on how to give on Tithely. Show people fun video clips of all the different ways people can give. Do you have a parking problem at church? Be creative and show people where to park for overflow. The possibilities are endless!
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Give Behind-the-Scenes Access - One of the most exciting aspects of Stories for is for people in your church to go behind the perfectly designed and curated images that your church posts. Introduce a new team member, take people through a day in the life of your lead pastor, or department takeovers.
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Department Takeovers - Most people don't know what church staff do throughout the day, they think that we all just sit around! Showcase your different teams and give some "Backstage" access for your church. Pop into a creative meeting and have the team walkthrough planning a service, or show a clip from fun part of your staff meeting
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Offer Sneak Peaks of What's to Come - Are you getting ready for a big community event or a big weekend? Give a sneak peak on what's to come.
Surveys have shown that this type of fun, spontaneous content is what people in your church want to watch when viewing your Instagram Stories. The best way to find out what resonates with your people is to get a small user group of people and ask them what they want to see and what posts they want to see more of.
Instagram Posts
Use the good 'ole classic Instagram post. Post inviting images of your services, small groups, and lobby experience. The most liked photos on Instagram are engaging, fun posts of people! Some ideas for posts are:
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Share scripture or quotes from this past weeks message
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Promote an event or a sign up like for baptisms
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Highlight a volunteer or what you're doing in the community
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Share images from your worship services
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Advertise an upcoming sermon series
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Ask questions - you'll be surprised at how many responses you get
Free Apps to Create Scripture Art
Creating great looking scripture art as shown above is really easy. Use apps on your iPhone or Android device like Adobe Spark or Canva. Search the app store on your phone to download these apps. Once you've downloaded the apps and created a free profile, it takes no time at all to create Scripture Art, or a Sermon Quote from the past weekend.
You may be a "newbie" to the deeper parts of Instagram and social media, so ask for help! You'll quickly learn what type of posts generate good responses and likes from your people.
Use Instagram Business for Boosting Your Profile
Use Instagram Business to boost and promote your church's profile and posts to people in your community. This is a great feature because it allows you to set how much you want to spend, you can spend as little as $5 a day and your post will be shown to a few thousand specifically targeted users. This is a GREAT WAY to highlight a post about Easter services or the classic Easter Egg hunt. Is football huge in your city? Make a post inviting people to church before the big game on Sunday and target it based on your location and interests like "football" and "sports."
Most churches don't know that Instagram is so effective and super affordable to promote your church on it. Leverage it to reach new people for Christ!