Social media can either build relational bridges through building a networking platform or burn relational bridges through advertisement methods that appear more like business spam than ministry.

Using social media for a mere marketing reason may work for a season, but it will eventually backfire. Simply put, most people view most types of advertising as spam, and no one likes spam. Spam includes setting up multiple social media sites for the purpose of branding, advertising, and higher traffic exposure.

A ministry objective for social media should be relationally driven not marketing driven. Put differently, a relationally driven site focuses more so on the creative content than the marketing.

The most effective way to use social media for ministry is through building trust and rapport while being a valuable resource; consequently, marketing will be a natural byproduct.

Here are three examples for ministries to leverage social media for relational and spiritual purposes.

1.    Don’t just invite students to an event; use social media to prepare students spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually.

a.    During our bible study entitled, “Frequently Asked Questions”, I updated social media sites every hour with a thought-provoking question that I would later answer. This allows students to be holistically prepared for bible study and is a more creative advertising technique. Reinforcing bible study thoughts, questions, and discussions can also be used through social media sites.

2.    Don’t tell everyone how great your ministry is, show them through pictures.

a.    Here’s one example of this point: our freshmen ministry had a Twitter scavenger hunt one night; they used the hashtag #BCMscavengerhunt and uploaded pictures of each team performing the chore. Because these picturestook over so many Twitter feeds, there were lots of non-BCM students wondering about seeing all of the fun. Pictures do speak louder than words, especially on social media sites.

3.    Don’t be afraid to use social media for spiritual purposes.

a.    I had a friend bedridden in hospice only given two weeks to live last fall. There were two random things he loved to do: he loved using Twitter and listening to the band, Journey. So, during our College Worship, around 200 students wrote a prayer to him on a poster board, took an individual picture holding their prayer, and uploaded that to twitter. They mentioned his name and hash tagged #dontstopbelieving “his favorite Journey song.” Needless to say, his Twitter account was inundated with pictures of ASU students holding poster boards with prayers that he could read. Lots of students who weren’t there to experience this were wondering what was happening on twitter. Later that night, my friend called and said that was the best gift he’d ever received in his life. He died two weeks later from cancer.

I hope these ideas get your creative juicesflowing in order to leverage social media sites for more relational and spiritual purposes.

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