We recently asked Tim Slatter to write a few tips that we could share with you around websites, social media and ministry. Many of you will know that we redesigned our website a little under a year ago and have ramped up our social media presence on Facebook and Twitter. Tim Slatter has been instrumental in this process. For more information on Tim and his company, please see the end of this article.
Here are some tips that you can implement in your church or ministry today!
1. Start with a plan
As with any journey, you need to have some direction if you want to get anywhere. The start of your plan must begin with assessing your church’s core vision and mission. What future has GOD laid upon your hearts for your faith community and how do you plan to play your role in seeing that future come to pass? In a business sense, these will form your core brand message.
This must be the foundation that you keep returning to with every communication campaign. The world is full of needs for Christ to fill through His Church and you need to stay your course on the direction that GOD has set for you without diluting your message and gifts in areas that are not your calling.
Your core message could be a scripture or an entire chapter, it might be a vision that you’ve had for several years or it might be a completely new song that GOD has placed in your hearts. Either way, this must be your starting point.
2. Have people that are committed to the plan
A plan will only come to fruition if those with the right gifts and calling are on board to see it through. Your ORM and social media strategy cannot be haphazard; only updated and changed when random church members feel like it. You should approach it as a ministry within your church outreach and have a team that will be under leadership and held accountable to their ministry.
This group does not necessarily have to be skilled in using technology, as skills can be taught and learnt, but they do need to be passionate about growing the ministry and learning new things. Often, in church leadership, we box the IT guys into operating the laptop and sound desk and don’t consider others outside of that skill set. Fortunately, with social media, most people are on Facebook, which is a great start!
3. Website is a priority
Within every ORM strategy, you need to have a core place where all your information is originally published or posted – this needs to be your website. Social media is like having virtual notice boards that will direct people to content and events, which they will find on your website.
If you don’t have a website, it’s really easy and relatively inexpensive to set them up now, where five years ago it was a costly and lengthy process. In some cases, we have set up websites in a matter of hours.
If you currently have a website, make sure you are able to update it and have someone that is responsible for keeping it up-to-date. If you have had a church service on the previous Sunday, there needs to be something on your website about it. If you are planning to preach a series next month, you need information about it on your website. If you are running a workshop on prayer… it needs to be your website!
This tells your online visitors that you are busy, fresh and engaging. They will learn that there is online content, from your church, that is valuable to them and they will be more inclined to keep visiting your website. I have frequently seen church websites where the last sermon that they spoke about was more than a month old and the pictures of their last social are over a year old.
4. Have an ORM and social media policy in place
A policy? But why? Whilst you don’t want to put a lasso around creative freedom, you also don’t want a proliferation of different messages being sent out across your website, Facebook page, blog and Twitter stream. In order to uniformly disseminate and empower a message, you need a policy in place for the types of message, shares and pictures that you will post.
For example, you might decide that you will only share posts or tweets from selected and approved key Christian leaders, ie. our church will only re-tweet Bill Hybels, Tim Hughes and Nicky Gumbel. Your policy should also include times that you will update your website and social media channels. For example; every Friday with the sermon topic, every Sunday with an update from someone in each service, every Monday with a quote from the previous day’s sermon, every Wednesday with a quote from an approved church leader, every Thursday with a line from a popular hymn that is being sung in church.
Photos, pictures and video clips work really well on social media and can often be embedded into your website quite easily.
5. Decide which platforms will work best for your church
Whilst a website is your online home, many people browse the internet through their phone or mobile device. This means that they are more likely to be active on social media than visiting the actual website. This opens up the need to be present on a (or on several) social medium/s. Facebook is currently the most popular, but Twitter and Google+ are becoming equally busy. Some people are using Pinterest too, which means that you may have another opportunity to encourage and engage with your community.
If your community has lots of access to the internet, then you may need to consider a few social media options. If your community has limited access, then Facebook would probably be your best bet to stick with.
Whatever media you choose don’t spread yourself too thin. Start with one and grow from there. If you open an account and don’t keep it updated, you’ll lose the confidence of your online reputation. Rather take it step by step and use fewer platforms efficiently than use too many and drop the ball.
6. Never lose the personal touch
Whilst online communication can be incredibly powerful, it is not a replacement for face-to-face relationships. Through Christ we have been created as relationship-centric beings that need to engage with each other on a personal, physical level. Emails, telephone calls, pastoral visits, workshops, socials, planning meetings, gardening days, community outreach projects, market days and the like are all crucial to building and sustaining a community! Use your online presence to support this, not to replace it.
Remember, social media means social places. If you aren’t engaging on a social level, your online presence will become insignificant and non-impactful.
Tim is an ORM (Online Reputation Management) specialist with a degree in Public Relations Management, a lay preaching certificate and a rich history in Church Leadership, Worship and Youth ministry. He has is own devotional blog, has been a contributor to Faith For Daily Living (and currently manages their ORM) and works with Worship Central SA. His passion for encouraging local church leaders and communicating effectively online has been a much-needed aid to our Alpha JHB team! Go to www.timslatter.com for more details.