Social Media in Ministry Presentation Package

http://ichurchmethod.com/social-media-in-ministry-presentation-package/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=social-media-in-ministry-presentation-package

Mobile Media is on the RISE

A major ministry I work with has been on tv for years and has millions of viewers. As we were coming up with our web strategy, we knew it was important to allow people to watch the television broadcasts on the ministry website. We figured since millions people were watching it on tv, there would thousands watching from our website. Well we were right and we were wrong.

We were right in that there are thousands of people watching the website broadcast, we were wrong in thinking that it would be from our “traditional” website. The largest viewers of our broadcasts online are from the mobile website. After we setup our traditional website, we started working on a mobile website just because that was something that we thought the people might want. We had no idea how much they wanted it, and how much they would use it. And the main thing they do on the mobile website is watch live services and archived tv broadcasts.

Now I am not saying to build your entire mobile website around multimedia (people still want location, service times, contact information), but do keep in mind that with 4G internet speeds and millions of smart phones out there, multimedia is being consumed at a high rate, so provide the people with what they want and they will support the ministry.

For more information on how to best implement solutions like this preorder The iChurch Method 2: Changing the World When You Login.

http://ichurchmethod.com/mobile-media-is-on-the-rise/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mobile-media-is-on-the-rise

Mobile Giving is on the RISE

I was at a meeting this week with a ministry I work with and we were talking about the online progress of the websites. While we were discussing this a very interesting fact was revealed, I informed them that their first ever mobile online donation came in February 2012, since then, they have received tens of thousands of dollars via their mobile website. This of course made them very happy but also confirmed how important mobile was to their online strategy.

Now let’s think about this for a second, prior to January 2012 there was no mobile website. Likewise, prior to February 2012, they had never received a mobile online donation, thus this was a new revenue stream for the ministry. Stats did confirm that 30% of people that were giving via the website did migrate to the mobile website giving but 70% were an entirely new group of people. Based on this information, I genuinely believe that people were waiting for a mobile way to give from the church because that is convenient for them. They wanted to access and support the ministry via their mobile device, so when the ministry provided that, they in turned gave.

Now, let’s look at how to take this further, the church that we are talking about has a mobile website but they do not have a mobile app or SMS giving options. This is where they can improve upon their current mobile offerings and provide more ways for people to support the ministry. Does your ministry provide mobile donations?

For more information on how to best implement solutions like this preorder The iChurch Method 2: Changing the World When You Login.

http://ichurchmethod.com/mobile-giving-is-on-the-rise/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mobile-giving-is-on-the-rise

The iChurch Method 2: Changing The World When You Login

Here it is, the Highly Anticipated next edition in The iChurch Method series. The iChurch Method 2: Changing the World When You Login. Pre-Order Yours Today

Volume 2 in the amazing iChurch Method series, the purpose of this book is to continue to help ministries and businesses advance online. Continuing with the five part approach to taking your ministry/business online and reaching the world:

Part 1: Website – Interactive websites
Part 2: Multimedia – Internet Church Campus
Part 3: Ecommerce – Online Stores/Online Donations – Part II
Part 4: Social Media – The Rise of Visual Social Media
Part 5: Mobile – Mobile Websites and Apps

With these five parts, a ministry can reach and change the world. The iChurch Method is a MUST READ for every ministry leader who desires to have a global presence online.

Your Pre-Ordered Book will arrive by May 1, 2013 and your Ebook will be available via download by May 1, 2013. Pre-Order Yours Today

http://ichurchmethod.com/the-ichurch-method-2/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-ichurch-method-2

Which Social Network is the BEST?

Here is a question that I am often asked when I am teaching ministries on how to best use Social Media, “Which Social Network is the best?” Is it Facebook and their one billion users? Is it Twitter and their easy to use network? Is it Pinterest and their Pictures and Videos? Is it Youtube and their massive Video network? Which one is it? Well, the answer is simple, the best social network is, whichever ones your church knows how to use.

