Dear Church, Beware This TikTok Trend

As social media has evolved, different generations have claimed different platforms as their own. TikTok is the platform of the next generation. Despite that, there is a shocking trend when it comes to the church’s engagement with this platform which we need to address.
SUBSCRIBE to get more actionable strategies just like this one!
prochur.ch/2IO1YQY
=============================
Table of Contents:
=============================
0:00 - Intro
0:54 - The Trend In Question And Why It Matters
2:46 - The Definition And Use Of Social Media Has Changed
7:00 - Is TikTok Safe?
8:38 - Consistency In Values
10:17 - The TikTok Ban
13:01 - Churches Doing Great Things On TikTok
=============================
Show Notes:
=============================
- Global Web Index 41% Stat (page 40): prochur.ch/43SW8Gu
- Reuters Source: reut.rs/3JaWA9P
- One Church [TikTok]: / iamonechurch
- The Cheat Code Social Media Post with One Church: • The Cheat Code Social ...
- Gateway Church Case Study: socialsermons.com/gateway-church
=============================
Connect With Brady:
=============================
Instagram: / bradyshearer
TikTok: vm.tiktok.com/pfArcS/
Twitter: / bradyshearer
Pro Church Tools: prochurchtools.com/
#ChurchSocialMedia #ChurchTok

[@loco46m]

I'd love to hear your perspective on churches having accounts vs. clergy having accounts, and any limits or boundaries each should have.

[@robertjackson8790]

This is a great thought because I can see pros and cons to both

[@prochurchtools]

We’ll answer this on our next mailbag podcast!

[@ThiagoPrego]

Thank you so very much. It really opened my eyes to this platform.

[@1christianninja798]

I handle the social media and youtube for our church. I setup a Tiktok for our church the end of last year and its been amazing. in the last 60 days we have had 11k views which is down by almost 8k from the previous 60 days due to me having a family emergency that got me behind on posting. For context our church has around 80 members. This really is a powerful platform.

[@RevTrevNFL]

I agree...it's not going to be a popular video but it's a very eye opening and honest video. Thank you for making this! Knowing the usage trends of certain social media platforms and which generations use them is important.

[@MrLucienshin]

love your sweater!

[@gsuslikesme]

Thanks Brady for this outstanding information! Always reliable!

[@prochurchtools]

Thanks for watching!

[@tnolen15]

I was not so surprised by the statistics as a Student Pastor. I see it multiple times a week as students come into our space. What I have been slightly surprised by is that social has now become the norm for commerce, education, and information aggregation for Gen-Z. As I note only, the effects during the traditional search engine dramatization were spot on. Because that's actually the experience I have so many times even with a modern Macbook Pro. Good info Brady and Nucleus. I've always appreciated your approach to redeem and leverage technology and social media for the Kingdom of God and proliferation of His church.

[@prochurchtools]

Great thoughts!

[@realtatestephens]

This is good stuff..we are on all social platforms..I will say TikTok is one we have been struggling to grow on.

[@edgallegos]

This is one of the best videos you've ever posted. Gold! ⭐

[@prochurchtools]

Bless

[@zanyteenager16]

I’m a young millennial. TikTok is my most used social media app. I also run the social media for my church. So why would I not also post on TikTok when I myself use it for hours a day? I also don’t trust Meta or X (but still use their platforms) either so there’s issues with American companies, as well. I post the same content on TikTok as I do all other platforms for my church so it doesn’t add that much time. It seems worth it to me.

[@j0sh_j0hnson]

My question always falls back to how to get on these platforms consistently and with decent quality when you're already strapped for time. I am on staff at a smaller church where me and the lead pastor handle most things so our schedules are already busy. We also don't have the budget to pay someone to keep an eye on our social media so we go through seasons of posting and then not posting based on how busy things are, etc. In the past when I've been on top of posting (the seemingly very distant past) it felt like it was taking me 2-3+ hours every week just to put together a poor quality video or post that got very little engagement. That doesn't seem like much time, but that''s 2-3+ hours a week taken away from study and pastoral care for something that seemed to be doing almost nothing positive for the time invested. So how do smaller churches manage to be active on social without letting it monopolize their time? Do you have any content you can point me to or suggestions to share on how to stay active on social media without it consuming large amounts of time?

[@prochurchtools]

The biggest thing with the social platforms as they are currently is that one post can be published to KZbin, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. So that effort goes a lot further.

[@tristan_video]

Ok Brady, I’ll do it. Creating our Churches Tik Tok account today

[@davidbrandtdesign]

Hi Brady! Video production question - Are you green-screened in these, or is there another video editing method that is being used to layer graphics behind you? Thanks.

[@prochurchtools]

Nope! That’s the real room. Just masking around for the graphics.

[@davidbrandtdesign]

@@prochurchtools ok thanks! Nicely done!

[@JonoKnewt]

I took your advise and convinced my minister to join up on TikTok. We got banned within a week for “multiple violations.” We didn’t use music, only sermon shorts. No explanation why - just banned. I requested feedback, but it’s been radio silence. Now my minister is galvanized to TikTok. What should I do?

[@prochurchtools]

Yikes. Can't say we've encountered that before. Sorry to hear.

[@TheCreateOutdoors]

The Internet will always be The Internet. There is no "safe platform", there is no "perfect place". All we can do is get people to give us their attention, and that is perfectly okay.

[@Chancho3232]

“Show me your fyp and I’ll show you your values”🔥 Wild quote for 2024 but so very true

[@jprobichaud]

@prochurchtools : about this quote, I can say that while it has some truth to it, a lot of your FYP is also about "discoverability". In reinforcement learning, that's called explore and exploit (I'm a researcher in the AI field). The "exploit" part of your feed is indeed based on what you like, the explore part is based on what you are likely to get attracted to based, among other things, on the general sentiment of a population that has similar interests as you. While you can't use fyp to uncritically reflect on your own life (although it has some usefulness), it's a greater tool to reflect on what "people similar to us" also watch.

[@Chancho3232]

@@jprobichaud for sure! But the way he stated the other persons statement (“all I have on my page are dancing girls”) for that person specifically, the statement above would surely apply

[@marcustheknight]

You've talked about best practices for personal brands and churches on social media....what are some things that influencer-pastors should stop doing? Should they even do their own social media?

[@prochurchtools]

Great question. I'll do a deeper dive on this in another video.

[@AnnemarieChamberlin]

As always, very insightful thoughts sir. Thank you for sharing. I am afraid of TikTok myself. But what a great incentive to get our church on the platform. Reaching the unreached for the gospel must be mission-critical.

[@duvalmadrigal6512]

👍🏼🙏🏼👊🏼

[@yousmell5894]

Our videos consistently get 0 views on TikTok. All other platforms, we do perfectly fine for our size church. I guess if TikTok doesn't like us, we don't like TikTok haha.

[@prochurchtools]

Hey, at least you tried!

[@bloop8051]

What’s the church name

[@tekmepikcha6830]

What is a bi-vocational pastor please?

[@prochurchtools]

A pastor that also has a job in the marketplace.

[@tekmepikcha6830]

@@prochurchtools Ohhhh thanks for the clarity.

[@infinityseed]

Once again, Gen X isn't even on the radar. AND WE ARE NOT BOOMERS.

[@jaemsoto]

Stop disrespecting my generation! Hahaha