How to Grow Your Parish with Social Media (Without the Headache)
Most parishes treat social media like an afterthought. Maybe they post a random Bible verse, a picture of last Sundayās donuts, or an event flyer that gets three likes (two of them from the secretaryās family). And then they wonder why no one new is showing up to Mass. The truth is, if you want social media to actually bring people into your parish, you need a system. I call it The Chapel Launch Funnel. And once you get it, everything clicks. Hereās how it works: š„ 1. Top of Funnel (Cold ā Blue):These are the people who donāt know you yet. They donāt trust you. They donāt even know your parish exists. So we fix that by posting engaging Instagram Reels. Why Reels? Because every single one gets shown to at least 50 random people. And if it performs well? BoomāInstagram pushes it to hundreds (or thousands) more. More reach ā more eyeballs ā more people following your parish. š„ 2. Middle of Funnel (Warm ā Yellow):Now they know you exist, but theyāre not ready to do anything yet. Time to warm them up. More reels, more storytelling. A picture of Father John on his ordination day, sharing why he became a priest? Gold. People eat that up. The more they see, the more they like and trust your parish. š„ 3. Bottom of Funnel (Hot ā Red):Now itās time to ask them to take action. Want more altar servers? More volunteers? More people coming to Mass? Simpleāuse an Instagram Story poll:ā
"Iām in!"ā³ "Would love to, but busy."ā "Not in town." Everyone who says āIām inā gets a quick DM (from your assistant, not youāletās be realistic). A short convo, a sign-up link, done. This works. I do this for my Catholic fitness business, and sometimes I get 300+ people raising their hands saying they want in. š„ 4. Delivery (Green ā The Parish Experience):Once theyāre in, they get the full experienceāMass, sacraments, community events. But hereās where we take it to the next level⦠We build an online community (like this one). A place where they can engage, learn, and actually stay connected.