Speaker 0 00:00:00 Social media has changed drastically in the last few years. Short form video is consuming everything around it. Here's what your church needs to know to be effective. You're listening to The Reach Right podcast, the show dedicated to helping pastors and church leaders reach people the right way. Hosted by me, Thomas Costello, and with me, as always, is my co-host, Ian Hyatt. We're here to help your church see more visitors and grow.
Speaker 2 00:00:39 Y'all ready to get job ready to get,
Speaker 0 00:00:45 Hey guys, I'm Thomas.
Speaker 3 00:00:47 And I'm Ian.
Speaker 0 00:00:48 And today we're talking about 2023 social media trends that your church needs to know. It should be a good conversation, Ian.
Speaker 3 00:00:55 Yeah, absolutely. This is a great one here for the year.
Speaker 0 00:00:58 I think it's important because it's totally changed. Uh, I think over the last year, if we were doing this conversation in the beginning of 2022, it would've been a different conversation because I think that something really drastic has shifted. And what that is, is that short form video has consumed all other forms of social media to be the one to rule them all, to use a Lord of the Rings reference there. So, uh, it really is a crazy landscape right now. Uh, what used to work on social media, uh, whether it be Facebook or Instagram, doing posts of things that are happening or carousels or even stories and snaps and all that stuff that is out there, they've all been eaten by this black hole that is long or short form vertical video.
Speaker 3 00:01:45 Yeah, I'm glad you said black hole, because I felt like I got sucked into shorts like right away when they came out. I mean, even myself, just as a consumer and, and user Yeah. On social media, they got, I I was just hooked right away and it just was like a very seamless thing, it seemed like.
Speaker 0 00:02:02 Yeah, no, it's been really, really crazy. It has become ultra popular, I think just because it's so easy for people to just jump in and and start to use them and the algorithms. Yeah. Uh, I I think what's really interesting is that TikTok really started the whole trend, right? So TikTok came first, and, um, if you're still in the camp that thinks that TikTok has just danced videos and that kind of stuff, you're totally wrong on that. It's something that, uh, it is, I I primarily see business related videos because that's the kind of content that I tend to watch. So when I get on there, whether it be TikTok or YouTube shorts or Instagram reels, those are the big three by the way. That's the three primary places where you can do that or you can follow those channels there. But, um, it is not just dance videos, it is content, right. That, uh, the algorithm is built to give you exactly what you want. So the reason why it's become so popular is that these algorithms are really smart, but that also means that it's a huge opportunity for churches, right?
Speaker 3 00:02:58 Yeah. Yeah. And you mentioned TikTok, um, but you know, folks out there may have the question, Thomas, of which social media platforms are like prioritizing the shorts?
Speaker 0 00:03:09 Yeah, I mean, all of them. Um, I think, like I just read the other day that even Pinterest is pivoting and getting into short form vertical video. So the, the very channel that was famous for photography of usually crafty type things, I was never really a Pinterest guy. No, never. But even they are pivoting to doing short form video. So, uh, it is eating them all. I am sure I read that Twitter is gonna be doing one very soon. I think LinkedIn will be shortly behind. But the three big opportunities again right now are, uh, TikTok first to the market. They probably still have the most, uh, accurate and the best algorithm. I think, uh, Facebook, meta Instagram, they're still trying to figure that out. YouTube shorts is another one. They don't quite have it as good of an algorithm as TikTok. Uh, but those are the three big ones I think that churches should be focusing on.
Speaker 3 00:03:56 Yeah, no, that's, that's good to know. And so, and it's weird to think, I mean, just like, I I I think of it too, you know, I, I guess maybe it's people's attention span. Uh, is that, I mean, is that one reason why they're so popular now?
Speaker 0 00:04:10 I think so. I, again, it it's just the algorithm. I think that's what it is. Okay. Is these, these machines are so smart now that they know exactly what you are most likely to be watching and they're gonna keep feeding you lots of that and they make themselves irresistible. Uh, so, you know, it used to be like, I think there was a lot of people when, uh, when Netflix started giving us suggestions on our Netflix, uh, browsing history. It'll say what it thinks will like, well, that's what these short form video algorithms are doing. Yeah. Uh, to the, to a hundred degrees basically. They're just really Right. Blowing it out of the water with this here. So, um, it really is machine learning, figuring out what you're most likely to watch, what you're most into. Yeah. And feeding you what will keep you on the platform the longest. So, kind of sounds nefarious, but again, I think it pre, it, it presents a pretty big opportunity for churches, I'd say.
Speaker 3 00:05:00 I can see it's, it's appealing too, right? Cuz it's something I'm already interested in, I'm more likely to watch it. Right. So there it is. Boom. So, and you know, so for churches, you know, is there a strategy or some marching orders, you know, as far as like, you know how, you know, they, they go about creating these?
Speaker 0 00:05:16 Yeah. So he, here's what we would say and kind of our advice to churches. Again, we're, we're actually in the middle of kind of, and this is a little, uh, secret, uh, information here, but we're in the middle of releasing a, uh, system that helps churches get through this, of helping them make short form video content. Yeah. So we've been doing tons of research on exactly what's working. Um, here's the bottom line is that what you'd need to do to make your short form videos appear, uh, is you need to get people to stick around for the first few seconds. And the longer they watch, the more likely they are to show more of your videos to these kinds of people here. So yeah, the, the name of the game is attention and Retention. How long, long we can keep their attention on our videos.
