Leap of Faith: Megachurches and the struggle to create a brand experience that sells
Grade Level at Time of Presentation
Junior
Major
Journalism
Institution
Murray State University
KY House District #
61
KY Senate District #
17
Faculty Advisor/ Mentor
Marcie Hinton, PhD
Department
Journalism and Mass Communications
Abstract
Leap of Faith: Megachurches and the struggle to create a brand experience that sells
Carly Middleton
Marcie Hinton, PhD
Department of Journalism and Mass Communications
Murray State University
As churches across the Commonwealth experience a decline in attendance, membership and giving, religious organizations are failing to connect with their audience and their organizational goals on social media. This exploratory content analysis evaluated the social media branding practices of Kentucky’s 20 megachurches and proposed areas of improvement.
A megachurch is defined as a Protestant Christian congregation with an average of 2,000 weekly attendees, including adults and children across all worship locations. Kentucky megachurches were selected for study as the state is ranked No. 25 in the nation for number of megachurches, making the state saliently situated to be a resource for megachurches across the country.
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter profiles were evaluated on follower-to-member ratio, post frequency, promotional materials, access of new-member information and other relevant branding factors. Results of the study found Kentucky megachurches need to significantly improve their branding practices in order to become aggressive participants in consumer marketing.
In future research, the scholar aspires to measure these implemented suggestions through a case study.
Leap of Faith: Megachurches and the struggle to create a brand experience that sells
Leap of Faith: Megachurches and the struggle to create a brand experience that sells
Carly Middleton
Marcie Hinton, PhD
Department of Journalism and Mass Communications
Murray State University
As churches across the Commonwealth experience a decline in attendance, membership and giving, religious organizations are failing to connect with their audience and their organizational goals on social media. This exploratory content analysis evaluated the social media branding practices of Kentucky’s 20 megachurches and proposed areas of improvement.
A megachurch is defined as a Protestant Christian congregation with an average of 2,000 weekly attendees, including adults and children across all worship locations. Kentucky megachurches were selected for study as the state is ranked No. 25 in the nation for number of megachurches, making the state saliently situated to be a resource for megachurches across the country.
Facebook, Instagram and Twitter profiles were evaluated on follower-to-member ratio, post frequency, promotional materials, access of new-member information and other relevant branding factors. Results of the study found Kentucky megachurches need to significantly improve their branding practices in order to become aggressive participants in consumer marketing.
In future research, the scholar aspires to measure these implemented suggestions through a case study.