In the light of my thesis on the digitalisation of church, I interviewed Ronaldo Carrenan, a former content creator at Evangile TV
How do you perceive the role of social media in connecting the church with its congregation in today’s digital age?
We’re living in 2023. It means that we are constantly connected to the internet and social medias. Churches have the obligation to be connected too. So they are, they made it since the COVID-19 even the old school churches adapted themselves to our new era. The new mission of the churches is to connect their parishioners to their values and principles until they become members.
What strategies do you employ to maintain a consistent and engaging online presence for the church across various social media platforms?
We are communicating about events and sermons who can attract youth people and we use colorful designs, meaningful sentences to post them on social media.
What challenges have you encountered in managing the church’s presence on social media, and how have you overcome them?
We were dealing with engagement issues, people we’re not engaged enough. So, we had to be patient and wait for some engaged followers who can push others to react to our content.
With the rise of live streams and virtual gatherings, how do you ensure that online participants feel as connected as those attending in person?
We have a moderator (a human) who can interact with subscribers and viewers of the livestream, so they can feel like they have some kind of real interactions.
Do you have specific KPIs to evaluate the effectiveness of your social media efforts in reaching and engaging the congregation?
- Engagement rate
- Number of livestreamers
- Number of views
- Number of shares
All this KPIs are important to balance our efficiency on the social medias.
How do you adapt your content to resonate with different age groups within the church community?
Honestly, we are not targeting everybody on socials, we are focus on young people (13-25) because they are the ones who use socials everyday and everywhere.
Could you discuss any future projects or trends you’re considering to further strengthen the digital presence of the church and engagement?
We created pages who’s targeting some kind of members inside the church and we manage the main pages to keep talking to people who are outside our church.
How have you experienced church life during the COVID-19 pandemic?
It was difficult but at the same time I enjoyed to be a part of online services, it was a good experience.
What are the changes that you or the elders have noticed in your church over the past 10 years?
Every churches have screens on their buildings, and christians don’t brought their bibles or their book of songs anymore.