Building relationships is one of the most critical aspects of social media management. Yes, content creation is vital, but creating a relationship with your followers is the icing on the cake. 

Think about it this way…

A Sunday live stream from First Baptist Church appears in your news feed and you decide to tune in. As you’re enjoying the worship service, Sally Jones reaches out to you in the chatbox to welcome you and ask if you’re visiting for the first time. 

After replying yes, Sally walks you through the order of service, answers your questions, and invites you to a virtual welcome party after the live stream. During the welcome party, you meet Sally’s team members, receive an unexpected gift, and learn some basic information about the church. 

After exchanging contact details, Sally reaches out to you via direct message three days later to let you know she’s thinking about you and praying for you. 

The following Sunday, as you’re watching the online worship service, Sally and her team members immediately welcome you to the service and inquire about your week. When you mention that you’re struggling with life and work, the team members reach out to you by phone to lift you up in prayer. 

And the story continues from there. Have you received a similar welcome? How did the experience make you feel? 

For me, this is where the magic happens - in the conversation. 

Remember this >> your followers don’t want to be talked at. They want to be a part of the conversation. So how do you begin building relationships on social media? Start with these five tips: 

Introduce Yourself

Before you begin a relationship with an individual or organization, you must first introduce yourself and let them know you’re available for support - spiritually, emotionally, and physically. 

Use video announcements, e-newsletters, website mentions, social media, or phone messages to promote your online presence. In your promotions, give clear instructions on how people can connect with you, and monitor those channels regularly for engagement. If someone reaches out to you with a question or comment, respond within 24 hours, and try to keep the conversation going. If appropriate, ask open-ended questions. 

When it comes to organizations, you must make the first move. Spend at least ten minutes a day searching for local groups or businesses to connect with online. When you find an organization or business in your community, like and follow their page as the church, so their content will appear in your news feed. 

Tip: Facebook Pages has a news feed specifically designed to only show you content from the pages you follow as a church (or business page). If you’re an admin on the church’s Facebook page, the news feed option will be towards the top of the left sidebar menu. I also spend at least 10 minutes a day engaging with the content in this news feed. 

You can find your newsfeed by typing https://www.facebook.com/yourpageusername/news_feed

Twitter has a feature called lists to help you create exclusive newsfeeds around anything you desire. For example, if you wanted to create a news feed for the organizations or businesses in your community, you could add those Twitter accounts to a “local” list to only see content from their accounts. 

Another option is to connect with businesses as you visit them. Take a photo or record a video of the visit, and share the experience across your communication channels. Tag the business owner or organizational leader in the post, so they’ll be able to share the content with their audience as well.

Engage.

Once a connection has been made, create conversations. For individuals, connect with them in the comment thread and express gratitude when they share your content. Again, try to keep the conversation flowing with open-ended questions. 

For organizations, engage with their content on a weekly basis. If it’s appropriate to do so, share their content with your audience. Remember this >> “You’ve got to give love to receive love.”

Listen

Spend time getting to know your audience by reviewing (and engaging with) their content across platforms. Yes, this may seem a bit stalkerish, but stay with me. 

Idea #1: If you’re the admin for your church’s social media accounts, there’s a pretty good chance you’re friends with some of the members. Spend 5-10 minutes a day reviewing the content in your personal news feed. Make a note of the trending topics. However, this can be tricky if all of your online friends are passionate about a specific topic and nothing else. If that’s the case, read the next idea. 

Idea #2: Hop on Twitter to see what’s trending for the day or week. In addition to reviewing the nationwide trending topics, filter the results by selecting your state and/or city. Make a note of conversations.

Idea #3: Review the content from the organizations you’re following. What are they talking about? What type of content receives the most engagement? Make a note of what’s happening. 

Keep a journal of what you’ve learned and use this data to create valuable content across your communication channels. For example, if the bulk of the content in your news feed is about hopelessness, then it would serve your audience well to post content on the hope we have in Jesus. Another idea - share a link to the counseling services ministry at your church. 

If you don’t feel comfortable going this route, try conducting a survey to learn your audience’s interests and challenges. You may also use the native analytics and audience tools in your preferred platform to research your audience’s interests. Use your survey responses and research to create curated content across your communication channels. 

Native analytics tools:

• Twitter Analytics: https://analytics.twitter.com

• Facebook Analytics: https://analytics.facebook.com

• Instagram: Open your business page in the app, select the top-right menu button, then insights.

Create offline experiences

As you cultivate your newly-formed relationships, find ways to convert your online conversations into offline experiences.

A few ideas: 

• Encourage a meetup at your church or nearby coffee shop. 

• Extend invitations to upcoming events or services. 

• Reach out by phone or text. If you’re not experiencing Zoom fatigue, set up a weekly video chat to fellowship. 

The goal here is discipleship. Yes, you can achieve this online but it’s so much better in-person. 

Check-in Weekly

For the past ten months, churches across the nation have closed their sanctuaries to protect the health of their church members. This has resulted in a loss of community for families, leadership, volunteers, and more. 

While it may seem like we’re more connected now, people (of all ages) are experiencing feelings of loneliness and isolation. You can fix this by intentionally creating opportunities for your audience to engage with you and other members throughout the day and week. 

For example, to stay connected with your members, you could create a(n): 

• Weekly video chat to check-in or play games.

• Group hangout in a meetup app.

• Facebook Group around a specific topic, activity, or demographic.

• Group text message (seek permission first).

• Watch-party on your favorite app. There are watch-party features on Facebook, Teleparty & Hulu.

• Interactive group Bible reading plan using the YouVersion app.

That’s it! What did you think? Do you feel empowered to build relationships online? Maybe you’re still feeling uneasy about the process? If that’s the case, no worries. Let’s chat about your reservations.

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