That’s the hard part for organizations to grasp when they start social media, start with the network that your ministry knows best. Here are the four key points I used from my presentation “Taking Your Social Media to the Next Level”.

1. The Social Network your church should be on depends on your church’s content and capability to use the network. If you have a just a small amount of church content, a few photos, text updates and videos, and the people you have on staff know Twitter best, then start on Twitter. If you have people on staff that are familiar with Facebook then use that social network and push text, video and photo updates there. Use whatever network you have people familiar with and your content will work on.

2. Repurpose your content for each network. Once you have decided to use more than one network, then you can repurpose the same content for multiple networks. For example, if you have a motivational quote from your pastor’s sermon, you can take that quote and put it out on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. You can then take quote and put it over a picture of your pastor preaching and put that picture out on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram and Pinterest. Also, you can take that same quote, and use the actual video of your pastor saying the quote, and put that video clip out on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and Youtube. So you see, different types of content can go on different networks.

3. Each network has its own community and its own best way to use it. For the sake of time, many churches will have their Facebook posts go to Twitter or their Twitter posts go to Facebook. While this does conserve time, it takes away from the uniqueness of each network and hinders genuine growth on the network that stuff is being pushed to. Usually, the network that stuff is being pushed “to”, is the one that’s not being monitored, therefore people that want to interact with the ministry on that network are not being answered because that network is usually just something that is being fed content and not attended to.

4. You don’t have to be on them ALL but it’s good to be on as many as your staff can handle. If you can only be on one network, then make the most of that network until you get the ability to expand to more.

If you would like to learn more about “Taking your Social Media to the Next Level” check out the training package that was released just last week. Click here to get it NOW.

http://ichurchmethod.com/which-social-network-is-the-best/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=which-social-network-is-the-best

Facebook was a Social Network, it’s now a For Profit Business.

(I elaborate more on this in my most recent presentation, “Taking Your Social Media to the Next Level”.)

Developing social media strategies for churches was originally something that I did out of necessity because I would be one of few people working for a ministry that knew how to utilize social media. As these strategies started to show some measures of success, I would analyze, optimize and repeat. A good social media strategy is to provide inspiration, information and communication to the variety of networks that you are one. Once you provide that then analyze the results, fine tune your approach and then repeat the process. This always works, even though facebook seems to be changing the rules.

Once Facebook went public, they changed from a focus on connecting people as a social network, to a profit minded, business entity. Facebook’s initial IPO was good but immediately their stock started tanking and they were losing market cap value. Many people wondered if Facebook even had a business model and what exactly were they selling.

Well Facebook does have a business model, and they sell you the ability to communicate with millions of people all around the world. Their Facebook newsfeed is their “Golden Goose” and millions of businesses strive to get their content into people’s newsfeeds. Facebook uses an algorithm called Edgerank to determine what information appears in your newsfeed and what doesn’t. Therefore, if you have 1000 friends on Facebook, you may only see the posts from 270-300 of them, based on who you communicate with the most. Likewise, if you are a fan page, and you have 1000 fans, only 160 – 200 of them will see your posts, based on who interacts with your page the most.

Now, here’s the kicker, Facebook has a “Promoted Post” option where they will “SELL” you the ability to have your post viewed by more people. So, not only do they not let your post be seen by all the people that have “Liked” your fanpage, they sell you the option to make that possible. From a business perspective, I must admit, I like it, but from a Facebook user perspective, this sucks.

Therefore, there are options such as Facebook NewsFeed Optimization where you actually have to develop a content strategy to push out high quality visual content via Facebook (ideally photos and videos), make a call to action in the post so that people interact with it (share or like this photo, click this link), and even promote the post to increase engagement. This is the new Facebook, it’s time to adapt.

I elaborate more on this in my most recent presentation, “Taking Your Social Media to the Next Level”. You can purchase and download the teaching in audio (mp3) and video (mp4) format along with the PDF handouts and the PPT presentation. Click Here to Order Today.

http://ichurchmethod.com/facebook-is-a-business/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=facebook-is-a-business

It’s Time to Take Your Social Media Strategy to the Next Level?