For the past few years, podcasts have been the hot new medium on the Internet. And while they are still growing in number and in popularity, a relatively more traditional medium has recently experienced a comeback of sorts on the Internet. That medium is video.
Online video has exploded over the past few years with the switch from chronological social media timelines to algorithmic ones. This impacts your church as well. If you’re still posting text-only updates about what’s going on in your church—on either Facebook or Twitter—your updates are likely being suppressed and are not reaching much of your audience. Video can help fix that. Video can increase the exposure of your church’s ministry now more than ever. Here are five reasons why:
Video captures attention longer. The main reason social media sites are promoting more and more video to users is [that] it keeps users on the site or in the app longer. Want to capture the attention of your members or of potential guests? Use video updates.
Video is cheaper and easier to make than ever before. Online video for your church has never been easier. A smartphone is really all you need to produce a quick and simple video update or announcement. Add a tripod, an inexpensive microphone, and a well-lit area, and your video will border on professional level quality.
People often remember video more than text. Want to drive home a point to your church members? Use video to do it. We live in a visual society. Many of your members are visual learners. Video will likely communicate your message—and the Gospel message—to them the best.
Video allows you to communicate in context. A tweet or a short statement can sometimes lose its power when taken out of the context of the full article or passage. With video, you can communicate an entire message within the context you want.
Your members are more likely to share video than text—and it goes further. We post content from ThomRainer.com daily on Facebook. It’s typically a link to the blog post or an image. This week, however, we ran a Facebook Live video preview of a Church Answers staff meeting. That video had a much larger reach and more interaction than anything else partly because it was great content, but mostly because it was something our audience on Facebook was more likely to share and engage with.
In my next article, I’ll cover practical ways churches can use video in 2018.
Until then, do you have plans to use more video in your church this year? What types of video have worked for you in the past?
This article originally appeared here.
JONATHAN P HOWE
Jonathan Howe serves as Director of Strategic Initiatives at LifeWay Christian Resources as well as the host and producer of Rainer on Leadership and SBC This Week. Jonathan writes weekly at ThomRainer.com on topics ranging from social media to websites and church communications. Connect with Jonathan on Twitter at @Jonathan_Howe.