One of my favorite underutilized social media strategies is asking "icebreaker" questions.

Because if you're like most churches, your goals with social media probably are:

1. Help parishioners know what's going on
2. Spread the word about your parish to those not already involved
3. Grow relationships among your parishioners

And asking questions on social media that get people to comment and share will help you do all three!

Because when someone responds to a question:

1. It's a big sign to the algorithm that they should show more of your content to them, so they're more likely to see your other posts about events.
2. It often ends up showing the post to their social media friends/connections since they know someone who commented on it.
3. And it helps parishioners get to know one another better with thought-provoking questions.

You can use questions in so many places - as prompts in videos, typed directly into a platform, or even as question boxes in Instagram stories.

The key is to ask questions that are not so deep that people feel are too vulnerable, but also won't just elicit one-word answers that feel pointless to even comment on.

Here are five questions you can try this week (all taken from my 101 Catholic Questions for Social Media guide!):

1. Describe Jesus in five words or less.
2. Who is your Confirmation saint, and why did you pick that person?
3. Would you prefer for your head to smell like chrism for the rest of your life after Confirmation or for your home to constantly smell like incense?
4. Tell us your occupation, and we’ll tell you who your patron saint is!
5. Who was one person you saw God in this week?

Want more ideas? Grab all 101 Catholic question prompts here for $3.49!​

​
Now I'll tell you: You might not get responses right away if you don't normally post these kinds of questions. It takes seeing a few questions before people normally feel comfortable answering them.

It might help to have a few "plants" of engaged parishioners who are willing to jump in and answer the first few questions so there isn't the pressure of being the first commenter.

But try posting one of these this week, and then let me know how it goes!

For His greater glory,

Emily

P.S. Want even more questions? 101 Catholic Questions for Social Media has uniquely Catholic question prompts to help grow parish camaraderie across categories like Bible, Sacraments, Saints, Funny, Would You Rather, and more. It also contains a short guide teaching you how to ask compelling social media questions (and how to use the responses to make your marketing even better!). Get your parish's copy now here for $3.49.​