One of the most common bits of feedback I hear from communications and marketing staff is that they struggle to create consistently good content on social media. The desire is there, but the issue is always in the implementation.
Social media can feel a bit like a treadmill that you can never keep up with. Here are eleven essential ingredients that will help:
Save time
1. Facebook scheduler – I love the native scheduler in Facebook. Some say that Facebook will give posts that are scheduled in their own scheduler more priority than third party schedulers. Not sure if this is still true, but thought I’d mention it.
2. Tweetdeck – I love scheduling Twitter posts in Tweetdeck. Its owned by Twitter now and its free and easy to use. Have we said hello on Twitter yet? Say hello here!
3. Hootsuite – It’s great for scheduling content for Instagram. You can post both both photos and video. You can do it for both personal and business accounts. Check it out here.
4. Meet Edgar – I haven’t used it, but everyone who uses it loves it. It’s also great if you are repurposing the same content for a different time. Check it out here.
Create
5. Canva – If you are a newbie when it comes to creating graphics then Canva is a great place to start. You can set styles and choose fonts very simply and easily. You don’t need design chops to start here.
6. Illustrator – My favourite tool of choice when it comes to creating content that is typographic heavy. I love the control I get with this software.
7. Photoshop – For image manipulation I can’t go past this. Apart from Light Room for colour grading, Photoshop is the standard for all professionals.
8. Adobe Spark – If you are creating content on your phone Spark is a good way to create it. Depending on which subscription to Creative Suite it comes as part of that package. Check it out here.
9. High Quality Free fonts – Any visual content needs some beautiful typographic support. Sometimes when a church is on a budget we can feel restricted our design options. Check out 250 Stunning Free Fonts For Your Church
Plan
10. Free social media calendar template – I created this social media calendar template a few years ago in Google Drive. It’s still relevant, and you can adapt it. Some scheduling tools also have schedules, but I like the simplicity of this. Check it out here.
11. Post types – I’ve left this till last, because this can be the hardest for some to keep up. Here are 10 great post types for Facebook that will increase your engagement. Here are some beautiful posts for instagram.
If you need more post ideas here are 46 Brilliant Crowd Sourced Posting Ideas For Church Social Media
Your Turn
Do you have any tips you would share? Got questions? Leave a comment below.
