Social Media Drip Campaign for Advent Resources
The Problem: There is an abundance of Christmas resources available, but not Advent resources with Advent specific colors (blue/purple, pink, and white) and Advent specific messaging of love, hope, peace, and joy. The institution wanted to provide Advent Resources for clergy and church leaders, and wanted to offer pastoral support to pastors because December is an unusually busy time for them. Additionally, the responsibility of producing and packaging holiday pieces (Advent journals and holiday cards) had, in previous years, been the sole responsibility of the Communications Department, specifically me.
The Solution: Strategic Communications created a committee comprised of students, faculty, and staff from Advancement, Admissions, Student Formation, Academic Affairs, Worship Life, and Strategic Communications to come up with the overall theme and messaging of a suite of Advent resources. The team decided the tone would be “pastoral and prophetic,” chose a guiding Bible verse, and then discussed what elements would be included in the resources.
The elements in the Advent Resources included Wreath Liturgy for pastors to use during church services; a playlist available on Apple Music, Spotify, and Tidal; a package of downloadable Advent-themed clip art for use in communications and bulletins; videos of a professor discussing the themes of Advent for use in a Sunday School class; and weekly emails of prayers by faculty specifically supporting pastors.
I created or gathered all the elements then wrote and produced a social media drip campaign schedule to build excitement and keep the audience engaged.
Beginning one month before the go-live day of the resource page, I began posting teasers on the institution’s public and private pages on Instagram, Facebook, Linked In, and included the same messaging to alumni, students, and donors in newsletters and emails.
Here’s a sneak peak… Staff, students, and faculty are busy working on ADVENT RESOURCES! Wreath Liturgy, playlists, downloadable Advent-themed art, video Sunday school lessons, moments for Holy pause and so much more. Look for the official email announcement on November 3. Or feel free to check back on our socials for the link.
Wishing you Hope, Peace, Joy and Love this Advent Season
The initial post received 15 “like” responses and 23 shares.
This next teaser was posted on all the institution’s social media pages, blogged, and linked in emails for the next few weeks. As the go-live date approached, the messaging continued. This post generated 13 “love” responses and 21 shares on Facebook, 10 responses on Instagram on the institution’s main pages. These response numbers were unusually high for the social media accounts.
MONDAY is the day! Columbia Theological seminary is excited to share our Advent Resource Hub on Monday. Liturgy, playlists, videos, downloadable art, and even more–as our gift to you.
We’re putting the finishing touches on the webpage today. Look for our emails or posts Monday!
On the go-live day, I announced it and received 22 “thumbs up” and 32 shares. The Photoshelter resource page, with a downloadable art file, showed 68 downloads within the first 10 days.
It’s finally here! So many folks contributed to make this 2025 Advent Resource Hub special and we are thrilled to share it with you! Lesson plans, wreath lighting liturgy, playlists, helpful links, downloadable Advent-themed art, and we are even adding more over the next few weeks… the link to the 2025 Advent Hub is here; https://www.ctsnet.edu/advent/
After the page was live, I continued to post reminders of the resources available, as well as video links of the Advent great liturgy authors’ reflections on their writing and blog posts.
Beautiful Wreath Liturgy is available to you–as our gift! Written by members of the Columbia Theological Seminary community, it is available as a complete download, or as copyable text on our blog. (https://www.ctsnet.edu/advent/)
Rev. Alex Evangelista, Rev. Elizabeth C. Goodrich ‘03, Rev. Rhonda M. Johnson, Shavon Starling-Louis (also editor), and Ms. Leemei Sophia Laktuhu each offered their voices, prayers, and prophetic imaginations to this resource.
Video links of the Advent wreath liturgy authors’ reflections were posted weekly with links to the videos.
Current student Leemei Sophia Laktuhu authored one of the wreath liturgies this year. Take a moment to hear her reflection on “what does Advent mean to you?”
The Advent playlist was shared via email and on the Resource Page.
24 songs for 24 days of Advent. And maybe a couple of bonus tracks. 🙂 Curated by Dr. Tony McNeil and the Columbia Community.
The Advent-themed holiday card, sent to alums, donors, and the larger Columbia community, matched the look, feel, and messaging of the Advent resources.
The Outcome: Over 75 shares, and ~50 responses from a relatively small social community were considered a success. The institution’s social pages, historically, did not garner regular interactions. When we posted intentional drip campaigns we did see the interactions increase exponentially. Anecdotally, the Director of Alumni and Church Relations reported an overwhelming positive response from pastors and alums who reached out to her.
Corie Cox 