Answering Visitor Questions in Pictures and Short Stories

by Reba Collins

Last week we offered two tips for using churches’ Websites to answer visitor’s questions.  In Answer Visitor Questions (on Your Website) Before They’re Asked, our basic premise was and still is that the sooner visitors…

• Know what to expect with basic hospitality information 
• Reduce personal stress factors related to meeting a new group of people 
• Know what’s next for them if they choose to go beyond a worship service

 …the more willing they are to engage in a visit, a group activity, and a mutual journey with a new 

church.

Ease and efficiency engage people more quickly than education and information. It’s that simple and that obvious.

Social media platforms are as pervasive and persuasive as small-town gossip, and searchers will check out your personality and interests on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. They drive our daily demand to access information quickly, concisely, and in small bites. People looking for a church do not suddenly abandon their needs when checking out a church online. It makes sense for churches, then, to take full advantage of these communication tools to deliver the information church searchers want in a medium that’s familiar to them. 

Here are two more ways you can take advantage of potential visitors’ natural curiosity and answer some of their pre-visit questions:

1.      Pictures: Don’t make your Website and social media your church’s highlight reel. Instead, make it where your church can just be “real” to a potential visitor. 

      Your pictures answer questions about authentic community and connection.

People pictures answer a whole host of basic questions – What do I wear? – as well as deeper questions – Will they accept me as I am?  Always keep in mind that people are highly perceptive when it comes to reading your photos.  Remember, too, that photos of only your most beautiful people will make you seem like a place of perfection where average people aren’t included.

2.      Short Stories: Social media is a favorite location to broadcast ministry happenings, but too often it serves as an outlet for information about and immediate resource needs for events and activities. Your church, then, appears as a busy place with too few resources.

Use promotional postings to tell stories of your church’s vision and mission. 

 

Ministry postings can serve a higher purpose and answer big picture questions for visitor such as: What are your vision, mission and purpose? What makes you different from other churches? Do you have a way to help connect visitors with other people?

Help strangers understand your purpose and personality by turning your postings into short stories about who you are and what you do. Briefly, explain why an upcoming ministry is important to your church’s ongoing mission in the community. Or report results from a ministry that helped fulfill your vision. Don’t write a story that asks (or begs) for participation. This only distracts from your overall narrative as Christ’s ambassadors and does nothing to answer visitors’ questions.    

People generally are visually driven in their daily lives – just think of the number of screens you watch during a normal day! Seize that momentum and post pictures and promotions that tell your church’s story.  Start today!