Love it or hate it, social media has become a huge part of how churches reach and engage with people during the week. But creating consistent, quality content isn’t easy…especially when you’re already running low on time and probably wearing more hats than you signed up for.
We also know that the social landscape is always changing. New tools and features are added frequently, (what feels like every day) making it tough to keep up. To help with some of that, we also wrote an article on the 3 features on Instagram you should be using right now.
With that being said, creating a simple social graphic shouldn’t cause a ton of stress. To make the process easier, here are a few simple tips to make your social graphics better.
CUSTOMIZATION
Having a huge library of social graphics at your fingertips is great—being able to make them say exactly what you want them to say is even better. All Igniter social graphic designs are created with the intent that you change and customize the text on the designs to meet your specific needs. For our Premium members, we include a Photoshop file option so you can tweak it to your heart’s content. For our Premium Pro members, you can customize your graphics even more by replacing the background with a stock photo or layering it on top.
If you’re not a Premium member—or you’re just not comfortable with Photoshop—we also include a blank version, so you can use a tool like Adobe Express to add your specific message.
*Important Note: As with many of our categories that include 3rd party content, not all of our producers provide the same download options for their social graphics. Currently, most of our producers do offer blank versions and/or Photoshop files.
CREATE A REPEATABLE SCHEDULE AND TEMPLATE
Utilizing a social media schedule saves time and effort, as media teams can efficiently plan and have the capacity to create good social media graphics and content, rather than scrambling to come up with ideas at the last minute. But if you do find yourself scrambling, we have social media graphics on Igniter that you can use.
*Hot take* No one fully understands the algorithm of any of the social platforms...However, based on this article from Hootsuite, we would still recommend that you try to post 3 times a week. Here's a quick example of what a weekly schedule could look like and how you could create a template for each day:
Sunday: A clip or photo from Sunday’s Sermon with a quote from your pastor.
This template could include a place for the quote, the pastor's name below the quote, an image of him speaking, or a graphic that relates to the sermon or sermon series.
Monday: Post a sermon recap and reflection questions for your followers to think about throughout the week.
This template could be as simple as a graphic with a place for text on top or you could make a multi-photo post (or carousel post) with 3 or 4 reflection questions. (we talk about what that can look like in this article.)
Wednesday: What’s happening at your church? Share a testimony from one of your members.
These can be really powerful! This template could include a place for a photo or a video of the person sharing their testimony, a place for a quote, and you may also want to include your church's branding or logo.
Friday: Share an encouraging verse for your followers to take into the weekend, or an encouragement to share the gospel with people they are going to be around during the weekend.
This template could include a verse from scripture, the chapter and verse reference, and a background image or graphic that relates to the message of the verse.
Saturday: See you Sunday! Share photos of your congregation and invite people to join you on Sunday.
Make church fun again! This one shouldn’t require much design work. Try to share photos of your people gathering, spending quality time together, and having FUN. If you don’t have many photos of your congregation, try to start taking some now and putting them in a folder to use in the future. But in the meantime, you can use the invite social graphics on Igniter.
VISUAL CONSISTENCY ALL WEEK LONG
People love a good visual aesthetic. That’s part of why we exist.
If you’ve explored Igniter, you’ve probably noticed we group similar products together. We call these groups “Sermon Series” (or, more generally, “Collections“). In these collections, you’ll find a ton of media to support each series, including (in most cases) social graphics. You can use these throughout the week to remind people of what you preached last weekend or to tease what’s coming next weekend. Or, to refer back to the first point about customization, you can make it your own while still matching the overall theme of the series.
If you’re not a member yet, come check out the different tiers we offer. As always, our purpose is to do media, so you can do ministry.
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