How To Promote Your Bible Study Class Online
Do you want to grow your Bible study class? More and more classes today are being promoted online, including Bible study classes. Whether you hold your classes online or face-to-face, online channels allow facilitators to quickly and efficiently reach larger audiences within their local community and beyond.
If you’re hosting face-to-face gatherings, you can invite more people within your immediate vicinity to attend. If you’re holding online classes, you can extend your invitation to people from far-flung regions and even different time zones with online marketing.
Here are four surefire ways you can use digital marketing to spread the Gospel:
1. Social Media Graphics
Why are we recommending Facebook? Facebook is the world’s largest social media platform with almost 2.5 billion users logging on monthly. In addition to its massive user base, it has several useful functionalities for people who want to promote a class.
Using the platform’s features, you can create and share relevant content while exerting control over who sees it (with Facebook ads and tagging). It also allows you to upload different types of content, from videos and images to regular text updates.
One type of content that you should focus on as a Bible study class facilitator is social media graphics. Social media graphics refers to the visual element of any social media post. Compared to posts that you type out, they’re more engaging and elicit more user interaction.
Two different studies have shown that Facebook posts with images generate 37% higher engagement and over two times more engagement than regular posts without images.
People have become more visual which is why so many companies and individuals use social media graphics to grab attention and make a greater impact.
When you put together a great layout, relevant content, and post it on social media, you can attract the attention of people who may be interested in attending your Bible study class. Used correctly, it’s a great way to engage people, get them to interact with your content, and may even encourage a few sign-ups.
If you’re short on time and technical skills, you can use PosterMyWall, an online graphic design tool that allows you to create content for social media. PosterMyWall has numerous templates that you can use to promote your Bible study class such as posters, flyers, and social media graphics.
Since the site was created with marketers in mind, you don’t need a whole lot of technical expertise to use it. Just pick a suitable template, customize the text, reposition a few graphic elements, and you’re done! Another great thing about PosterMyWall is that social media graphics downloads are free.
Where should you post your social media graphics?
Among the top social media sites in terms of most active users per month are Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
An article by Reach Right, an online ministry that helps churches market themselves, recommends Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, and Twitter.
With the exception of Pinterest and Snapchat, you can post social media graphics on all these platforms using PosterMyWall’s tools for social media marketing. Each template fits the ideal dimensions for each platform so you don’t have to worry about customizing a template only to have it automatically and poorly resized by the social media platform once it’s been uploaded.
2. Promotional Videos
More often than not, people prefer watching videos to reading text. Capitalize on this trend by using promotional videos. Show clips from your Bible study class, perhaps personally invite them to your group, or have a slideshow of relevant pictures to encourage attendance.
Again, PosterMyWall is a handy tool for making free church videos. They have a wide and growing collection of professional-looking video templates that you can personalize with a few clicks. You can download a personal copy of your video for free or get more advanced, high-resolution options by paying a very affordable fee.
These videos can be used across a variety of platforms such as your website, your social media accounts, or your church’s online assets.
When you have a ton of great videos, the best social media platform is YouTube. After Facebook, the video sharing site is considered the world’s second biggest social network and is the most often used search engine following Google.
3. Post Announcements for Relevant Online Groups and Websites
There are online groups for just about anything these days. A great way to get the attention of people who are already interested in learning about the word of God is by posting announcements about your Bible study class in relevant online groups.
There are Facebook groups that you can search for and join, websites like Meetup that help you find like-minded individuals, and social media networks like SHiNE that are specifically designed for Christians.
If you belong to a large church, your church may have a website that lists Bible study classes that are open to the public. Participating in these directories is a great way to invite Christians you already go to church with and fellowship with them.
4. Email Invites and Newsletters
If you have access to the email addresses of people who might be interested in joining your class, send them an email. This might be an old-school method but it still works! According to 2021 data, 77% of marketers experienced higher email engagement over a one-year-period.
Email is personal, direct, and convenient. If your recipients are eager to learn more about Jesus, they’re more likely to open your email and accept your invite.
Apart from sending invites, you can also use email to send out regular newsletters. This can help sustain interest among your recipients. While it isn’t likely that everyone will decide to attend after receiving one email from you, some individuals may eventually decide to join after getting a couple of your newsletters.
Plus, newsletters are a fantastic way to share theological concepts in a piecemeal and easy to digest fashion. You may not convince everyone to attend but you can still share the Gospel with them through carefully thought-out and Biblically sound articles in your newsletter.
Not much of a layout artist? Not a problem. Aside from posters, flyers, and promotional videos, PosterMyWall also has tons of newsletter templates. With the same click and drag functions, you can prepare polished and eye-catching newsletters so you can focus on what you want to say instead of how it needs to look.
If you’re sending out invitations, the site has you covered too. Just take a look at the countless templates they have under invitation templates.
The One Social Media Platform You Shouldn’t Ignore
There are many ways to market your Bible study class online. You can create content for Facebook, videos for YouTube, post announcements for relevant online groups and websites, and send out emails.
However, if you can only focus on one social media platform, the one social media platform you shouldn’t ignore is Facebook. With 67% of Facebook users accessing Facebook daily, this app is where you can find groups, organizations, churches, and individuals who may want to attend your Bible study class.
You can target specific groups of people by using Facebook ads, joining Facebook groups, and tagging relevant accounts. In addition, Facebook lets you upload a variety of content including videos, social media graphics, photos, and simple text updates.
With a little bit of creativity, effort, help from online resources like PosterMyWall, and of course, prayer, you’ll be on your way spreading the Good News to more people.