We’ve all heard the adage, “even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and again.” We’re not squirrels, although we’ve been accused of being nuts, but in January, 2017 we found ourselves a “LIVE” discovery. Of course we are referencing Facebook Live. January 15, an ice storm threatened our community so much that the Superintendent of Schools and I agreed that the best thing to do for the safety of people was to cancel church for the first time ever at The Refuge. We certainly missed getting to worship as a church family, and yet, not wanting to do “nothing,” we elected to have our message at our dinner table with a Live feed from Facebook. We were hoping some would check-in and we were amazed. Our number grew to over 50 individuals watching at one point during our message, and since we uploaded it 2,304 people saw that we posted the video, and we’ve had over 1,067 people view at least a portion of the video. We certainly would not trade the face to face opportunities of worshiping with individuals, but this discovery did catch our attention.
The results of the video caused Ryan and I to immediately evaluate our use of social media and to revamp the tool that it is; especially the free marketing that comes from it. Ryan took the lead in looking into ways to improve our social media reach and these were his discoveries:
I started reading Social Media Marketing Workbook by Jason McDonald. His number one insight is that social media is a big party. Have you ever noticed what catches
your attention on Facebook? Most likely it is pictures of family, friends and fun. This is what makes a good party, but every party needs a host.
What we are striving to do with our Facebook page is host a party that is all about restoring relationships with God. We are working to create buzz about encounters with God’s redemptive love, growth in our Refuge Groups and the times that are spent serving together. This is not fake. It’s for real.
Take a look at some of the pictures that are now pouring into our Facebook page. There is a story behind each one. A couple of women in the church who know how to throw “for real” parties on Facebook have stepped up to engage the church on Facebook.
Bethany Stadalman hosts a Refuge Group in her home with her husband Kyle. She captured some of the Refuge Kids posing for a picture on Sunday morning. Katy Miller started #FlashBackFriday and posted some pictures of our Refuge Youth Christmas Party in December. Many new surprises are still to come. A special thanks to Bethany and Katy for helping us restorerelationships with God. If you haven’t yet, like our Facebook page. We want to keep you in the loop.
Due to Ryan’s findings, we have also started this last month recapping sermons “Live” on Tuesdays. Our goal is to do these at 12:30pm with a 5-10 minute recap and challenge over the lunch hour. Check-in weekly as you are able.