Sample Church Social Media Plans to Get Your Parish Thriving Online

One of the great things about social media and the church is that even the smallest church communities can make a huge impact online! Whether your parish is large, medium, or on the smaller side, your success on social media depends entirely on how much time and effort your parish social media manager (or team) puts into it. Digital marketing for churches, especially through social media, doesn’t have to be a mystery to parish staff. We cover the essentials inside our free, complete guide to Catholic church social media management. Once you’ve caught up on the basics, you’ll be ready to develop a solid social media strategy for your parish!

To give you a head start, we’ve outlined three sample church social media strategies for churches to help you maximize the time and energy you are able to allot to your online communications. Do you have a full-time social media manager for your parish? Great! A sample outline for parishes with lots of time to spend on social media is at the bottom of this article. Is the person running your parish's social media also wearing many ministry hats, leaving them with only a few hours a week to dedicate to the task? That’s fine, too. Read on to find the right strategy for you.

Church Social Media Strategy: 10 Minutes a Day

If your parish has minimal time to spend making church social media posts, follow this strategy:

• Use a tool like the LPi’s Social Media Content Calendar. This resource provides daily church social media posts (including images and captions) for parishes to copy and paste into their own social media feeds. Parish staff can use these sample posts as scaffolding to add their own content, or use them as-is!
  
  
• Share holiday Mass times and special event information. Be sure to share information about holy day Mass times, as well as special events. Include important information like dates, times, and whether an event requires registration or a cost. 
  
  
• Share ministry information. Once a month, make a post about a different ministry at your church. Include an image, information about the person/people who lead the ministry, what role the ministry plays in your parish, and how others can get involved!

Church Social Media Strategy: One Hour a Day

If your parish staff can set aside one hour a day to intentionally use social media, here’s the strategy for you:

• All of the steps in the “10 Minutes a Day” strategy, plus:
  
  
• Like and comment on 10 followers’ posts a day. Social media is a two-way conversation. If your parish is only broadcasting information and never engaging with your followers, you’re missing out! Consider even reposting occasional posts made by parishioners and other ministries.
  
  
• Post a weekly letter from the pastor. Having a weekly note of encouragement from Father is a great way to provide beneficial social media content to your parishioners.
  
  
• Incorporate three story posts a week. In some cases, more people interact with Facebook and Instagram story posts than with posts in users’ basic Facebook and Instagram feeds. If you need help with ideas for great Catholic content for your story posts,WeCreate has a robust collection of social media content formatted specifically for story posts! Learn more about how to use WeCreate’s social media story content for your parish inside our article, Using the Facebook and Instagram STORIES Tool for Catholic Parish Engagement.

Church Social Media Strategy: 2+ Hours a Day

Does your parish have more time to really dive deep into a church social media strategy? If so, this plan is for you!

• All the steps in the “10 Minutes a Day” and “One Hour a Day” strategies, plus:
  
  
• Create Facebook events for the major events at your parish. Be sure to invite all your active parishioners on Facebook to each event, and share updates and event recaps in the groups with people!
  
  
• Livestream your Mass times on Facebook and Instagram. Don’t forget to remind people about the livestreams before they happen! This is a great way to make your community more accessible!
  
  
• Curate special Facebook groups for different ministries at your parish. Facebook groups are a fantastic way to encourage members to engage with one another and to increase participation at your parish. Just be sure to train your moderators and ensure everyone involved agrees to your parish’s social media policy.
  
  
• Post event recaps with images and testimonials. It’s one thing to post about an upcoming event, but it’s just as important to share stories after they happen! Post pictures, quotes from attendees, and information about the impact of each event. Encourage your followers to share and contribute their own photos and thoughts in the comments. If you’re a little rusty on the best ways to digitally market your church events, we’ve compiled a checklist to keep you dialed in!
  
  
• Engage with your followers frequently. Make sure to like, comment, and repost content from your followers (when applicable) as often as possible! This draws engagement, reminds people that your parish social media is run by humans who care, and builds trust and excitement for your parish community. For example, did a proud parent just post pictures of their child’s First Communion from your church’s First Communion Mass? Repost it to celebrate! 

Are Catholics Really Using Social Media?

Yes! Catholics are using social media now more than ever. In fact, over 80% of adults in the USA use social media like Facebook daily. This means that even a small amount of effort invested in your parish's social media presence can have a positive impact — especially with Catholics online. Social media and the church are a match made in heaven!

In the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) study, “Catholic Media Usage 2023,” they found that Catholic adults were most likely to have Facebook profiles (77 percent) followed by profiles on Instagram (44 percent), Twitter (32 percent), TikTok (27 percent), Pinterest (23 percent), LinkedIn (21 percent), and Snapchat (20 percent). All the more reason to focus some of your parish ministry efforts toward social media ministry.

For more ideas, tips, and tricks to master social media at your Catholic church, visit the “Web and Social Media” section of our blog. See you online!