[Results] Church Social Media Survey 2018

Towards the end of 2018 I partnered with another seminary graduate to conduct a very simple survey of church social media use. We had 2 goals in mind:

1. Gain ideas on what our social media/internet presence priorities should be as we contemplate starting churches of our own in the next few years.
2. Learn what challenges and opportunities pastors face in their social media practice.

After collecting all of the data and crunching the numbers, we discovered a few interesting trends that we are excited to share with you.

Before we dive in I would like to take a minute to thank all the pastors and ministry leaders who participated in our survey. Our goal was to collect 100 responses over the course of 30 days. We almost hit that goal with a total of 83 responses. Thank you to each and every one of you who participated!

A Note On Survey Methodology

This survey was rudimentary because we wanted the threshold for participation to be very low. It began with a single question about whether or not the participants church used social media on a regular basis. Then, depending on how they answered (yes or no) the participant was given an additional 3 questions. We will cover what those questions were in more detail below.

Our audience consisted of American church pastors and staff members, as well as a few full-time ministry leaders who work outside of a traditional church setting. Because we reached out to our network first (both through email and LinkedIn), the majority of the answers came from individuals living in the following states: Ohio, Texas, and Florida. Although many more states are represented in the overall survey. This method of outreach may have also skewed our results since individuals/leaders who are technologically-savvy enough to use email and LinkedIn consistently will likely also have also influenced their church to create a social media presence.

Survey Results

According to our tally, 100% of those who participated in our survey attend or lead a church which uses social media regularly.

I wasn't terribly surprised by this number since it is 2018 and to not have at least some social media presence is the equivalent of not having a website. However, it was reassuring to see that leaders are on board with going to where the people are and attempting to communicate in a way their audience wants to consume. But more on that later.

QUESTION 1: What social media platforms does your church currently use on a regular basis?

• Facebook: 100%
• Instagram: 58%
• Twitter: 42%
• YouTube: 25%
• Snapchat: 8%

These results surprised me. I did not expect Instagram to have already overtaken Twitter as a priority for church leaders. But this is excellent since Instagram is still the fastest growing platform as of writing this article.

I expected Facebook to top the chart. I honestly don't know what the future holds for Snapchat. It seems that many of the recent updates to Instagram have rendered that platform largely redundant.

One finding of note is that although YouTube came in second to last place, it was mentioned by a large number of participants as a platform they would like to make a priority in 2019.

Question 2: What is your biggest struggle/frustration with social media?

• Consistency: 44%
• No Clear Strategy: 22%
• Balance: 15%
• Lack of Help: 11%
• Lack of Tools: 7%

Consistency was by far the most common struggle. When participants explained this point they used descriptions which included lack of time or lack of content to post.

The strategy piece regarded two main factors: how to create posts that are "native" to each network (i.e. what makes sense for Facebook doesn't always make sense for Instagram, etc.), and how to build an audience (i.e. use the tool for outreach/evangelism and not just community engagement).

The final points of "Lack of Help" and "Lack of Tools" were typically given without a deeper explanation. However, we can assume the help piece relates to the next question we will examine. And the tool piece may be due to a lack of familiarity with what is available (because there are a host of management as well as creation tools available for churches).

Question 3: Are the social media channels operated by a staff member (pastoral or administrative) or a volunteer?

• Staff (Non-Pastoral): 47%
• Staff (Pastoral): 27%
• Volunteer: 20%
• Intern: 13%

Of the Non-Pastoral staff who were responsible for their church's various social media channels, for roughly 10% of them that is their sole job. The other 90% fit it in as part of their normal administrative and related duties.

Over a quarter of all participants noted that the pastors themselves are solely responsible for maintaining the various channels. Volunteers were always noted as being members of the church.

Only one participant answered that they hired an outside organization to run their social media for them. I did not include this outlier in the above results because they added that it was a recent change currently on a trial basis.

Additional Questions

Even though 100% of those who participated answered yes, which prompted them to answer the 3 questions above, a few individuals also answered two of the additional questions reserved for those who would have initially answered no.

The first additional question was:

What is the #1 way your church currently engages in outreach (in-person events, physical mailings, email, social media)?

In-person events was the only answer which was given for this question. I've read a wide assortment of findings about whether or not churches actually have a budget for marketing and what that gets used for. I'm assuming a better crafted survey could have led to better results for this question.

But I am curious what churches typically do and spend on marketing. That may be a topic for future investigation.

The second additional question was:

Would you be open to receiving help and/or training on how to better incorporate social media into your church’s overall strategy?

Now remember, this question was supposed to only go to those who originally answered "no" to the first question about whether or not their church uses social media at all. But since I received a number of answers to this I figured I would share the overall response.

• No: 75%
• Yes: 25%

Perhaps if this question was posed in a different context, the answers would have been different - especially since lack of strategy and lack of help affected more than 1/3 of all who participated in the survey.

Conclusion

I want to thank all who participated in this study once again. I really did find your answers insightful. I expect that as time goes on and more of the findings have time to ruminate in our minds, we will experience a few more aha! moments.

I would love to get your feedback in the comments below.

1. What was the most surprising thing you found in this survey report?
2. What question would you have liked to hear an answer to?
3. Will these findings in any way shape your strategy for 2019 and beyond?

Final Note

For those in the "church world" looking for help with their social media content and strategy, I really can't recommend Brady Shearer of Pro Church Tools enough. His products such as Nucleus and Storytape have been very successful because they are genuinely helpful and very affordable.