How My Stake Leads Through Social Media | An Interview with Brooke Reynolds

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Brooke Hellewell Reynolds grew up in Laguna Niguel, California. She studied graphic design at Brigham Young University and moved to New York City a few days after graduation. Brooke spent 10 years in New York, art directing magazines at Martha Stewart, meeting her husband John in the Manhattan singles ward, and began working as a freelance designer after the birth of her first child. After a particularly dreary New York winter, she convinced her husband to move back to California where she has been working from home (in more ways than one) ever since. Brooke has served in stake Relief Society and Primary presidencies and currently serves as the Social Media Director in the Laguna Niguel, California stake. Though she cried when she was first called to work on social media (true story) she has since realized the great power of these inspired tools. She and her husband John have four children. In this podcast Brooke takes us through how she runs her stake’s social media pages and give us ideas on how to unify our own stakes, wards, and communities using social media.

Highlights

2:35 Why stake social media pages? Why not just use the church’s social media? 6:20 Where to begin as a communications director. Create a stake website first. 7:57 Brooke’s stake Instagram is used to share personal experiences and Come Follow Me posts. Their Facebook page shares stories and experiences of different members. It’s a way to connect the stake and get to know people. 9:45 Third hour is their stake’s private discussion group to discuss Come Follow Me. Each week a different member of the stake hosts and does a couple posts during the week. 10:25 Youth instagram account. Just for youth 11 to 18 years old. 11:00 Twitter account. Used to share recaps of talks from church leaders, highlights from the Church News, and local news. 11:25 Good News Laguna is a page the stake started on Instagram and Facebook that is for the community. 12:20 Stake Youtube channel. They make videos of events and Seniors graduating or a special message from the Stake Presidency. During Covid when everything was shut down stake and ward members could turn on the TV and see a message from their bishop and stake president. 13:53 Stake Podcast. It’s not a formal podcast with weekly content but they pull audio from their Youtube channel or record a talk from Stake Conference. 15:10 YSA Instagram page for people 18 to 30 years old. It’s the best way to get the message out because that’s where they are at. 18:40 Brooke explains how she can manage all these pages and how she creates the content. 22:30 Tips on how to design content for social media 26:30 Use the missionaries as admins on Facebook to help answer questions and help community members. 30:30 Use social media to help prepare people for events and remind them when things are happening. 36:45 Where should a stake start? Brooke advises stakes to start with a website, Instagram, and matching Facebook page. 37:35 Brooke shares an experience of how using social media has helped her community.