Does your church include social media listening as part of your strategy?

Social media listening is all about knowing what your audience and potential audience are saying about you on all social media platforms. Social media listening can give you insight into what your audience is interested in, where they are interacting most on social media, and can help you get a feel for how your church is being represented on social media.

Today, we have brought together three reasons why churches should incorporate social media listening into their social media strategy.

 

Here are the 3 reasons why churches should include social listening in their strategy:

 

 

1. Become aware of and respond to criticism.

“When you start listening to social media conversation be prepared to notice criticism and negative feedback. It is part of social media. If it’s not already happening, it is good, but it will eventually happen.” The Connected Church

Knowing what your audience says about your church is very important, especially when you want to improve your content and social media presence. You can also improve your crisis management plans when you become aware of the criticisms thrown your way.

 

2. Discover new places to engage.

“Find out where your community already is — it’s easier to join the audience where it is than to try to attract people to an unfamiliar platform.” BoxCast

When you start social listening, you will also know where your church is positioned in terms of the audience engagement. Communicating in the right channels with the right topics will widen your reach and tap new audience segments.

 

3. Tap into social media influencers.

“Identifying and listening to influencers have become playing stakes for any respectable listening tool. There are some tools that exclusively do influencer identification; frankly, I recommend just going with a listening tool that has influencer identification functionality.” Convince & Convert

Social listening will also let you know who among your audience is becoming a conversation starter for your church or potential influencers who can push your church to be exposed to a bigger audience. Partnering with influencers can help you connect with a whole set of new people.

 

When you decide to include social listening in your church’s social media strategy, it is important to do it one step at a time. Make sure that you respond and take note of things that your audience is talking about, responding to, and meeting them where they are.

 

Are you ready to take on social media listening within your church’s digital strategy? What would happen if you were able to accomplish just one of the 3 approaches above?