THE VIBRANT PARISH NEWSLETTER

How to Engage Youth with WeCreate Content

Need some help engaging the youth at your parish? No problem! We’ve collected some resources for you directly from our WeCreate library of Catholic content that will assist in reaching the younger generations.

Elementary School

Under the Children’s Art section in WeCreate there are over 150 assets featuring our Growing with the Gospel coloring pages and puzzles. Each week of the liturgical year has 2 corresponding Growing with the Gospel options for parishes to drop into bulletins, print out for families, or use within a faith formation setting or children’s liturgy. One of these weekly options caters to younger elementary aged children and the second, corresponding one is geared toward children in the later stages of elementary school.

The more engaged children are with your church’s bulletin, the more engaged their parents will ultimately be! Consider adding one of these puzzles, coloring pages, or both to your weekly bulletin and passing out crayons to little ones as they arrive with their families to attend Mass. If families are in the habit of taking a bulletin at the beginning of Mass for their children to color in, you may increase the number of bulletins taken by parish families who might otherwise forget to grab one on their way out as they wrangle their kids and socialize.

Middle School

The Church teaches that parents are, first and foremost, the main catechists for their children. Knowing this, we provide a plethora of content in WeCreate that can be useful to catechists, both inside the domestic Church and out. Here are a few asset collections catechists can use to help middle school youth grow in their faith:

• The “Month of” Series — This series highlights a theme from the liturgical calendar for each month. Bulletin editors can drop these ready-to-go images into the bulletin each month alongside a little educational description about the month to assist families in teaching their children about that particular season of the liturgical year.
• The Saint of the Week Series — Here we have a collection that provides an image and biography of a new saint, or holy person on their way to sainthood, to make use of every single week of the year. The educational pieces are ready to be dropped right into your bulletin, added to your website, or posted on your social media platforms to assist families in talking with their children about these heroes of the Church. This year we are focusing on featuring American saints and our team is making custom illustrations for each! We even have ready to use bulletin pages you can make use of in WeCreate that already incorporate the Saint of the Week, saving you time when it comes to formatting!
• 
  Our Weekly Gospel Illustrations — This series can also be used for educational and entertainment purposes. It features an original, modern illustration that gives youth a glimpse into the story being told in the Gospel readings at Mass. Including these illustrations in your church bulletin can assist parents in redirecting youth’s attention during the readings and can also help spark conversation about the Gospel after Mass is over. For example, at brunch after Mass, a family might reflect on the readings using these illustrations — “Remember the Gospel reading from Mass? What part of it is this illustration representing?”

High School

Engaging high school youth can be tricky but, we’ve got you covered! Parents, youth ministers, catechists, campus ministers, retreat leaders, and anyone else who is invested in walking alongside teenagers on their faith journey have an incredible resource in our WeCreate library.

• Social Media — WeCreate has entire sections where we’ve collected all of our assets that are made especially for sharing on social media platforms — making it easier for you to find these pieces and use them for youth ministry. Simply select the sections titled Social Media Posts, Social Media Banners, and Social Media Stories to access hundreds of images already optimized and ready for you to post.
• 
  Youth Event Support Imagery — If you can think of a youth group event, we likely have images to support it! Search WeCreate for vibrant and fun digital graphics to use for event advertisements, youth group newsletters, Sacrament preparation programs, celebrations, retreats, game nights, camps, and more.
• Flyer Templates — Use WeCreate’s growing collection of flyer templates and save time when it comes to securing the advertising for your next youth retreat, game night, or service project! We’ve done the design work for you so, all you need to do is drop your event’s information into the template. Voilà — A professional looking flyer for your next youth event!

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SOCIAL MEDIA INFOGRAPHIC

Find social media prompts for Lent, Black History Month, and more inside this month’s social media infographic.

CHECK IT OUT

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Using Video and Animation to Engage Parishioners

Churches all over the world are tapping into the power of video and animation to engage their members, build community, and share the Gospel. We’ve collected some ways to regularly harness these tools for your parish.

• Facebook and Instagram Stories/Reels
  The story and reel features on your church’s Facebook and Instagram profiles are a great choice for incorporating video and animation because the editing software you might need for your video clip is included right there in the apps. Simply upload a video you want to use and then follow the app’s prompts for editing. You can also use their tools to add animated stickers, music, captions, links, and more to make your post stand out.
• Make Your Website’s Hero Image a Video
  Our designers suggest using a hero image on your church’s homepage to capture the attention of viewers visiting the page right away. Consider using a video clip of your community during Mass or your pastor greeting parishioners as this hero image. We recently designed a website for St. Patrick Catholic Church in Hutto, TX that does just that! Our website building tool, WeConnet, can make adding a video as your hero image easy for you.
• Clips from your Livestream Masses and Events
  If you currently livestream Mass or other special events, consider taking segments out of the full livestream recording and repurposing them as video clips to post to your social media or website. Viewers might enjoy seeing —
  • The amazing job your choir did on a song at Mass, or a great solo
  • Father’s joke during his homily that landed just right
  • A special moment during a cultural celebration
  • Special blessings for groups like catechists or graduating high school seniors
  • Youth acting out the Gospel at a special children’s Mass
• Accompany Mass Announcements with Video or Animations
  If your parish uses video screens inside of your sanctuary, videos and animations can be a fantastic way to help people stay engaged during your Mass announcements. Even simply using a little animation in the digital slides that accompany the spoken announcements can help people remember what has been shared.
  
