Your Church Website Builder Can Make or Break Your Social Media

What’s your “relationship status” with social media?

Early days: “In a relationship”

If you’re over the age of 30 you probably remember the early days of MySpace and Facebook, when everything about social media was new and exciting.

It was kind of like the early days of a dating relationship when every day you’re learning new things about the other person, you see great potential for the future, and it’s all very exciting!

Now: “It’s complicated”

But fast forward 10-15 years and social media is no longer the shiny, new, exciting thing it once was.  Every 2nd or 3rd item in your feed is an ad. Your posts get filtered so only a small percentage of friends actually see it. And it’s well documented that social media stirs up arguments, discontentment, and narcissism.

Some people have separated from social media or deleted their accounts entirely.

From a church’s perspective, instead of everyone being on 1 platform, there are more than a dozen popular platforms to consider engaging with, which means more work and more to try to understand. Let’s face it, to quote a popular relationship status, “It’s complicated.”

Why Social Media Still Matters for Your Church

Even though social media is more complicated and tends to produce less fruit than it used to, there are still two important things social media helps your church accomplish.

1. Relational connection

Personally, I continue to stay connected with people through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn. Some of them are close friends and family who see regularly, and seeing their updates helps us stay connected and up to date between the times we get to hang out in person.

Others I haven’t seen for more than a decade, but I enjoy seeing photos of their kids and their adventures. Sometimes I comment on their posts, sometimes they comment on mine, and that helps to maintain somewhat of a relationship with them.

The same is true for your church. For those who are actively a part of your church, social media can help them stay connected and up to date between face-to-face gatherings.

And for those who maybe haven’t been to a gathering for a while, it helps to maintain somewhat of a relationship. And who knows, maybe that relationship gets rekindled in the future, perhaps in a crisis or of the Spirit moves.

2. Opportunities to share

The other important thing social media does, is it provides the opportunity for people to share your content.  It could be a scripture passage, an inspirational quote, a meaningful message, photos of your people caring for others in your community, or the testimonial of someone whose life was forever changed by Jesus.

2 Social Media Features to Look for in a Church Website Builder

The church website builder your church uses to create and manage its website can have a major impact on your ability to establish relational connections with people through social media, and people’s ability to share your content.

1. Icons/links to social media profiles

In the header or footer of every page of your church website, you should have social media icons that link to your church’s social media profiles.

These linking icons make it possible for people who visit your website to easily click and connect with your church on a social media platform. This takes that relationship the next step. It turns a one-time website visitor into a regular returning visitor.

Today, many people would like to watch a past sermon or experience a gathering via live stream before the visit in person.  If your church is live streaming gatherings, don’t just write “Worship with us live on Facebook” on your homepage. Make it easy for your visitors to get to your Facebook page and/or YouTube channel by linking to them.

2.  Social media sharing buttons

On every page and post of your church website, you should have social media sharing buttons.

Social media sharing buttons are different from the icons/links to your social profiles. When a website visitor clicks one of these buttons it takes them to a screen where they can share the title and URL of the page to their profile on Facebook, Twitter, or some other social media site.

This is especially important if your church is posting sermons, blog articles, or devotionals to your website. Hopefully this content is impacting your website visitors to the point where they want to share it with their friends and family online. Social media sharing buttons make this easier to do.

So, today’s church website builder tip:

The best church website builders integrate with social media.

Build your church website with a church website builder that has social media integration!

OurChurch.Com’s WP-EZ Church Website Builder has both of these social media features. All WP-EZ themes have linking social media icons in the header, and by default all pages and blog posts have customizable social media sharing buttons on them.

If you’re already using WP-EZ for your church website, check the social icons in the header of your website. Make sure they correctly link to your social profiles.

If your church needs a new website, build your new church website now with WP-EZ.

Or if you’re interested in having our experts build a custom-designed website or help you with SEO or Google Ads to bring more visitors to your website, we’d love to talk more with you about that.

Complete the consultation request form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop)!

Comment and Discuss

• Do you have social media icons and social sharing buttons on your church website? Why or why not?

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