How does your parish or ministry communicate, not only to parishioners, but far beyond? Digital media is local and global. Some Catholic influencers, including priests, have seemingly vast social media presences, which might make digital communications seem intimidating or difficult to parish or ministry leaders. Who has the time and resources for that? Most do not.

But digital media for a parish or other church ministry does not have to be difficult, although those doing it need to communicate in an integrated way. As with many Catholic things, it is a both/and: the bulletin and an e-newsletter, timely responses to voicemails and to text messages, simply designed websites and regularly updated social media. An integrated and multichannel approach can have a significant impact on your parish.

These 10 digital media tips offer fairly easy-to-do strategies that can enhance communication to your parishioners and beyond.

1. Keep your web presence simple: You don’t need to be on all social media platforms or master them all. If you are accurate on your website, that’s all most people need. Correct Mass and confession times, ideally on your homepage, as well as an accurate parish calendar, is plenty. Too much information is going to be confusing for parishioners and guests.

2. Include a link to the parish bulletin on your website: This is helpful for those who might have missed one on their way out of Mass, but still want to keep up to date. Parish bulletins are still a great way to pass along information and give a good feel for the parish.

3. Display photos on your website: People want to see the pastor, the parochial vicar, deacons, pastoral and administrative staff, as well anyone else who might have a leadership role in the parish. Long biographies aren’t necessary, but people want to see who is running the parish, so don’t just list names. Posting photos also helps new parishioners get acquainted with staff, learn faces and feel welcomed.

4. Add contact information: An email address or phone number that is regularly monitored and answered should be listed. Having a general email and voicemail allows for ease of communication with your parishioners.

5. Monitor your general email and voicemails: When it comes to marriages, funerals and baptisms, many of the people you will be interacting with have nine-to-five jobs. If someone has to call to arrange one of these events and the parish secretary is available only until 4 p.m. during the week, how are they going to reach you? A simple email contact that can be forwarded to multiple people makes a world of difference in hospitality.

6. Stay current: Important updates to parish events or schedules that are in the bulletin, such as changes to Mass times, should also be easily accessible in all your communication channels. You don’t need to go overboard, but share changes on your website and through your social media to avoid confusion.

7. Know your audience on social media: Social media can be a great place to share videos and images of what is going on in your parish, but you need to define your audience. Are you on social media to evangelize? Or are you on social media to keep in communication with your parishioners? These are two different audiences with two different content needs. Choose the platforms your audience is most likely to engage with. If you don’t feel social media savvy, this could be a good opportunity to let a younger parishioner or someone who has a passion for it take the lead.

8. Update your social media regularly: When there is a parish event, make sure to use social media to showcase images from the event. People want to see themselves in a parish, and sharing photos of everyone having fun at a family Easter egg hunt, for example, allows people to do this. Also, people can share these photos on their own social media, which will help to introduce your parish to other local community members. Important updates, such as a change in Mass times, a power outage or a weather-related cancellation, should also be posted.

9. Consider an e-newsletter: This should mirror the weekly bulletin and be used for more of-the-moment communication about urgent needs or issues, for example, a reminder to bring a coat because the heat isn’t working. Putting an e-newsletter together takes time, so if you don’t have the staff or volunteers to manage, maybe this isn’t a priority until you do. (Or poll the parish!) 

10. Ensure you have an option other than the phone to communicate: Not everyone is comfortable cold-calling a stranger to find out information they may be only slightly interested in. If you give them a way to express themselves in text, you may be able to accompany them into a more direct relationship. A monitored email address is a good option for this. It’s also helpful to have someone monitoring incoming messages on your social media. They don’t need to be addressed right away, but they should be responded to in a timely manner.

Much more could be said about digital communications, but these 10 tips are a good way to review your current situation and move toward greater integration.

Sometimes parish communications focus only on events, activities and things to know about the community. These are all important. Even more important is witnessing Christ and the life of faith in and through the Church. Ultimately, we are communicating the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When we keep this in mind, our communications will be more focused on assisting our brothers and sisters to live their lives more fully in Christ and see the parish community as a place to deepen their faith and go forth as missionary disciples.

The CATHOLIC APOSTOLATE CENTER was founded in 2011 by Pallottine Father Frank Donio, who continues to serve as its executive director. The center’s mission is to respond to the needs of the Church by developing formation programs for the new evangelization, assisting pastoral leaders in deepening collaboration with one another, and providing formation and apostolic opportunities for the Union of Catholic Apostolate.