The Importance Behind Our Message In Christian Radio
People are hurting, struggling, and dealing with hardships every day. Some are ready to give up, while others may turn to different resources to escape their life situations. This is something I’ve been thinking about lately: as Christian radio stations, we have the honor and responsibility to guide people into the arms of Jesus by sharing His love with them through our message.
People Are Hurting & Searching For Hope
When people are facing loneliness or anxiety, they can sometimes feel like God has abandoned them or that He doesn’t exist. Christian radio has served as an excellent medium for listeners to find hope over the airwaves. With more people working remotely and using delivery services that cause them to be in their car less, how can Christian radio continue to connect with hurting people when the radio is off? The answer is digital.
Digital: It’s More Than Vanity Metrics
The first step for Christian radio to serve people on digital is to acknowledge that what you do on digital has to be more than digital…meaning that your approach cannot be about chasing vanity metrics. Vanity numbers do not serve the people who are hurting…they serve your ego. Higher numbers on digital do not account for changing more lives, necessarily. They can contribute to how many people see your post, which is important but not at the risk of losing your message or building the wrong audience.
If your Christian radio station is chasing vanity metrics, stop it. Focus on serving people by looking at how you can use these digital platforms to guide them. I’m a huge fan of Donald Miller, who says a guide is someone who helps you find the way. That sounds a lot like us in the Christian radio industry, when we’re at our best. We should aim to guide hurting people to the Way. But if our primary focus is how many likes, shares, or views we get, that’s not serving people, and it certainly isn’t guiding them to God, who can do a lot more for them than we ever could.
Our mission at Killer Bee Marketing is to “Transform the way you do digital by making digital personal.” When you lose focus of your mission on these digital platforms, you’re no longer making digital personal, which doesn’t transform lives.
When you add value to someone’s life, they will tell more people about you. Just look at how Jesus walked. He met people where they were, met their needs, and showed them how much God loves them right where they are. In return, people told people in their lives about Jesus. They became the guides pointing people towards Jesus.
It is my prayer for every Christian radio station out there to be guided by their leadership to serve the hurting people in their community and not get caught up in chasing those vanity metrics. Come up with a strategy to connect with people where they are and begin nurturing a relationship. Serve first and see what God does.
3 Ways To Serve People On Digital
1. Serve your audience
Remember that what you do on digital isn’t about your radio station. It’s about your audience. Do some research to discover what issues people are searching for on Google, then connect with them where they are, and serve them.
Here’s an example. Let’s say your station’s goal is to provide joy to people. Ask yourself, who needs joy? Angry people. You could do some relative topic research to get a better idea of what people are searching for on Google and create a topic campaign to help these people find joy on digital. After pulling a brief report, we found 25 relevant topics people are searching for online. Here are two of those topics.
- Why anger is bad for your health.
- Where anger comes from.
Both topics came back with low competition and an average of 40-70 searches per month. That might appear to be a low number, but don’t get caught up on that. If you aim for too high of search traffic, you risk getting lost in all the higher-rated content on the internet.
You can now create a content marketing plan that serves people. You could also get more in-depth input about the issues that individuals in your area are facing by liaising with the local churches or police authorities. If you can position yourself as a resource for help and hope, they might even become guides who lead people to your station, allowing you to continue to guide more people to Jesus.
2. Build Community
Facebook groups are a great way to serve people and build a community. You don’t have to post every day either! Let your community do the talking. Allow your group members the opportunity to build relationships where they can connect and share stories and connect with Christians who are experiencing or have experienced similar situations. By doing this, not only are you serving people but building meaningful relationships that bring people together and help them realize they’re not alone.
3. Be present
Being present is an important component of serving people. People are typically uninterested in speaking with someone who never listens. If someone asks a question or leaves a comment, respond with an encouraging message or guidance. Remember to lead them towards what Jesus teaches. It’s possible that just responding with a Bible verse may come off as harsh or uncaring. Suppose your radio station is producing blog material that supports your message and addresses audience issues. In that case, you may provide a link to an article for them to read on their own time without feeling called out in a social media post. Being present demonstrates that you care about what they’re facing and what they have to say.
The Message Of Jesus
The message of Jesus is the most crucial piece behind what we do in Christian radio. Remember, the message is not about you; it’s about Jesus and the changes He can make in someone’s life. It’s an honor that God invites us to be part of this mission. Share our own God experiences and always guide people to Jesus. That’s why we say what we do on digital; it’s more than digital. It’s a mission.
Thank you for what you do in Christian radio.
I hope you’ve found this post informative and thought-provoking. At the end of the day, our message is about Jesus Christ–whose love can serve as a light in dark times for those who are hurting or searching for hope. That’s why we love serving alongside Christian radio. The digital world has given us new opportunities to carry out His ministry.
