by: Caroline Eaton

Throughout this series we’ve taught you multiple ways to interact with various groups of people on social media. We’ve talked about ways to reach your congregation or ministry members, potential new members, and other people in ministry across the globe.

Now that you’ve initiated all these interactions, how do you maintain them? The answer is simple: consistency. Just like anything in your life that has value, in order to be successful, you must be consistent.

Not only do you have to be consistent with what you post on social media, but also you have to be consistent about replying to comments, messages, and tweets.

This may mean setting aside an hour of your day to check-in on social media and reach out to people. If you are the manager of your Facebook page, make sure you are replying to every comment that people leave you. They are showing their interest in your ministry, so you need to show your interest and appreciation back for them.

This concept may seem incredibly simple, but you’d be surprised by how many people experience social media burnout because they are not seeing the results they want. The biggest factor in their problem is usually that they aren’t interacting enough!

Reaching out to new people on social media is key to reaching more people, but maintenance is key for keeping those people around.

It can all be traced back to scripture: “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31 NIV). When someone writes a letter to you, the polite thing to do is write back. The same concept works on social media. Be generous, appreciative, and consistent, and you will begin to see the results you want.

How do you use social media to interact with people? Send us feedback to dbennett@churchofgod.org.