The BYU Asia Pacific area recently had training with Spencer Taggart, a professor from BYU Hawaii, about video presentations for our business plan competition. When Professor Taggart was teaching, it struck me that many of the things he told us to do were very similar to how Jesus taught.

There are lessons we can learn about Jesus Christ’s ministry and teachings; if we follow these teachings, they can help us with our own social media posting. Jesus understood His mission; He knew that His mission was about spreading love and happiness. Jesus also understood the power to keep the message simple and building trust among His followers.

We can strive to apply some of these same messages and principles with our own social media. We can use the teachings of Jesus to help direct our social media campaigns.

Here are 6 Lessons The Ministry of Jesus Christ Teach About Our Social Media

Jesus Understood His Mission.

At Jesus’ baptism in the River Jordan by John the Baptist, the Lord declared, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17). But even before this declaration, even from a very young age, Jesus understood his mission in life.

When Jesus was 12 years old and was teaching in the temple, so great was his teaching that all who heard were astonished by his teaching and knowledge. This shows that from a very early age, Jesus understood that he had a mission here on earth to accomplish

Jesus had a direction and purpose in life that he never deviated from his entire life. He had a clear understanding of what his mission was and what he wanted or needed to accomplish.

What can we learn from this for our own social media? We can learn that to really be effective in our social media campaign; we must also have a clear mission.

So many brands or companies haphazardly do social media; these same brands then wonder why their social media media media strategy has failed. The reason it has failed is that they have no clear mission or no clear social media strategy.

Jesus Understood to Spread Love

There is a Primary children’s Song that we sing which says it best:

Jesus came upon this earth to spread love, goodness, kindness and help each of us strive to do the same.

Social media can be a tool for much good. It can be a tool for spreading kindness, love, understanding, and having open discussions and dialogs. Unfortunately, today a lot of social media has become the opposite of that. Instead, social media has been used to spread lies and to cause division.

Individuals, brands, and companies should seek to use social media as a tool for good. It should be uplifting and inspiring. Individuals, brands, and companies should seek to use social media as a tool for good.

Sometimes a commercial is so inspiring that when you see it, you cry. This story is the real-life story of Jessica Long, a 13-Time Paralympic gold medalist. This short one-minute video is extremely inspiring; I can out from watching it with tears in my eyes for the young girl’s courage to become a world-class swimmer despite her leg condition. I was inspired by the goodness of her parents, who adopted her.

You can watch her video and story by clicking on the video below.

Jesus Understood About Keeping It Simple

When Jesus taught, he taught so that people could understand his meaning. President Matthew Cowley said that “the gospel of Jesus Christ is simply beautiful and beautifully simple.”

The Savior taught direct and plain truths. He wanted to be sure that people understood him and understood the message that he was giving. One of the best ways to teach people is as the Savior taught – teaching with plain and simple truths.

So many times, people try to make something cute or as a gimmick, but the truth is that people do not have time to try to figure out what you really mean by the “cute” post or “cute” message you just posted. Today, most people do not have time to figure out what you “really” mean.

In fact, you have a few seconds to get someone’s attention before they move on. If your social media message is too complicated, they will move on.

I love this commercial by Kohls as it is so simple and spreads a mission about kindness and love. A young girl draws hopscotch on the sidewalk (how many of us have been there before?) The message shows people joining in to spread love and joy.

Jesus Understood About Teaching To and Not At People

Jesus understood it was important to talk to and not talk – at people. When he was teaching, he totally concentrated on the needs of those people he was teaching – his sheep.

Jesus fully understood that powerful teaching was about reaching those he was teaching to understand clearly; this principle also applies to our social media and marketing.

Today, brands that are successful in social media concentrate on their audience and not on the company. They understand that it is about others and their needs.

I really love this commercial by Purina. I am a dog person (I have a puppy we recently adopted named Pelle), so this commercial really spoke to me. I did not feel like they were preaching to me (even though I would be happy to buy Purina dog food after watching this), but I felt like they spoke right to me.

Watch the commercial Puppyhood by clicking on the video below.

Jesus Looked People In The Eyes

We really do not know how Christ physically looked, but we know that he could attract thousands and thousands of people to come and hear him. Jesus Christ was a master teacher.

Because Jesus was a master teacher, he would have also understood the importance of looking people right in the eyes and speaking directly to them.

One of the worst things you see when somebody is on a video or even on zoom is looking down all the time and not looking at you. For some reason, you feel that even though they are on the other side of the screen, they are not really looking or paying attention to you and what you have to say.

Jesus Christ had thousands and tens of thousands and millions of followers. He could do this by speaking to the people and looking straight up at them and in the eye.

We need to do the same with our social media – look people straight in the eye

Jesus Understood About Building Trust

Jesus understood the importance of building trust among those who followed him and anyone he contacted. During his ministry, Jesus performed many miracles.

Jesus healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, fed the 5,000, and even brought the dead back to life. Although some considered his work blasphemous, this did not stop him from building trust among his followers.

Getting people to want to follow you on social media, or listen to what you have to say, is also about building trust. Jesus was very consistent with his message, so people wanted to follow him. You need to be the same with your message to build trust among those who are following you.

The life and ministry of Jesus Christ help teachers understand some important principles that we can all follow when using social media. We can try to emulate our life after him, especially in all the social media postings we make.

The BYU Management Society is a professional organization about building moral and ethical leadership around the world. If you would like to find out where there is a BYU MS Chapter near you, contact us by clicking here.

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