The Pro Church Tools Show with Brady Shearer

Latest Episodes:

The SocialSermon Formula Jan 04, 2023

Show notes

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139.

Question #1 (02:26): We've posted sermon clips before on Instagram Reels. They haven't gained a ton of traction. What are we doing wrong?

Question #2 (07:13): Your sermon clip system for social media is just using business tactics that don't belong in church. Pathetic.

Question #3 (13:05): One concern I have about posting our sermons on social is that they may be too insider-focused. What should I post for people we're trying to reach if I'm already posting sermons?

Question #4 (20:16): Brady, I've had enough of your rambling - just give us the flipping formula - Alexander Mills

So like I promised, you can download this entire formula in template form. The template is called The 1-Page Church Social Media Plan and you can download that at churchsocialmediaplan.com. In next week's episode, the final in our trio of three dedicated to social media in 2023, we're going to cover the second part of our SocialSermon Formula which is the edit. And as you might have guessed, that's dedicated to the actual video editing side of preparing your SocialSermons. We'll be talking about the three sections of your video edit, some key tools and plugins you'll wanna consider using, the finishing touches you'll want to apply on every SocialSermon, and more. That's all in next week's show. Talk to you then.

Social Media Trends For Churches 2023 (This Year Is Going To Be Big!) Dec 28, 2022

Show notes

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139.

Question #1 (01:36): What social media trends are you seeing for 2023?

Question #2 (07:39): I've seen you talk about 'discovery' algorithms? What's the difference between that and a typical algorithm on social media?

Question #3 (16:14): Is vertical video a trend my church needs to jump on or is it like a most things on social that will be replaced by something else in a few months?

Question #4 (22:28): Isn't cross-posting the same content to multiple platforms meant to be avoided?

Question #5 (26:32): My pastor doesn't really have time to help with social media. How should I get them involved?

In the next podcast we're going to be talking about the nitty gritty of taking your recorded sermons and turning them into viable social media content. Because you can't just grab random sixty second clips and hit publish. There's an entire formula that I will be sharing in detail next week. So talk to you then...

Volunteer Team From Scratch, Best Social Media Apps, & The Next Steps Ladder Dec 21, 2022

Show notes

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139.

Question #1 (02:38): Tips for starting a volunteer social media team at a church? I am the only staff for digital communications at our church of 900 and I can't make any more progress by myself, but we are not in a position to hire more staff.

Question #2 (10:58): Hello there, I work for a smaller church of about 120 people. I was hired for social media/marketing work back in June, and I've been able to establish a better presence online by utilizing our sermons on Instagram, YouTube shorts etc. We've seen slow, steady progress but are beginning to wonder what the next step would be? How do we get these new coming followers and subscribers engaged/what type of different content do we need to make to do this?

Question #3 (22:27): Hey Brady! My question is what apps do you recommend for creating content for social media? I'm particularly thinking about apps that let you edit Reels/Tiktoks/Shorts and maybe apps where you can create backgrounds/frames for those vids?

Question #4 (26:03): What are your top 5 podcasts?

ChatGPT, Posting Too Much On Social, & YouTube Community Posts Dec 14, 2022

Show notes

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139.

Question #1 (01:48): Thoughts on the viral success of ChatGPT?

Question #2 (16:10): Is it possible to post too much on socials? My pastor has asked me to post three times a day on his social pages. I post a Reel six times a week Monday through Saturday morning, and then he wants additional content at noon and in the evening. I simply can't keep up with this much content production.

Question #3 (22:40): Is it worth it to make 'posts' on YouTube?

Question #4 (28:11): Winter is coming. How do you pass time when snowed in?

Instagram Music, Vertical Video Ideas, & Church Contests Dec 07, 2022

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Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139.

Question #1 (01:07): Here are my 2 questions: 1. I still love my church and the people I work with, and I am compelled to obey my leadership even when I don't agree with them. But how can I get over my frustration and keep moving forward? 2. How can I make engaging reels (that the algorithm will actually promote) without using Instagram audio?

Question #2 (16:40): How many sermon videos a week would be good to post on YouTube shorts or Instagram Reels? Should we make a difference between Reels and Shorts?

