Working in the world of eCommerce our first question to any of our clients tends to be, "Who is your demographic?" This is critical information for a business because knowing your target audience determines how you are going to reach your potential customers, and what impression you are going to give them through your website and online presence.

As Christians we already know that the people that we are trying to engage with are those in our community who need to encounter Jesus. However, knowing more about our local population should help us make informed decisions regarding our online presence, both in terms of where we target our efforts, and how we present ourselves.

How Do I Gather Information About My Local Area?

Today is momentous because the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published further information from the Census 2021. Among the Census' data is statistics on:

• Age of the people in your area and their sex
• Household composition
• Household deprivation
• Main language spoken
• Ethnicity
• Religious beliefs

 You can access this information for your area here.

This map can be a bit confusing to start off with, and currently really only works on a desktop. However, click on the arrow (see below) and then use the search field to find your area.

This map is excellent as you can click on it and drill down further into a specific area by enlarging the map using the + Zoom function and then clicking on an area. Then click on the subjects that you are interested in to find out the information that you want.

Deprivation is determined by the ONS based on "four selected household characteristics:

Education

A household is classified as deprived if no one has at least level 2 education and no one aged 16 to 18 years is a full-time student.

Employment

A household is classified as deprived if any member, not a full-time student, is either unemployed or disabled.

Health

A household is classified as deprived  if any person in the household has general health that is bad or very bad or is identified as disabled.

Housing

A household is classified as deprived if the household's accommodation is either overcrowded, in a shared dwelling, or has no central heating.'

(ref: (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/householdcharacteristics/homeinternetandsocialmediausage/bulletins/householdandresidentcharacteristicsenglandandwales/census2021)

Why Is Knowing About My Community Important?

 St Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:19 - 23

"Though I am free of obligation to anyone, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), to win those under the law. To those without the law I became like one without the law (though I am not outside the law of God but am under the law of Christ), to win those without the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some."

"I do all this for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings."

Here St Paul identifies the need to make yourself the same as the person you are trying to reach, and so identifying who lives in your area is the first step.

Using the ONS statistics you will quickly be able to see who lives locally and:

• their age,
• their sex,
• if they are living alone or with others (this can help you to see what groups the church could run that are needed),
• the ethnicity of your community, and what languages are spoken,
• what is the deprivation in your area (this will help you with deciding how you can best meet local needs),
• and so much more!

The makeup of your community should also strongly influence your website design and social media presence. The age and gender of your local population will determine the language, colours, types of media used, and layout. So determine these and design your site appropriately. This is where having a good web designer comes in because they will able to design your website appropriately. Designing a church's website is extremely important as it should resonate with your community and help them to engage with your church easily.

How Can Understanding my Community's Demographic Help With My Church's Social Media Presence?

Knowing the age of your community can help you to engage with them on social media. Despite the decline in Facebook usage it is still the largest platform with 2.97 billion users in the third quarter of 2022 (ref: https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/). And surprisingly the largest age group is aged 25-34. So Facebook is still a place to have a presence, however, if you are aiming for a younger demographic then Snapchat and Instagram are also important social platforms to consider.

TikTok now has 1 billion users per month and so if you do have a younger demographic that you want to reach (10 - 19) you might want to consider creating content for this platform. "Mindfulness" is a big topic on TikTok so the church has a real opportunity to make an inroad here with users, and you will even find Nicky Gumbel on there!

With YouTube being the second largest search engine you might also want to consider creating YouTube videos that can be embedded on your church website, but also can be used for outreach. Many churches experienced a rise in engagement with people in their area outside of the church during lockdown, which shows that people are searching for answers online. YouTube is therefore an important way to engage with those outside of the church.

Again your web designer will be able to help you with deciding which platform would be best for your church once you know the demographic of your community.

Conclusion

The Census has a wealth of information about the nation and the people in your area. The saddest thing that has been published is that "For the first time in a census of England and Wales, less than half of the population (46.2%, 27.5 million people) described themselves as “Christian”, a 13.1 percentage point decrease from 59.3% (33.3 million) in 2011; despite this decrease, “Christian” remained the most common response to the religion question." (ONS https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/religion/bulletins/religionenglandandwales/census2021). However, with "no religion" (37.2%) being the second highest description there is real potential for the church to take the Gospel to those in their community. 

With the richness of the data available about your area you should be able to create an online presence that is appropriate to your community and help to transform this nation.

References:

Household and resident characteristics, England and Wales: Census 2021

https://sproutsocial.com/insights/new-social-media-demographics/