Look at me!
I have this video of my 2nd-grade birthday party and there’s a kid there constantly telling my mom (filming) to look at him. Look at me! Look at me! Then she turns toward him. Are you looking at me? Yeah.
Then he takes two steps, pretends to fall down and says, “oops, I tripped. I’m sorry.”
Mom doesn’t laugh, hard cut back to kids playing outside, and sick mom-burn.
Whenever you start something new in your church, like a new Instagram account or YouTube channel, you may feel like that’s what it takes to get your people to look at you over there. Some straight up begging and annoying.
But don’t do that. You’ll get mom-burned.
Assuming you’ve done your target audience research and aren’t trying to launch an influencer Instagram account aimed at senior citizens, here’s how to get them to look at you on the new account without being a total nuisance like Blake was…I mean…that kid was….
Be worth looking at
Run a contest, host a meeting via Facebook live. Make them WANT to look at you. Don’t “Oops I tripped. I’m sorry” them. Nobody cares about your events, anyway.
Start small and focused
Don’t do it all at once. Do the thing most likely to succeed and do it well. If you can’t post every day, post regularly, like every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Just be consistent. Oh, btw…
Be consistent
This builds trust. They will start going to social when they know it won’t waste their time.
Tell them about it elsewhere
If you have their attention somewhere else like announcements, the bulletin, slides before service, etc, then tell them about social media there. Work the pastor to include cool stories that emerge from social too to show that you’re paying attention to it.
Run a contest with a cool prize for following and tagging/inviting friends. People still enjoy the liquified ash from Starbucks, right? Coffee burn.
Ask questions/be engaging
Your strategy can’t be about the sign-ups and registrations for events. It’s got to be about creating community. Think: “how is this valuable if this platform were the only place you engage with your people all week?”
Get them to look at you by looking at them.
Be patient
You’re changing a culture, not flipping a switch. Jeff Henderson of Gwinnett Church told a story about Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-fil-A and how he got everyone to say “my pleasure” instead of “you’re welcome” when they were thanked. It took him about 7 years. Celebrate the baby steps. “Leaders are repeaters.” – Jeff Henderson
Be Yourself
Remember, you’re not trying to be another church, you’re trying to reach the people God has entrusted to you and your church. Don’t listen to the people who say “This one way of reaching people on social is out and this new one is in.” They’re selling something.
Your people may still be all about the Myspace. If they are, then you better have the best flippin Myspace page around. Oh, and tell Tom “hi.”
He’ll know what it means.