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

Social Media Success – Relationships vs Numbers

Friday, October 19, 2012 I gave a presentation on taking your Social Media to the next level to a room full of people that were familiar with using Social Media for ministry. During this presentation I made a statement that I had never made before, and it was “Focus less on the numbers and more on the relationships, I have yet to hear a church say, we have 10,000 facebook fans and we because of that we have saved 1000 souls”. This statement came to me while I was speaking because normally when I speak about Social Media in Ministry, people only want to know what did I do to help T.D. Jakes Ministries Facebook Fan Page get over 1.1 million fans, or how did I help his Twitter grow to over 650,000 followers.

Now don’t get me wrong, I have strategies, analytics and techniques that can help a ministry make the most of social media and church technology in general, but I realize that in addition to teaching the technical aspects of social media, I want to teach the social aspects of it and how it can literally change someone’s life from whatever device they are on. The goal of social media in ministry is a conversation which begets a relationship that can produce results. However, focusing on the results does not produce relationships and change lives.

While at T.D. Jakes Ministries these last three years I have seen, in real-time, people’s lives changes and souls saved. Whether it be via a live chat during a conference, a facebook comment from an inspirational post or a timely motivational tweet that changed the course of someone’s day, I have seen the power of social media taking ministry to the people.

Therefore, as you develop your social media strategy, make sure that you provide three things:

1. Inspiration – Help lift people up and encourage them to be their best.
2. Information – Relevant information on how your ministry can transform their lives
3. Communication – make sure you respond to the people via social media and let them know the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And add one more category to your analytics when it comes to measuring your social media efforts, and that’s relationships established and souls saved.

http://ichurchmethod.com/social-media-success-relationships-vs-numbers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=social-media-success-relationships-vs-numbers

The History behind The iChurch Method

I am currently working on some new advancements for The iChurch Method such as the Online Learning Network and Volume 2 of the book. In the midst of this a guy doing some work for me asked me where did I get the concept for the book. As I got to thinking, I decided to do a quick video about it but here are the highlights.

1. I originally came up with the concept while working at Crenshaw Christian Center in 2007. I was hired to be a webmaster but I saw that I had to revamp their entire online presence. Thus I developed a new website, a new online store and integrated multimedia. (Chapters 1 – 3 in the book).

2. In 2009 I setup Social Media at EIF Ministries (the international ministry of CCC) and came up with the initial parts of the Social Media strategy that I use today. I also laid out the road map to integrating internet church, mobile websites and apps into their online ministry.

3. In 2010 when I relocated to Dallas, I was recruited by T.D. Jakes Ministries and I had to show them that I knew what I was talking about so I came up with five areas that I could help them and explain my past successes, these five areas were websites, multimedia, ecommerce, social media and mobile. Yep, the same five chapters I have in The iChurch Method book.

And the rest they say..is history.

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