Reaches 55,704 People

During 40 Days of Prayer, we moved one step closer toward our Daring Faith “F” goal of reaching 40,000 members between our 18 campuses and our online audience. We also hit a huge target of 94,000 subscribers on Saddleback’s YouTube channel. Now just 6,000 subscribers short of 100,000, you can help us achieve that major milestone by subscribing to our YouTube channel.

From YouTube to Facebook, Saddleback’s Social Media Team is exploring creative ways to interconnect our growing fellowship through new technologies. Over the past few months, our Social Media Team has partnered with the Online Campus Team to test Facebook LIVE as another option for people to engage online with our weekend services.

“It was a true partnership between social media and the online campus,” says Haley Veturis, Saddleback’s Social Media Manager. “We always want to cast our nets where the fish are, which means being innovative and trying new things to meet people where they’re at. It’s all about reaching one more for Jesus.”

As we reported last December, Saddleback’s Online Campus already began hosting Facebook Live events to encourage interaction and discussion in the comment section and through private messaging. Facebook’s technology allowed Saddleback’s online members to interact in real time, pose questions, and receive immediate reactions.

After seeing increased viewership, our Social Media and Online Campus Teams strategically partnered to track numbers and capitalize on the potential of an online audience. The Facebook LIVE test was designed to see what kind of an audience we could accumulate, how long they would view content, and track their level of engagement with the content. It also served as an opportunity to test overall platform features.  

The first assessment took place on September 23 during Pastor Rick’s message on “Do You Really Want to Grow Up?” As part of Saddleback’s 40 Days of Prayer series, the entire Saturday evening service was shared live, in real time, on Facebook.

The statistics were staggering. A total of 55,704 people were reached through this single LIVE-feed thanks to the 248 people who shared the post with their communities. Of those, 19,394 people were unique viewers.

After the success of this pilot study, the two teams intend to use Facebook LIVE events on a more permanent basis. For now, they are still in the experimental phase, testing various service days and times between Saturday at 6:00 PM and Sunday at 9:00 AM. Their goal is to find the sweet spot when the most viewers are online and wanting to connect.

“We're really happy with the engagement and the simplicity of using Facebook LIVE as a tool to reach people,” says Haley. “In social media, the key to streaming online is the share button. Just one click may be the single thing a person needs to hear or see that day. Our willingness to share could alter a day, or even a life for someone.”

To follow Saddleback on Facebook, visit facebook.com/saddlebackchurch. Click HERE to join our online campus.