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  Facebook Is King Among Social Networks According to Pew Research Center, Facebook is still the number one platform. They found that 68% of adults are Facebook users. The second network was YouTube at 40%. Focusing on both platforms will enhance your chances of reaching a larger community especially if your church focuses on generating interesting video content. People spend an average of 35 minutes a day on Facebook and videos are also very popular on this platform. Worldwide, there are over 2.41 billion monthly active users (MAU) as of June 2019. This is an 8 percent increase in Facebook MAUs year over year (Source: Facebook 7/24/19) Facebook is simply too big to ignore as an on-going part of your digital communications program.   1.59 billion people on average log onto Facebook daily and are considered daily active users (Facebook DAU) for June 2019 The Implication: A huge number of Facebook users are active and consistent in their visits to the site. You simply go to where the people are. The Highest traffic occurs mid-week between 1 to 3 pm. (Source: Bit.ly blog). A Facebook post at 7 pm will result in more clicks on average than posting at 8 pm (Source: Forbes). Go figure. You have the potential to reach more consumers and drive higher traffic to your site during peak usage times, but people may be more likely to be more engaged in the evenings. On Thursdays and Fridays, engagement is 18% higher. (Source: Bit.ly blog). This can guide on when to post in order to optimize your outreach efforts. Photo uploads total of 300 million per day. (Source: Gizmodo). Again, this is an indication of engaged users; also, it is an indication that there are a lot of photos, as well as other information, competing for users’ attention, so you should target your efforts strategically. Online Tithing and Accepting Credit Cards Boosts Tithing What church doesn’t want to increase tithing? The Pew Research Center shows that offering online tithing increases tithing by 32%. Therefore it will be smart for your church to consider investing in online giving solutions. The Center also found that 49% of all donations are made via a card. Most Giving Happens Monday – Saturday Most people will think that Sunday is the biggest giving day, right? Tithe.ly found that while it’s the biggest single day, 67% of church donations happen throughout the other days of the week. This is to fit tithing into their budget better. Another surprising giving statistic is over 30% of donations come in between 9 PM and 6 AM. What does this mean for your church? Online giving is a must. Mobile Giving Rules When it comes to non-traditional tithing, mobile rules. Apps are the clear winner with 57% of people preferring a mobile option. Tithe.ly also found that web giving accounts for 24% of online donations, while text giving came in at 14%. A Strong Desire For More Bible Study While many people claim they do want to spend more time studying the Bible, most have a hard time finding the extra time. Barna found that 58% of Americans wish they could study more often and that includes 22% of skeptics. Online platforms and tools are a great way to help your congregation understand the bible better. Churches Need Videos 72% of people online prefer to learn by video over text. Outside of sermons, which people expect to be longer, almost 66% of people prefer videos that are two minutes or less. Try uploading quick Bible study videos to engage visitors on your website and social media platforms. Other Interesting Facts About Videos are Users view more than 1 billion hours of video each day on YouTube. (YouTube). Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to 10% when reading it in text. (Insivia). Social media posts with video have 48% more views. (HubSpot)   Subtitles Are Very Important Yes, most people prefer videos, but they can’t always listen with the sound on. In fact, 85% of people watch Facebook videos with the sound turned off. Add subtitles or captions to ensure your message still gets across and also helps people to remember what they have just watched better. Don’t Count Out Instagram 35% of adults use Instagram, but Pew Research also found that 71% of 18-24 year-olds use Instagram. Worldwide, over 1 billion people use Instagram every month. 71% of Instagram users around the globe are under the age of 35. If you’re trying to reach out to a younger audience, it’s worth expanding your social media strategy to include Instagram. Videos Get More Shares If you want your church’s social media posts to be shared, opt for more videos. They get around 1200% more shares than images and text. Videos also lead to more web traffic, with increases of up to 41%. Other interesting video facts are: A website is 53 times more likely to reach the front page of Google if it includes video. (Insivia) Video is expected to make up 82% of internet traffic by 2021. (Cisco) Video increases organic search traffic on a website by 157%. (Conversion XL).  10.  Your Website Does Matter Even if you’re fully engaging your members in the church, you still need a church website. Why? According to Grey Matter Research, 17 million Americans who don’t regularly attend church visited a church website. While most are searching for church hours or programs, 26% are streaming video and another 26% are streaming audio. Most people also visited a church website and read the reviews before deciding whether they will come to visit the church or not. So yes, a website is vital for reaching more people and increasing your members. Finally, the demand for mobile-friendly content on all social media is essential and very important to reach your target market. In 2018, 91% of social media users now regularly access their social media platforms using mobile devices. Likewise, almost 80% of total time spent on social media sites occurs on mobile platforms. Lyfemarketing). Most users will not read your content if it does not look user-friendly on their mobile. Period.   Bunmi Adebajo CEO, Churchavs.com

In an ideal world, your clients would just love your business and be quite willing to shout it from the mountain top. However,

Videos can be successfully used to market a church and let the neighborhood know what the church has to offer. A distinct majority of visitors will go to neighboring church websites to get a feel of the church before they actually come in. You can use videos to let new people know what your church believes and why they should visit your church.