  Hearing from those involved in an upcoming event via a short video interview about the merits of the event or the work that goes into holding the event, is another great way to make a Mass announcement more memorable. This can also be useful as a back-up announcement if those who are supposed to make the announcement in-person are unable to. Rotating between a parishioner making an announcement and a video announcement at the end of Mass can also be engaging!
• Parishioner Testimonies
  Consider making a few 2-minute videos of parishioners talking about their faith journey or what they like about your parish. These could be uploaded to YouTube, put on your church website, or used on your social media feeds. Don’t forget to acquire parental permission first before posting any videos featuring a minor.
• Priest Engagement
  What might help your parish get to know your pastor a little better? He might be interested in being featured in short clips about why he loves the parish, a book he is reading, stories from his childhood, or current events happening at your church. These types of videos make great social media content and can also help your church feel more welcoming when featured on your homepage.

Some Last Points to Consider —

Keep video clips short. The longer the video, the more of your audience you will eventually lose as it plays on. For social media sharing, aim for 1 minute or less.

There are many free or low-cost video editing programs out there, but some computers and smart phones already come with editing applications pre-loaded. Check your apps to see if there is already an editing solution waiting for you on your device. If not, a simple search in your device’s app store will pull up plenty of great options.

Use your parishioners! Some of your community members might already be skilled at creating and using video and animation content. Ask them to volunteer to help the church staff learn or to take charge and dream up new content. This may prove to be a useful way to engage with the young adults of your parish.

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Professional Designer Spills Church Website Secrets

At LPi, when a church asks us to redesign their website, we connect them with our in-house team of talented graphic designers. These designers then work alongside parishes to design beautiful websites for their communities that can be easily updated by church staff after the initial design process is finished — all using WeConnect, our powerful and user-friendly website builder. This week we had the opportunity to speak with one of our designers, Heidi, about her experience guiding a church through the website redesign process.

Q. Hi Heidi, Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us! To start — When redesigning a site for a parish, what’s the first thing you consider?
A. Hi! The first thing we consider is the church’s design preferences. We base all of our design choices on trying to best represent each individual parish. Do they have a branding? If so, what are their brand colors? What are their brand fonts? If they don’t have a branding, what colors are they drawn to? What fonts? Are they more drawn to icons or photos?

Q. What do you think is important for every parish to feature on their website?
A. Features we see most often are Mass Schedules, Bulletins/Newsletters, Pastor’s Notes, and Calendars/Upcoming Events. The most important, though, in my opinion, is clear and easy to find contact information. That way, anyone who wants to show up for a Mass or ask a question can find what they need — including all of the sections most featured.

Q. What makes working with WeConnect a good experience? What are some WeConnect features you like to use?
A. In WeConnect, the drag and drop sections are very easy to use, even for those who may be inexperienced in website design. I like to use them as a starting point to create something unique. The global styles are great too! You can set colors and font header styles for use throughout the entire site and this feature makes keeping consistency very easy.

Q. Are the staff members of churches able to update and maintain their website through WeConnect after you design it for them?
A. Yes — First LPi works out the site design and navigation for the parish’s website. We focus on the design of the home page as well as two additional pages so the church can see some examples of how to best use the WeConnect sections for their content. We then work with the church to get the design approved and we also make sure to train their staff to make updates to the site by themselves. Of course, we do help out if the parish needs extra support and are also available to answer questions.

Q. Are there any cool widgets that you use?
A. I’m a big fan of the social media widget. You can select icons, or even add your own, to feature only the social media options that are a focus for your church.

Q. What design aspects do you focus on to make a church’s community look inviting to visitors?
A. It’s important to show quality photos of the church, both of the building and of the church community. Having the building is nice because if you’re visiting you can see exactly what you should be looking for, plus many church buildings have beautiful architecture. However, only having pictures of the building can seem a bit cold, so to add that welcoming factor you should also feature photos of the people in the community.

Q. What else might be important to add?
A. A large percentage of site views happen on cell phones, and that number is only going to grow. WeConnect is great at translating pages created throughout the site to the mobile platform, so church content is shown at its best no matter where you’re viewing it!

A huge thanks to Heidi for sharing her thoughts as a web designer! If this interview inspired you to take a closer look at your parish’s website and, in doing so, you think you’d benefit from a professional redesign, we’ve got you covered. You might even get to work with Heidi! To learn more about our website building tool, WeConnect, be sure to attend one of our free demos. If, instead, you want to jump right into learning more about our website design services, here’s what we have to offer!

