I have been seeing a lot of people asking for resources about building a job or volunteer description for someone to cover specifically social media and digital communications in their churches.
Most churches would need a social media manager who works between 10-20 hours a week depending on how active the church is or wants to be on social media. This would include the following tasks:
-Attending staff meetings
-Daily overview of all social media sites
-Ensuring accurate information on website & social media
-Promoting upcoming events on social media
-Posting resources (sermon recordings, articles, etc.) on social media
-Beginning, continuing, and facilitating conversations over social media
-Updating website
-Continue developing social media strategy and looking for new social media sites to support the church’s ministry
-Reporting to the board or session and congregation on occasion
-Alerting pastor to any sensitive issues
Other tasks could be added (and they will take up quite a few more hours and perhaps require a different skill set) such as:
-Blogging
-Podcasting
-Managing a forum
-Picture editing
-Graphic design
-Sitting on the church’s communication committee
-Overseeing and training volunteers
-Designing and managing the website
If you want someone to perform all the tasks above, that would be a full-time job. Most churches won’t need a full-time social media staff person because they’re not involved with everything listed above.
There is the big question of whether a church needs a hired staff person to do social media. Certainly there are gifted and talented people in many congregations who could do the church’s social media, but there are some key benefits to hiring a staff person for social media.
There is a difference between being an individual on social media and representing a church on social media. A social media manager will have experience doing social media for a company, non-profit, or church and understand that difference. They will understand the lingo of the social media world. (For example, they’ll know what SEO means.) If your church is looking for someone to help build your social media presence, develop a social media strategy, and work hand-in-hand with the other church staff you’ll want a staff member.
A social media staff person will assist other staff members in a way no one else is. They will bring a unique point of view and new creativity to your staff. With a focused job description and member of staff to perform it, your church’s social media will be in good hands.