  Content marketing has a major impact on your website traffic as it helps to generate traffic to your site and improve your conversion rates. But how do you know when your content marketing is working or when you need help? The following are 5 signs that can let you know you need help with your content marketing plan.   You Lack A Content Strategy                                                          A lot of companies decide to create and release content whenever they have the time to create an article. This leads to customers not knowing when you will have new content available. No matter how big or small your company is, you need to develop a content strategy and ensure that you are posting consistently to keep your customers engaged.  Planning out your content on an annual basis is very important as it allows you to think ahead about how you wish to present your company to the world. It's not just about posting to your blog regularly or using keywords you will like to rank for. Using a Content specialist can help you to get your content tailored to your specific niche market.  For a small business that does not have its own marketing team, it is advisable to use a content specialist that can help you plan effective content and schedule them if needed. A lot of smaller companies get help with their content strategy because they do not have the required expertise in-house.  You Lack A Consistent Brand                                                          Your brand is what makes you recognizable and helps you to build authority in an industry. If you review your website, blog and physical materials only to find that your brand isn’t consistent, you definitely need help.                                                                                                               Everything you do, from video marketing to writing product descriptions reflects your brands. Establishing a voice and making your product/company easily recognizable is very important to a brand.                  A content marketer will help you develop a content strategy that gives you a consistent brand. Your content marketing doesn’t just work as advertising. It bridges the gap in your brand between your customers and your company.  You Are Outranked By Most Competitors                                      Tracking your SEO ranking is important. It helps you to determine where you fall in the big scheme of search engines. How likely someone is to find you. It also helps you to determine how well your efforts to rank better are going.  Ensure that you are tracking, your websites and those of your top 3 competitors. If you notice that your competitors are outranking you on specific keywords, then it is time to do something on a systematic basis. Content marketing and video marketing help are probably the most helpful steps you can take.  Content plays a big role in moving up the chain in rankings. Google (and users) love content that is helpful, informative and contains keywords.  You Have Too Many Unqualified Leads                                                      Unqualified leads are people who come to your website and don’t end up making a purchase. These people either are not informed enough about your product or came to your website and don’t actually need your product.  Education on your product and company is key to helping to bring in qualified leads. Content is a great way to bring in more qualified leads. A content strategy and content help will work to coordinate when and what content will be released. You will educate your customers and the world about your product in creative ways, including video marketing. A more educated customer is one who will make the right choice, to buy from you. Your Traffic Isn’t Increasing Or Is Going Down     Traffic to your website should be growing on a consistent basis as your business grows. If your traffic volume stalls, it means your sales numbers are not likely to increase. It is a sign that you need to do something in order to increase those numbers.   Content marketing focuses on attracting new traffic by developing useful content. It is one of the best ways to get more hits on your website. As long as your web content is good and informative, that will lead to more conversions. Even when traffic numbers are dwindling, a little bit of content marketing work can help you to drive those numbers up.   When analyzing your business for any of the above signs that you need help, make sure that you are honest with yourself. Needing help with marketing isn’t uncommon though. Even the biggest corporate businesses seek extra help when they need it.

Are you confused about why you should create videos? One of the biggest changes in Internet technology is the popularity of video content. Videos are everywhere, from a commercially produced content to self-directed videos. This might come as a surprise, but people spend more time on video content than on social media. More and more brands are incorporating videos into their marketing strategy. This is because everyone knows the video is imperative for engagement of the audience. In recent times, videos are great for driving traffic to your website. In this article, we have listed the importance of video content for small businesses. Videos Will Help Rank Better On Search Engines One of the reasons for making video content is that it will help retain customers on your site for long. Among the many factors, Google pays attention to the time a customer spends on your site. This will help the algorithm decide the rank of your website. If people are spending more time on your website, it is assumed that your site has quality content. To grab the attention and retain customers, creating compelling videos is a perfect way. Any business that incorporates video into their content will witness increased engagement rates, better conversion rates, and click-through rates. So, having video content will help you get to the top search results in search engines. Increase Brand Awareness Video content can help you create brand awareness and increase your clientele base. In order to stand out from the crowd, you need to tell the customer what you do and who you are. It is better to convey this message through a video. This is because through videos you can get more exposure as people can easily share your video. More people also prefer watching a video rather reading the text. You can make educational or entertaining videos to make it easy for potential customers to remember your name. Build Trust Easily A major purpose of marketing is to inform the customers that you can solve their problems. Most people consider face-to-face interaction is the best way to develop trust. This is not possible for a growing business, this is because you cannot meet everyone and build a relationship based on trust. So, a great way to show that you care is by making great and compelling video content. Because video content is easily available 24/7, it can be viewed from any part of the world in seconds. In conclusion, great video content will help small businesses develop a long-lasting relationship with their customers. It will help you increase brand awareness, reach a wide range of audience, develop relationships based on trust, and improve your ranking. So, make video content the center of your marketing strategy in 2019 and make your business more successful.