@joshuagriffin) who is a 20 year Student Ministry veteran and co-founder of Download YM. Here are the notes from his session. We are living in a tech-savvy world Tech-savvy kids
- 1 hr 11 min on social media a day
- 9 hours per day on SOME sort of media
- Many middle school students. Hey. Social media accounts 100x a day
- 69% of churches have free WiFi
- Gives visitors a positive
- Effective social media can be an important component of discipleship
- The verse you post on Instagram may be the only verse kids read all week
- Deeps the message they heard in youth group
- Helps continue a series for those attending regularly
- A spiritual touch point
- A chance for them to express/respond
Use social media…
- to reinforce the message
- to deepen the message
- gives visitors a positive first impression
- gives parents confidence in the youth ministry (keeps parents in the loop)
- shows transparency and safety.
- Your social media can also tell parents this is not a safe place. Be careful what you post.
- keeps people in the loop about what series is happening and what topic you are talking about
- Promotes and informs. Stick a fork in announcement time. No one needs it with social media, texting and websites. Adobe Spark app is a great way to create images
- Invites you to something more and greater
- Is fun!
- Do your research. Social media is ever changing. What are your kids into? It might be different than other communities. Find out where your parents are.
- Pick your platforms. Go where kids are at. Ask your students. You don’t have to be on every channel.
- Design your plan.
- Develop a schedule. Decide frequency. Be unexpected. XP3 includes strategy in it for you. DYM has some too.
- Discover the tools. Unsplash, pixabay, negative space, ISO Republic – all good free images. App: Over, flyr, Adobe Spark
- Enlist help. This is a possible volunteer role or student leader who could do this. Trust and evaluate it for them.
- “Likes” are currency. If you are getting them you are doing a good job. If not you aren’t
- Your values are most important
- Balance is key
- Know that success feeds success
- Stay up to date – beg, borrow and steal
- Keep track of follow numbers
- Use Download Gram to “steal” good ideas others have done.
- Be inclusive
- Don’t feel pressure to use all platforms
- Think creatively rather than posting info
- Social media is about inauthenticity – you can be authentic
- Make your posts stand out
- Share password for accountability
- Find youth ministries that are killing it and follow them
- Do tbt
- Do caption contests
- Feature a volunteer
- Post song list from group
- Give secrets away – behind the scenes
- Show what you want to grow
- Use just the right amount of information
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