Channel Preference: How Most Want Communication Content

Imagine establishing a restaurant. You’re aware that most in your community like hamburgers. But you decide to offer only hot dogs instead. Think they’ll understand? It’s difficult to keep people happy if you don’t provide what they’re looking for.

Your congregation and community consumes communication content a certain way (a channel). Over time it’s become their preference even though they devoured it another way previously. Everyone’s changing! Our communication role? Ensure we’re delivering content the way “most” prefer.

So how do most prefer to consume information? 3000 consumers (from US, Mexico, Germany, and Colombia) were asked by Hubspot to indicate their preference for consuming communication. Here’s their preferences:

• Videos – 54%
• Emails/Newsletters – 46%
• Social Images – 41%
• Social Videos – 34%
• Blog Articles – 18%
• PDF Downloads – 17%

How does this data affect your church communication? 

Here are 3 things you must do in order to keep your community and congregation happy. Well, on the communication side at least. 

• Get on the video “hub” bandwagon. Video is king. Start considering how to develop videos first (as the primary) and then consider how other channels can repurpose the video content. This is the sure way to keep most people happy.
• Hire video editors. All communication content requires editing by someone who advocates for the audience’s needs and wants. One thing we know? Audiences (especially younger generations) prefer to have all unnecessary content removed. If there’s too much time getting to great content, they skip over it. Video editors must understand how to create engaging SHORT videos that educate, entertain, and/or equip. This takes more time than you’d think but it’s necessary. Long-form sermons should be reduced to short snippets based on various topics.
• Retire PDF downloads and shift from blogs being the center of your communication. Rarely does anyone prefer to download and keep a PDF anymore. Why? Because the digitally minded (again, the younger generations even more so) don’t save files that we can find again. And we mostly trust that good content is stored on your website; or even better, in a great edited video. Simply, STOP posting PDFs. And don’t rely heavily on blog articles.