Introduction:

Effective content is much more about your audience than it is about you.  Most of us think that people want to know about us, our church, our mission, what we believe in.  While this is important information truth of the matter is; when people are looking for a new church they want to know “if they will fit in here”.

That is why we have to answer the questions they have about your church.  Let me let you in on a little secret; people are much more interested in themselves than they are your church.  They want to know –

·      How is this church going to help me with the problems I am having right now?

·      Will I fit in?

·      How is it going to impact me and my family?

·      Do they have things for my kids?

·      Do they care about the things I care about?

The real estate industry uses the Four D’s – Death, Disease, Divorce, and Disaster – when they look at the reasons someone is selling their house and how they can solve the problem.  We should look at these a bit differently and consider that individuals typically have five different reasons they might be looking at your church.

·      Death

·      Divorce

·      Displacement

·      Disaster

·      Development

Knowing these helps you craft the content on your website and in your social media posts.  I personally think the more time we spend on the last “D”, development the more we satisfy all the others.

What do I mean by that?

Church Messenger is all about Engage, Equip and Empower.  If the content has a theme that accomplishes those three, we take care of all the “D’s”.  What I am not suggesting is that you completely ignore your mission statement or your beliefs.  I would never suggest that you tip toe around what you believe in so you can attract everyone – that will back fire every time.  And we are not making any suggestions as to the content of the message you present on a Sunday morning or what you teach.

What I am suggesting is that your homepage of your website speaks directly to the audience you are looking to attract. The audience that will fit in the minute they walk in the front door.

We are talking about the words that are on your website homepage.  The words that make those from the outside looking in feel welcomed, that they’ll fit in, they are loved.  The words that give them a sense of belonging, known, and noticed by your church.  Those people that don’t know what it is to belong to a community or to call a church their home.

I think those are the things we should be highlighting on our websites, don’t you?

How do we create this kind of content?  First, we have to ask these questions:

·      Who are we trying to attract?

·      Who are we talking to?

·      What are the church values that match that group of people?

While your content answers these questions in a way that reflects exactly who you are, what you do not want to do is say or portray something you are not.  For example; if your church is predominantly made up of retirees and you are trying to attract young families the use of stock photos and content that portrays something you are not, will back fire.

They might visit but the minute they walk in they’ll see a church completely different from what they saw advertised and more than likely will not return.  What I would suggest in this instance is to capitalize on the asset you have; a mature group of people that can mentor and help young families grow and tackle life’s issues.  That’s what your content needs to look like.  It will draw them in because you are answering the questions they have.

Effective content that draws people in does not happen overnight.  Take your time.  You’ll find that well thought out content (words and pictures) will increase your 1st time guest numbers and a good follow up plan will keep them coming back.