Churches have an incredible opportunity to grow their reach through livestreams. This model of ministry can act as a front door for new guests. It also allows you to reach a wider audience and make a larger kingdom impact. We saw explosive growth through the livestream while I was the Church Online pastor at Liquid Church. And that was pre-pandemic. But some of our live streams have become trickles. So I want to help identify why there has been a decrease in live streams over the past year and give you best practices to help those streams become floods again!
Our digital front and back doors are both widening. It means that more people are using the livestream to try before they buy. But it also means they aren’t committing to an online campus like they did in the past.
Lifeway Research recently put out an article with some encouraging and illuminating trends for live streams. Here are additional recent articles about church online from the Pew Research Center and Christianity Today if you want to geek out. The encouraging trend from the Lifeway article is the 4% to 15% growth in people who consistently watch their churches livestream from 2019 to 2022. That's almost a fourth fold increase. This increase is an indicator that the Church has gotten better at helping others attend online.
The illuminating trend last year is that more people are checking out live streams from 24% to 35%. But less people are attending long term from 32% to 15%. This means that the front and back doors are both widening. It means that more people are using the livestream to try before they buy. They are checking out the digital campus before committing to a physical campus. But it also means they aren’t committing to an online campus like they did in the past. A number of reasons behind that decrease are below.
WHY THE DECREASE?
Increased On-site Attendance - Anybody that wanted to come back from an online church to an on-site church has done that. But beyond losing them you have also lost their evangelistic impacts online. When the pandemic first hit, people would not only attend online but they would also spread the word. Those digital disciples have gone back to being physical disciples. So, you have lost their attendance and the attention of their social circles.
Decreased Online Promotion - When the pandemic hit churches had one message they were communicating. Watch the livestream. OK, they may have had two messages. Watch the livestream and give online. Now the church has gone back to its old ways of communicating too many messages. And because of that the push for livestream is getting lost in the noise.
Lack of Community - Although online church services and small groups can be a great way to connect with others, they may not provide the same level of community as in-person services and groups. Some people may be craving more social interaction and may choose to attend in-person options for that reason. I have a lot of anecdotal evidence that would lead me to believe there is some truth to this factor.
So those are some reasons why we have seen a decrease with the attendance in our live streams this past year. Below are some ways to reverse that trend.
Pepper in communication about your livestream all year. And make sure that you communicate it verbally and in writing. It should be clearly listed on your website and social platforms.
HOW TO INCREASE
Soft Sell It Throughout The Year - If you have a livestream you need to pepper that in throughout your communications all year. And make sure that you communicate it verbally and in writing. It should be clearly listed on your website and social platforms. When verbally communicating I like to say “we would love to have you visit online or on-site.”” So not only do I reference the campus but I also put it first to subliminal emphasize its importance. Below are a number of other ways to soft sell the livestream to keep the language fresh over the course of the year.
- We are one church with two campuses.
- We worship together on-site and online.
- We believe that community can happen physically and digitally.
Hard Sell It Before Summer - My church is in New Jersey which has a big shore, not beach, culture during the summer. Because of this a lot of faithful members of our congregation will bounce during the months of July and August. But before they do we repeatedly remind them about the livestream in June. Because of that we see a decrease on-site but a corresponding increase online during the summer. Whenever people take a break in your setting, be it summer or another time, make sure to hard sell the livestream before then.
Reference Throughout the Message & Service - You want your teaching team to repeatedly reference the livestream throughout their message. Bonus points if they are looking into the camera lens when this happens. Also coach them toward uniquely trying to engage the online campus with comments that apply only to them like “if this point is resonating with you then put amen in the comments.” Beyond the message make sure to reference the livestream during other times in the service. Two quick and easy ways are when the worship leader kicks off the service or when the hosts introduce themselves during your announcement package.
Share & Celebrate the Link - Think through multiple ways to encourage people to share the link of the livestream before, during and after the service. And when they do share make sure to celebrate that with a quick comment of thanks. Because what gets rewarded gets repeated. You can see that in action in the circled portion of the accompanying graphic. Below are ways to encourage folks to share before, during and after the stream.
- Before - I’ve sent a Sunday morning calendar invite to the staff with the link. That way they get a notification with the link when the service is live which is an easy reminder to share it.
- During - Your chat online hosts should encourage the guest viewing live to share. But this should not be during your giving moment.
- After - Don’t forget that a percentage of your congregation is working - or let’s be honest, sleeping - on Sunday morning. So figure out a way (email, social post, etc.) to get the link of the stream to people so they can watch on demand throughout the week.
Foster Generosity - People give to what they value. They also value what they give to. In other words, if you are depriving them of the opportunity to financially support the livestream you are depriving them of receiving value from the livestream. Fostering generosity also transforms people from consumers into contributors. So don’t shy away from this moment during the livestream.
CONCLUSION
Remember, building an audience takes time and dedication. Stay persistent, experiment with different strategies, and analyze the results to optimize your approach. Also, I would love to know your take and where you think digital ministry is going at large. And if you want additional help putting these best practices into action then visit benstapley.com/coach to schedule a free consultation. I would love to help you win. Have an awesome day.
