Image Credit: Katie Henderson

Washington Conference Hosts Local Communication Summit

Fifty-five pastors, teachers, students and local communicators gathered in October for a Local Communication Summit at the Washington Conference to learn how to use social media effectively for the church.

Keynote trainer Jamie Jean Schneider Domm, North American Division digital strategist, presented three topics: the best practices for social media; the use of tracking, Google Analytics and Facebook ads to reach the target audience; and the social media mission field.

“The average adult is exposed to over 3,000 marketing messages a day,” says Domm. “We now have more resources to reach audiences how they want to be reached.”

Young adults spend seven to 12 hours a day behind a screen and five hours on social media. Meeting people where they are and not where the church wants them to be is very important.

“I've been a faithful email user for a couple of decades, but nowadays I've noticed my church members share much of their information on Facebook and other social media,” says Maylan Schurch, Bellevue Church pastor. “This seminar — one of the most consistently, end-to-end practical I have ever attended — has impelled me to work toward making better use of our church's current Facebook page."

Among the attendees was a group of media literacy students from Auburn Adventist Academy, including two students who were sponsored to attend this year’s Society of Adventist Communicators conference in Portland, Ore.

The need to equip churches with the right communication tools is important. There are many aspects of social media that many don’t know about that can help them reach more people.

“The Local Communication Summit was overall very educational,” says Ana Hernandez, Washington Conference administrative assistant. “Knowing the right things and knowing your audience … I didn’t know there was a better time to post for audiences. It’s an eye opener.”

Featured in: December 2017

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