Question #3 (25:38): A couple months ago, I implemented the Nucleus Prayer Hub on our church's website. We put it into our video announcements for 3 weeks in a row to try an encourage people to sign up. We are a church of about 125 and It's now been a month since those announcements, and only 7 people have signed up (2 of which signed up to submit requests, and 2 are admins). Is there a better way I could promote this or encourage people to sign up?

Question #4 (34:28): What are some holiday traditions you two are looking forward to in the coming month?

Video Podcasts, Facebook vs. Instagram, The 'Follow-The-Leader' Trap Nov 30, 2022

Show notes

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139.

Question #1 (02:45): What's your take on uploading video podcasts to YouTube? Worth the hassle?

Question #2 (12:57): Do you & your church treat Insta & FB differently? Those are the 2 social platforms we use & I've always found FB to be really awkward (maybe it's the Millennial in me) so I naturally gravitate back to Insta because it feels like you can create more 'fun' content.

Question #3 (21:46): Bingeing your YT channel and there are recurring themes I'm seeing. Our church live streams services, has an app, and uses a giving service that participates in rev share. With all this firmly established, how do we change to the model you recommend? What should we change first? How important is it to even change the way we're doing things in the first place?

Question #4 (35:10): It sounds like you interact with churches all across North America pretty regularly. What excites you about the future of the Church beyond communications and social?

Best Church Testimony Questions, Project Management Tools, & Email Signatures Nov 23, 2022

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Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139.

Question #1 (03:23): What's the best way to have kids and adults speak up more in testimony videos when doing baptisms or stories? Would this require more vocal coaching to the person who's story we're filming or creating a more comfortable environment where they aren't feeling so bashful?

Question #2 (18:50): Email signatures: how do you think about these for churches? There are a lot of options from simple plain text to more elaborate ones. What would you recommend a church do and why?

Question #3 (23:55): I think you've mentioned that you use Notion. Is that something that just you, Brady, uses, or does the whole company use it? How do you use it?

Question #4 (37:50): What would you tell your younger self in the areas of entrepreneurship and friendships?

Facebook Jail, YouTube Handles, & Increased ACH Giving Fees Nov 16, 2022

Show notes

Send in your question via text to 1-800-485-3139.

Question #1 (01:14): Recently our church's FB page was put into "FACEBOOK jail" based on content from a recent sermon. Is this something that we should be concerned about or take it as an object lesson on the "suppression of truth"?

Question #2 (19:01): I just received an email about YouTube changing their username/url look up to something call Handles. What is this? And how can I prepare my church to stay ahead of the game on this?

Question #3 (24:43): Just got this email from Planning Center Giving and would love to hear your thoughts. PC uses Stripe as their processer and Stripe has a new bank verification service that apparently costs more. Stripe has "retired" the old system. For churches this means ACH transfers now cost $.30 instead of $.25. One, I'm curious if this is affecting nucleus giving? Two, does this feel like a money grab by Stripe or necessary increase in a world of inflation?

Question #4 (29:42): Brady, if I someone were to ask me what your taste in music was I might explain by saying "I could see him staying up for the new Swift album release". No hate on Taylor Swift or Swifties. I just slept well that night. As I imagine Alex did. So you and Alex agreeing on a band meant I had to listen. Also, I listen to podcasts at the gym between 9:30pm and 11pm PST. So when I think about texting you, I never do because it feels rude to text someone at 1-2am. So I usually resolve to texting you in the morning and then I forget. I'm realizing today that's dumb because there's no way you would have it set up to be awoken by this text line.

The Perfect YouTube Video Recipe with Sean Cannell Nov 11, 2022

Show notes

Question #1 (01:18): Can you break down the perfect YouTube video receipe with us?

Question #2 (04:17): Can you tell us what you've learned about the hook, those first 30-60 seconds?

Question #3 (10:24): How can we bring this video recipe into the church world? Can we take portions of the message or the entire message and record a 2 minute intro (the hook) & 2 minute outro (pushing towards a new video) or is it not even worth it at that point?

Question #4 (17:21): How do you see YouTube contending with the changes we're seeing across the social landscape? Are there any vulnerabilites and is it going to be enough just introducing YouTube Shorts?

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