Speaker 0 00:05:59 So if we were to kind of give you a formula of what you would do, there's three things to focus on. Number one is the hook. Uh, so this is like the first, frankly, two seconds of every one of these videos here. You gotta nail a hook really quick that will make someone say, okay, I have to know the answer to this question. Yeah. Or I have to see what happens next. It keeps people kind of waiting in suspense. So there's the hook, there's the fulfillment of the hook or the body. So you have to actually fulfill that promise. If you tell someone a hook and then you don't do anything to kind of answer that hook, uh, then, you know, I think you're gonna get people, you might get them to see one more video, but they'll quickly learn, well this guy never fulfills what he says he is gonna do, so I'm not gonna watch this anymore.
Speaker 0 00:06:40 And then the call to action what video, uh, would be complete. We always talk about call to action here. So <laugh>, um, you know, the great thing about short form videos on YouTube or TikTok is that they're really great for building an audience. That's one of our primary strategies and why, yeah, this video will probably turn into a short form video at some time, is that they're great for introducing people to your brand or to your church in this case. And then they're much more likely to, to follow up and start to, to follow you and subscribe to you. Whatever the platform calls their subscribers, they'll wind up doing that. So always end every video with a next step. What is that call to action? Yeah. What do we want to do to get that person more engaged with what we're doing as a church here?
Speaker 3 00:07:21 Yeah, that's, that's definitely sounds all good and natural. And you know, lastly, I guess, you know, with these being short, right? That kind of dictates the kind of content you can do, right? Cuz it can't be something too lengthy. So, you know, I guess that's probably something a lot of people would be asking is what kind of content to, to create for these.
Speaker 0 00:07:42 Yeah, so I, I think that there's a couple different categories there. There's some that don't work. Like we, we've tried, uh, a lot of experimenting with like, uh, things that are maybe like a, what used to work on Instagram was a scripture graphic, for instance. And having like a scripture graphic set to music and having that play as a reel or as a, a TikTok or a YouTube short. I mean, you'll probably get a few views, but you're not gonna get any real traction with something like that. And that's really kind of overplayed. So it has to almost always be original content. Um, most churches are able to get away with repurposing highlights of their sermons. And I think it takes some work to do that. It's not just, you know, just clip the sermon and put it in just like that. It's things like, uh, captioning and music backgrounds and cutting it and, uh, key framing it so you follow the pastor as they're walking around on there.
Speaker 0 00:08:31 And there's lots of work that goes into that. But that's something that we've seen that actually gets results If this is the big, if, if you get the hook part right? Yeah. So the hook is what makes that work. If you don't have a hook in there and you're just taking the middle of a sermon, it's pretty hard to get someone to stick around in that. So sometimes you have to add an after, uh, after effect kind of a hook that you put in, in editing side of things. So that's one. And then, you know, what we are seeing here is we're seeing a lot of results with memes. Uh, so meme type videos, whether they be, uh, using a trending sound on TikTok or YouTube and, and using that as kind of the basis of it, and you kind of go through and act out the, the meme or kind of do that.
Speaker 0 00:09:12 You see a lot of those videos on TikTok. Yeah. Or just taking an existing funny video and putting a church context on that or a, a ministry or a biblical context on it. Yeah. That really goes a long way too. There's entire accounts dedicated to Christian memes and church memes and we try to run with some of those there too. So we've seen those get some of our best results and tons of subscribers. Maybe you're watching this because you subscribed when you saw one of our memes out there. So if I had to kind of give you two ideas, it would be rep, rep repurposing sermon content, or doing faith-based type meme work. There's a lot to do that. Now maybe you're asking why would we do memes? That's just, that's, that's not what our mission is. Well really the goal with this is not necessarily to convert someone into making a decision right there when they're watching your TikTok video, right, right, right.
Speaker 0 00:10:03 Like there, uh, there's not really a, uh, the kind of interaction where I don't recommend alter calls at the end, every end of every one of these videos here. So really what you're competing for is attention. And if you can get someone's attention with a funny meme that makes 'em stand out and say, you know what, I like that, or I'll subscribe to that, I'll watch that again, then you'll have a chance to impact them with the next video that you make and they'll be shown more and more of your content. And so even if you stop them from moving on from your video with a meme, the chances are you'll be able to do something impactful in the next conversation there you have with them.
Speaker 3 00:10:36 Man, that's good stuff. Yeah. Definitely should help a lot of churches and, uh, all make sense. And, uh, we want to engage people right at the local church to lead 'em further to what God's doing at the local church level. So these, uh, we've seen these strategies work.
Speaker 0 00:10:51 Yeah. Hope it's been helpful. If it has, leave us a comment down below. Let us know if you have any other things you're learning about short form video, also, like, and subscribe. Again, that's how the algorithm helps us kind of get some traction with this. And so thanks for being a part of the Retried family and we'll see you next time. Thanks for listening to the Reach right podcast. We hope this episode will help you reach people the right way. Looking for more resources for your church, check us out
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Speaker 2 00:11:36 Ready to get.
