You can never have enough communications ideas to promote your Easter services. I’m always on the look out for innovative ways to reach more people and create more impact for my church. Why is it especially important at Easter?
Did you know that according to Google, more people search for church than at any other time. 20% of people are undecided about attending an Easter service. That is a huge opportunity for your church!
Here are 12 tips that I hope will help your church reach more people than ever before.
Creative Invitation ideas
Tip #1
One of the best tactics to reach more people at Easter is to arm your congregation with an invitation tool. For us at Crossway it is a simple postcard. Our 2016 Easter postcard is below.
Tip #2
I love what The Oaks Fellowship are doing with buckets. Yes. Buckets. Read more here.
Utilise the power of social media
Tip #3
Social media is the most potent viral communications channel that I’ve ever encountered. The ability to reach new people is staggering. I recently wrote here about how photo booths can supercharge your social reach. This tactic has worked for me time and time again. I highly recommend it.
Tip #4
There is also an insightful article here also about how you can also equip your staff team to spread the message on social media. I love the idea that you can mobilise the core of your community.
Tip #5
Create shareable graphic content for your community. As social networks increasingly create strategies requiring you to pay to reach your audience, a very smart way around their paywall is to equip your community with the graphic assets to share content on their own feeds. More reach with less budget. Who wouldn’t want that?
Tip #6
Use video. Facebook and Twitter have launched an assault on YouTube. Facebook recently surpassed YouTube for the most desktop views per day. Expect mobile to follow soon. To increase for profit businesses and nonprofits adoption of video, Facebook seems to have taken the reach limitor off video—for the moment at least. Exploit it while you can. You can also leverage Facebook Live. Check out how here.
Tip #7
Create a Thunderclap. Create a social media message and a compelling photo to share with the Thunderclap service. Email your congregation and ask them to lend their voice to the post. This is a great way to get a message out at a certain time.
Tip #8
Create a fun hashtag and promote it in your services and your communication channels in the days leading up to your Easter services. Something like #EatMoreEggs or #ThereIsNoSuchThingAsTooMuchChocolate or #HamOrLamb. You get the idea. It doesn’t have to be super spiritual. It’s simply about finding a fun way to engage people. (Pro tip: Initial cap your hashtags so they’re easier to read.)
Tip #9
Celebrate your volunteers. Your church is all about people and many of those people serve faithfully. Why not celebrate your volunteers as they prepare and rehearse for Easter? By tagging them you also tell their friends that your church appreciates them. Oh, and your church is also now in their friends’ feed. That is pretty cool free exposure.
Do something newsworthy
Tip #10
Are you using a helicopter to drop Easter Eggs? Serving people? What interesting things is your community doing that may be a news story? Read more here about how you can help get your story in the news.
Website
Tip #11
If someone visits your website you could create some simple online evites that your congregation can use to invite a friend. Check out these 2 examples from Harvest America and Eaglebrook Church.
Tip #12
Have the service times for your Easter services clearly and prominently signposted. Don’t make it hard for potential visitors to find the right information. Here are seven stunning examples of what different churches have done for their websites at Easter.
Your turn
These are just a few tips that I’ve used and seen used well around at different churches. Got a question or want to share a tip for others this Easter? Please leave a comment below.