CRUSHING IT WITH SOCIAL MEDIA
You’re excited, and you should be! This
mission trip is going to be one of the
most amazing experiences of your life.
Before you lose your mind and go all
to recognize how your presence will
impact this community.
Social media has become the place
where people connect. We invest tons
of time and energy into sharing life
with our friends. For many of us, social
media has become the place where we
show the world who we are and what
we are all about. While on this trip, you
will experience some incredible things
and meet some amazing people. You
will want to share this experience with
your friends and family at home. So
and throwing #iamawesome all over
social media, let’s take a second to think
about what we are doing and how it
can impact the people we are aiming to
serve. Here are three basic thoughts or
rules to live by when using social media
to share your mission trip story.
CELEBRATE PEOPLE
One of the great things about
social media is that it gives us the
opportunity to share with others what
WE are doing. If we spend the whole
time talking about the good we are
doing, we run the risk of degrading
the people and communities we aim
to serve. So try this: tell the story
of those you are serving. Find local
people who are working hard to bring
change and life to their community.
Use your platform to celebrate and
highlight THEM.
FOCUS ON THE SERVING
The biggest challenge with social
media will be understanding how
to share what’s happening without
actually disengaging from the work.
Special moments will arise, and the
worst thing we can do is break that
moment to snap a sele. Resist that
urge, lean into those special God
moments, and then, when the timing
is right, you’ll have a much more
incredible and compelling story to tell,
with or without a photo.
PRE-TRIP
CREATE A TRIP ACCOUNT*
This is a variation on the idea of a
“social media manager” for your
mission trip. Take ve minutes to set
up a new social media account (i.e. an
instagram account entitled @_____
missionteam). Share this account with
your church, your friends, and on your
own social media, encouraging people
to follow along. Pick one person to be
the manager of the account. This will
help provide a central place for people
to follow along, as well as a second set
of eyes to ensure the content you are
posting is uplifting to the people you
are serving.
*For Domestic Trips Only
**Remember, it is imperative that
you have permission of the person to
be photographed before taking their
picture and before sharing it with
others.
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