Who Makes a Good Social Media Pastor?

So far this week we’ve explored “Does your church have a social media pastor?”  We’ve talked about how social media can used in the church and what social is not in the church. Now let’s talk about who would make a good social media pastor.

So if you’re just starting out in the social media game or you’ve been in it awhile, your question might be do I go right out and hire someone. Do I have someone already on staff do it? Do I have a volunteer do it? Lets us look at few things that will help you determine who is best for your church.

• They must like to communicate(that’s the basic of what social media is)
• They need to have time to commit and be consistent
• The need to be adaptable to change (social will always be changing so they have to be able to adapt)
• A willingness to learn (this is a skill needed for any position)

These are the 4 basic things that your SMP needs to have, everything else can be taught.  A good place to start is to look for someone at your church that is already into social media, but it’s not something you just want drop in their lap. Like “hey you twitter? Good, now you’re our new Social Media Pastor”. Not a good idea. The person you’re looking for might not even have anything to do with social media.( a year ago I didn’t do anything with social media, now I blog, tweet, facebook, and about 10 other things).

They need to be consistent.  Think of the time they spend in social media to post updates as lunch dates. If they start updating or tweeting, then they just stop. It’s like not showing up to meet someone at a lunch date face to face.

Social media is a two way conversation. It’s not just posting updates and not responding to what people have to say back. That’s like walking up to someone, rattling off a bunch of information, and then walking off as soon as they start talking.

Adaptability to change is also important. Social media is ever growing and ever changing. Most people who don’t like change don’t embrace it.  Think of it this way, the VCR, zip drives,  and dial up internet  all great things at one time – yet now not so much. If you have a social media pastor who is still using myspace and they don’t like the changes of twitter of facebook, then to quote the Black Eyed Peas “they’re so 2000 and late”

Your SMP needs to communicate thru social media in a way that’s fun and professional. You never know who is going be reading what you but out there. They not only represent your church but more importantly God!