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Using the Facebook and Instagram STORIES Tool for Engagement

An awesome tool that both Facebook and Instagram have developed over the last few years is their STORY feature. This tool is so robust and a great (free!) way to engage with your community when used correctly. In this blog you will find some tips and tricks on how to utilize the social media story feature to share your own vibrant parish community with the world!

Stories? Why should I have to learn ONE MORE THING?

Social media is an extension of the wonderful community that your church has already built and, simply put, the way that the majority of your parishioners are communicating with each other in their daily lives. Did you know that 82% of people in the United States use Facebook to communicate with each other on a daily basis? Since this is the case, churches should consider using all of the tools that Facebook and other social media platforms offer in order to connect daily with their community and keep their community connected!

The story feature on Facebook and Instagram is designed specifically to encourage your following to message you and engage with each story post you make. Story posts expire after 24 hours and are usually quick and sweet while also incorporating easy to use tools for engagement. For this reason, using the stories feature makes it easier for you to engage with your followers on a daily basis! Stories are also a quick and easy way for you to collaborate with followers and repost their content — another tool you can use to engage with your community and lift up your parishioners!

So, What Exactly ARE Social Media Stories?

On Facebook and Instagram, a story is a post you can make that consists of either a photo or a short video. These posts work like a slide show and offer a new photo or video after a few seconds. Story posts show up in your STORIES FEED instead of on your regular ol’ newsfeed. Stories expire in 24 hours, so this feed is constantly refreshing. This is appealing to your users because they know that they should look at your stories if they want to find quick, current content from you. This attraction is evident in the fact that most posts using the stories feature get many times more views and interactions than newsfeed posts do. This is due to the allure of quick, current content, as well as the fact that Facebook provides more access points for users to view your stories than it does to your permanent newsfeed.

Why does Facebook prefer to promote story posts over regular newsfeed posts? In part it’s because story posts have a bunch of options for INTERACTIVE features that you can add to your photo or video which keep people using the app for longer amounts of time. These features are how you can direct more engagement with stories, and Facebook is ALL ABOUT getting as much engagement as possible.

Engagement tools you can add to story posts:

• Captions for accessibility for all users!
• viewer polls
• donation buttons
• question and answer prompts
• quizzes
• products to buy
• links
• music
• Countdowns
• Food orders
• Small business support shout outs
• mentions & tags

All responses to a story post will go to the app’s messaging feature as a direct message to you instead of being posted as a comment or a “like” as is standard on newsfeed posts. You can then message the user who interacted with your story, “like” whatever they sent via messenger, or use the engagement data collected from that story post. For example, if you are doing a poll and you get poll results, you could put those results in a new story post for even more engagement! Engagement, engagement, engagement!

What Kind of Content Should I Be Posting in Stories?

It’s this author’s opinion that all regular newsfeed posts should also be mirrored in your stories as story posts. Remember, more eyes are usually on stories than on newsfeed posts so one way to draw attention to a new newsfeed post is to also post it as a story!

Need help getting started? You’re in luck! In WeCreate, LPi’s digital library of ready-to-use content made specifically for you, there’s an entire selectin of images created specifically to be used in social media stories.

In WeCreate, these images can all be found under the section titled "Social Media Stories.” If you click that section and then use the search bar, the words you search will only turn up results that are sized and designed specifically to be used as Facebook and/or Instagram stories. Often these images are grouped in WeCreate with other images that are visually similar to them so that you can use them, one after the other, for multiple story slides! Basically, we made it really easy for you to just take our ready-made images and create in-depth stories for your church in the blink of an eye! You can simply save them from WeCreate and then drop them into whatever platform you are using — or if you are feeling fancy, you can overlay one of the special engagement tools (mentioned earlier in this blog) onto them.

Remember that for maximum viewership, it’s important to make sure that the privacy settings on your stories are set to public. This way, anyone who visits your church’s Facebook or Instagram can view them and interact with you!

The All-Important Story Highlight Menu

For Instagram users, your stories don’t actually have to have a 24-hour expiration date. To avoid this, make sure to build a library of your most important story posts by using Instagram’s Story Highlights tool. When you highlight a story, you are effectively building a catalogue of story content that you want to save permanently on your Instagram feed. You can separate these permanent story posts into categories of your choosing like news, milestones, staff introductions, polls, parishioner highlights, or whatever else you can come up with. This library of story content will show up as part of your Instagram profile and viewers will see these category options for story highlights before they even see your main newsfeed!

Conclusion — Tag us!

Want to connect with us? Tag LPi in your stories! Tagging another user in your story post makes it possible for that user to easily re-post your story into their own story feed! This is a great way to promote each other online by sharing content so, if you use our WeCreate story resources, feel free to tag us and maybe you will find your story reposted on our own social media accounts! On Facebook we are @LitPub and on Instagram we are @LPi_Community. See you in the social sphere!

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