Social Media & Youth Ministry: Insider Tips and Tricks

SOCIAL MEDIA &YOUTH MINISTRY

MARCHAE GRAIR

PUBLISHING, IDENTITY & COMMUNICATION

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

Publishing, Identity & Communication United Church of Christ

The Parents: Generation X The Youth: Millennials (Gen Y)

Born between 1965-1980 Born between 1980-2000

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MybFlN0Vn3s

MESSAGING MATTERS

GEN X/EARLY MILLENNIALS MILLENNIALS/GEN Z

• Most diverse generation in American history

• Want to find meaning in career and life

• Likely to challenge authority: “My voice matters.”


• Status means visible wealth and power

• More likely to find comfort in structure

• Access to authority is limited and must be earned

SOME TEENS USE FACEBOOK…


• To post photo albums of important events.

• To change profile pictures.

BUT LIKELY LEAVE FOR…

Instagram:The top social media app for teens. Users share pictures and short videos with filters.

Twitter:A popular way to share brief thoughts about trending topics, in 140 characters or less.

TEENS ARE “OVER” FACEBOOK


So what does that say about what teens want from social media?

Facebook usage dropped from 72% of teens to 45% of teens between Spring 2014 and Fall 2014.

• Teens don’t want to be on social media where they will find adults, especially their parents.

• Teens want more anonymity online. If they can’t have that anonymity, they don’t want to reveal as much as Facebook asks them to share.

• Modern teens see long Facebook statuses as “rants,” especially if they reflect a strong opinion.

• Brief is better for the teen audience.

• Facebook doesn’t have its own “language.” On other social media, hashtags, emojis, and social media slang rule.

4Publishing, Identity & Communication United Church of Christ

TEENS USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO…

STREAM

MAKE/WATCH VIDEOS

TELL SECRETS

MAKE STATEMENTS

CREATIVITY

• Use third-party apps to create collages before you upload photos to give your page variety. Each collage could have a theme and you could feature collages from different youth in the church.

• Integrate Instagram into your Facebook page to highlight certain events, campaigns, etc.

MINISTRY

• Add a digital element to Bible study or worship service. Have your youth group take pictures based on a certain spiritual or biblical theme from that week. Develop a hashtag for the practice so it’s easy to follow.

• Have each young person select a “follower worth following.” Someone who brings positivity and happiness into their social media space.


INSTAGRAM


INSTAGRAM ON FACEBOOK

CREATIVITY

• USE APPS LIKE “HYPERLAPSE” TO CREATE LONGER, MORE DETAILED VIDEOS, ESPECIALLY FOR TWITTER.

• EXPERIMENT WITH STOP-MOTION ANIMATION.

• VINES ARE GREAT FOR HUMOR!

MINISTRY

• HAVE THE YOUTH GROUP AT YOUR CHURCH DEVELOP A VIDEO INTRODUCTION OR WELCOME FOR VISITORS AND LINK IT TO A QR CODE ON WELCOME MATERIALS.

• USE A YOUTH MEETING OR BIBLE STUDY TO HAVE A VINE OR INSTAGRAM VIDEO FILM FESTIVAL. THE VIDEOS ARE SO SHORT, THIS COULD BE MONTHLY!

INSTAGRAM VIDEO/VINE


JUST IN CASE YOU’RE SLEEPING


• Vine videos are a great way to find humor in simple experiences!

• Use Instagram and Vine videos to chronicle events in short form. (Trips to amusements parks, youth retreats, etc.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdB2dy59Waw

CREATIVITY

• Take advantage of the #FollowFriday hashtag and use it to promote charities or causes your church supports.

• The youth minister should work closely with the church social media coordinator (if it’s not the same person) to make sure all hashtags are on all appropriate church marketing materials.

MINISTRY

• As part of the youth group meeting, ask each teen to provide a hashtag they saw trending this week that is important to them. This could serve as the opening or ice breaker at a meeting.

• Engage in photo petitions as a youth group and/or in line with causes your congregation supports.

• Create “hashtag” lessons, using news and issues relevant to teens to discuss during the youth meeting.

TWITTER


PHOTO PETITIONS


Make a statement with a hashtag, a white board, and a worthy cause!

CREATIVITY

• Have the youth group create Snapchat stories to share with each other during the week.

• Post inspirational quotes or scriptures for the youth group to review during the week.

MINISTRY

• Snapchat stories are a great way to give instructions at youth retreats or to give visual directions for attendees at an event.

• Create materials for “Snapchat welcomes” for new youth group members. When they become your church’s Snapchat friend, send them a special hello!

SNAPCHAT


WHAT’S A SNAPCHAT STORY?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88Cu3yN-LlM

“THE STREAMERS”


CREATIVITY• Does your church have contemporary worship music? Find it on Spotify and make a rotating list for your congregation.

MINISTRY

• Take advantage of “binge watching” and develop coordinated lessons or worship with music and videos on streaming services and YouTube.

• Encourage your young people to watch one television show or movie with their families and discuss it every month. Now that the whole family has “gadgets,” family dinners and television time are pretty infrequent.


EMAIL COMMUNICATIONS• An email with long text may be really informative, but most

families will be overwhelmed and/or bored if you pack your emails with announcements.

• Use programs such as MailChimp and Constant Contact to send formatted newsletters with links, sections, and brief posts.

• In your email, feature information about your youth team and/or written or photographed by teens to encourage families to be invested in the content of the email.



“MAKE” YOUR EMAIL


EVENTS• Make sure your event has a hashtag IF you are going to

use it regularly. If not, use the “church” hashtag.

• Facebook may be “dying,” but it’s still the largest social media network for families. Create a Facebook event for all events.

• If you can’t maintain an Instagram for everything, use it for “events only.” It’s a perfect time to connect the congregation with social media.

• Download apps to repost posts from Instagram because that feature is not native to the app. (Regram, etc.)

• Use the church newsletter to promote special photo albums or event wrap-ups on social media.


IS IT TIME FOR AN APP?• Hear from your members digitally for prayer requests.

• Offer church announcements and event updates.

• Integrate social media.

• Provide inspirational verses and materials from spiritual blogs and resources.

• Stream services or offer recorded song selections from the service.

• Create digital Bible studies using the app and/or social media.


ASK THE YOUTH IN YOUR CHURCH…

• What are your favorite and least favorite social media sites to use and why?

• What ways should the church use social media during worship?

• What ways would you like the youth leader to use social media during youth Bible study and/or youth activities?

• What would make you engaged by social media when you are not at worship service or at a youth group? (For example, what could the church page post on Facebook that would catch your attention?)

• Where do you watch TV and listen to music? (Spotify, YouTube, Netflix, etc.)
