Does your church recycle?
No, I’m not talking cashing in soda cans for nickels or going green—I mean recycling content.
Your church probably has limited resources to work with, so spending several hours each week developing completely new content isn’t practical. But you’ve still got blog posts to create and emails to crank out and social channels to fill. The good news is you already have plenty of great content lying around, waiting to be repurposed. You just need to get a little creative.
Sermons
Pastors invest hours studying, researching, and preparing for their sermons. Why not get some extra mileage out of all that work? Post audio or video of the service on your online media center, in your mobile app, and on sites like YouTube and Vimeo. Pull some standout quotes from the message for a simple graphic on social media. Post slides of the major points. Create an infographic from any staggering statistics. Quickly assemble a blog post from further study notes, additional Scripture reading, or anything that couldn’t fit into that Sunday morning timeslot.
Sunday School & Small Group Discussions
Small group leaders and Sunday school teachers also share a wealth of information and foster discussion throughout the week. Typically only a handful of people get to benefit from these lessons, but a lot of the content could be beneficial to anyone in your church community. Ask small group leaders to write blog posts covering a recent topic that struck a nerve and highlight some of these details in the church newsletter to encourage people to join a small group.
Church Photos
You’ve probably collected thousands of images from events like Easter cantatas and community activities but have no idea how to make use of them. Rather than incorporating stiff stock photos, showcase these (free) genuine images on your website. Create albums on Facebook so your church community can share them with friends. And you’re not limited to photos that were just shot at last week’s BBQ. Use photos from the annual Trunk or Treat in 2010 to promote this year’s event. Dust off a staff photo from 1987 and post to Instagram with #tbt—people will enjoy seeing a fun, relatable side of your church and laughing at the pastor’s choice in acid wash jeans.
Stories
Whether it’s a testimony to God’s faithfulness or a report on your church’s sponsored missionaries, repurpose stories to engage your church community and connect with potential visitors. Ask a volunteer youth leader to post that story she shared with your staff about the ministry’s impact on her own life on the church’s blog. It might encourage other people to get involved within the church. Or use that same story to promote your youth ministry to the local community from a unique perspective. Include the message of gratitude from a local shelter in your next newsletter so the church community can see the results of their prayers and financial gifts.
Whether you’re scrambling for an idea to boost social media engagement or some copy to complete content marketing efforts, next time try recycling content when racking your brain for a fresh idea.
Check out these other resources for some helpful tips:
How to Blog When You Don’t Have Time
An Intro to Content Marketing and Social Media for Churches
Your Church’s Problem in Social Media
Image Credits: istockphoto