Communications

Four Ways to Use Social Media for Your Team

Social media has changed the way we communicate. That’s not a new statement. And over the years, people have found incredibly creative ways to use it. From announcing the release of a new album, to hosting conferences, to simply reminding us to tell someone happy birthday- social media proves there are very few wrong ways when it comes to communication.

1. Appreciation.

Everyone likes to be appreciated. And social media is an incredible way to broadcast to the world that you are grateful for individuals on your team. It’s a chance to brag on everything your team did. Its always a win for a leader to step to the side and brag on the team that brought vision and dreams to life. Once or twice every few weeks, I try to write a status and tag the band or the production team and just brag on them, talk about how well they did, and how they focus on Christ through it all. When a team feels appreciated and recognized for what they do- they are more willing to buy in to the vision that is being casted.

2. Inspiration.

From retweeting inspiring tweets, to posting links to articles, to instagramming a design you want to try, to live broadcasting what your service is like on Periscope- social media has incredible usefulness for inspiring. There is an entire social media platform dedication to inspiring (and yes- Pinterest is for guys as well). The possibilities are endless with inspiring others.

When it comes to stage design, for example- try making a collaborative Pinterest board and invite your team to pin ideas that they have on there as well. It will be like having a brainstorming meeting that occurs when creativity hits them, whatever time that may be! It might be other stage designs that look really cool, or maybe a picture of nature where they lighting is just phenomenal and it inspired them. It creates an avenue to harvest other’s creativity and combine into one great idea, instead of several decent ideas competing for attention.

3. Personalization.

Many churches utilize a church-wide Twitter account and Facebook page- my church being one of them. They are great for broadcasting information fast to their followers. However, sometimes it may not come across as personal as if it came from an individual. If I do something with my team, I post it from my personal account, not the church’s. Then the church can repost, retweet, or share it. This allows a very personal touch to my team. I believe it creates a sense of unity when their leader says, “This team is part of my life- I want to share it!”

Our team posts pictures or videos of our services almost weekly on their personal pages, and it shows that they are excited about what God is doing at our church. The church is more than brick and mortar, and more than the ministerial staff. It is made up of every worshipper there- so each person posting to his or her personal account and letting the church retweet it brings a very personal touch. I would be much more interested in a tweet of a team member or church member tweeting “Today’s service was so much fun- God showed up!” more than a church tweeting the same thing- because it becomes personal.

4. Exclusivity and Honesty.

I am using the term exclusivity here not in the “keeping people away” meaning, but the “closeness a team experiences.” The team you lead is very similar to a small group. Whether that is a worship team, production team, greeting team, etc- it can function the same way a community group does. The way to achieve this is by building trust and community- spend time together! Facebook groups offer a simple way to bring together teams throughout the week while working around people’s schedules.

Scripture, inspiring thoughts, and of course, questions and services details, can all be posted and commented on even if the team is not nearby. This group becomes something that only your team can see, a place where they can be honest, ask for prayer, and encourage one another in their daily lives.

With these social media platforms, we are now able to know what is going on in our teams’ lives throughout the week. Is their week going well? Are they going through a rough patch? Do they need some special encouragement? Sometimes that’s a private text message asking how I can pray for them. Sometimes it’s linking a silly video to make them laugh. Sometimes it’s simply reminding them that they matter.

As Christian leaders of teams, we are not only responsible for the product that is delivered, but also for the team’s spiritual life. We want our team to know that they matter. To God and to us.