All posts in Examples

Twolicy

by Tim Schraeder on 02/01/2010 in Church Communications, Examples, Principles, Resources, Social Media with 4 Comments

After a number of requests about Park’s Twitter policy, I decided to share it with the rest of you: we don’t have one.

I’m not a huge fan of policies. They take too long to write out and shouldn’t really be an issue as long as you are managing what you are doing well.

That being said, here’s a few tips on how we use Twitter…

Why Do You Use Twitter?

I think this is an important question every church needs to answer.

Don’t Twitter because everyone else does, consider your audience and your context and determine if that’s an effective way for you to interact with them [and if it’s worth your time]. If it seems like a large number of people in your church use Twitter, strongly consider how you could integrate it into your communications strategy.

How Did You Start?

We set up a Twitter account for Park and connected it to the general email address that all of our church-wide emails are sent from. We didn’t promote we were on Twitter, we just let the account sit there. In less than six months we accumulated over 100 followers without advertising we were on Twitter… people were finding us. The 100 mark was my milestone to begin Twittering, so we did… about a year ago.

Who Twitters for Park?

I do. No special reason why it’s just me – I’m just the one person who does it well, so it falls on my shoulders. Other staffers do have access to the account. [If you want multiple people to manage your Twitter account, CoTweet is a great product to check out.].

Who Do You Follow?

We will follow back anyone who mentions us, retweets us [and doesn’t appear to be SPAM], and anyone who follows us who is from Chicago.

Why Follow?

9 times out of 10, anyone who follows us attends our church. Following them gives us a great window into their day-to-day life. We’re able to see what they are talking about, what they care about, and what they are saying about their experience at Park. It’s free research!

What Do You Tweet About?

We Tweet about a number of different things. The idea is to use Twitter to connect people to information that matters to them. We try to Tweet at least a couple of times per day, not to create noise, but to keep us at the top of people’s minds. [Also, we will typically update our Facebook Page status each time we post a new Tweet.] And, we use Twitter to help generate traffic to our site.

People have to go to websites to get information; social media enables information go to people.

If you look at our blog stats, one of the largest referrers to our site is Twitter and Facebook. So, use any form of social media as a vehicle to get people to your site – or wherever you deem your “central point” for disseminating information.

An Example of a Week in Twitter at Park

Mondays – we post a Tweet when audio/video of weekend services is posted.
Tuesdays – we’ll Tweet about any events going on that week for people to connect with.
Wednesdays – link to an online version of our weekly enewsletter.
Thursdays – focus on the weekend and events people can connect with during the weekend.
Fridays – FollowFriday! On Fridays we typically do the FollowFriday thing and recommend staff members or ministries that we support.
Weekends – we Tweet quotes from weekend messages, repost Tweets of what people are saying, and respond to questions/comments people make about their experience at Park.

Remember the most important thing…

The keyword in social media that is often overlooked is the word social. It’s meant to be a conversation, not a lecture. Don’t turn social media into another broadcast point, use it as a place to engage with you audience, to listen to what they are saying, respond to their questions, and bring more humanity to your church/organization.

Create Lists for Your Staff

One of the things we did recently was create a Twitter list of all of our staff members who Tweet. It’s a simple way of connecting our audience with people who work behind-the-scenes and make Park what it is. Again, another way to “humanize” your church.

Does Park’s Pastor Twitter?

Yes. A number of them do. Our lead pastor is @JaxnC. I don’t think every pastor should Twitter… most should. I addressed that in a previous blog entry.

Is there a “Twolicy” for Park’s Staff?

No. We trust our staff. We view all social media, blogs, etc. as the personal responsibility of our staff members. It’s their outlet and their place to be free to express their views/opinions and not an area we need to manage or control. We do, however, remind them that they do represent Park and to be mindful of that as they tweet and blog. Thus far we haven’t had any incidents or issues arise for us to do anything more than tell them to remember who they represent!

Even If You Aren’t Going to Twitter, Secure Your Account

A friend of mine works at a VERY large church that jumped on the Twitter bandwagon awhile ago. Well, the church didn’t… someone else did. Someone started a Twitter account for the church and began tweeting for them, following people [myself included] and quickly accumulated many followers. The only challenge was they had no idea who was doing it. Long story short, it turned out someone who was attending the church had started the account… he graciously gave the login info to the church who now manages it, but the lesson here is simple: create an account for your church, even if there are no plans to use Twitter on the horizon. This is a great rule of thumb for any form of social media for that matter.

Closing Thought…

Twitter isn’t a end all, be all… but can certainly be a great way to connect with your audience. Just remember it’s not another broadcast channel, but another way to engage.

We’re still learning ways to use it and for now, this is what we’ve learned.

What about you? Are there lessons you and your organization/church have learned from using Twitter? Any successes? Any lessons learned? Share them!

From the Inbox : Twitter for Your Pastor or Your Church?

by Tim Schraeder on 12/02/2009 in Church Communications, Examples, Resources, Social Media with No comments

A welcome distraction in my day is emails I receive from many of you about different things we do at Park. I’ve decided to share the emails and my responses with all of you since I’m sure it could serve you and your churches, as well as answer some questions you are asking!

Here goes…

From Jenni in Indiana:

Hey Tim!

Our pastor has started using Twiiter and we are very new to it. I wondered if you could give me some help with this. Here are my questions…

Is it better for the pastor to Twitter, or would it be beter for our church to Twitter?
Our pastor doesn’t know how to handle managing all of the responses he’s getting on Twitter. He feels bad about not being able to be in open dialogue with everyone but there’s no way he can personally respond to everyone. He is very compassionate and doesn’t want to offend anyone. IS there a way he can keep Tweeting but not offend people if he doesn’t respond to them?

Hey Jenni,

Depending on your pastor and how you think he can manage Twittering for himself, I think both your pastor and your church should Twitter.

One of the great things that Twitter can do for a pastor is make him more “human” to people; it’s a great way for people to get an inside look at his life, things he’s thinking, what he’s doing with his family, etc.

Many pastors who Twitter share a balance of info on their ministry and their personal life… and that’s a great thing.

Your pastor might not be able to respond to everyone, but that’s ok. You don’t have to respond to everyone who responds to you on Twitter. If, for instance, he posted something and many people replied to it, he could simply post a Tweet that says, “thanks everyone for your feedback on that…” I think that most people understand that it’s impossible to personally reply everyone.

I would say let your pastor’s Twitter be focused on him… his world, his life, things he’s thinking, leadership insights… and our pastor, who Twitters (@JaxnC) will often use it to ask questions/research for his messages to get people’s input or feedback.

Also, just like our church, he follows back everyone who follows him that lives in Chicago or appears to attend our church. Following people back creates a great tool for him to be able to see what people are talking about!

Before your pastor jumps on the Twitter bandwagon, I’d recommend you have him join, follow some of the different Twittering pastors that are out there, and let him get a feel for how other pastors use Twitter. If he thinks he’s up to the task, then open the floodgates. [Also, exercise your own discretion. You know your pastor best and know if he could manage a Twitter following!]

For our church Twitter account, we post information about events, news, and use it as a way to communicate to our church throughout the week.

Also, on Sundays we monitor it and as people mention us or reference us, and we respond back to them or retweet things people say about their experience… it adds a great personal touch.

Leverage your church Twitter account as a way to extend your message and as a communication channel to reach people throughout the week.

Hope this helps!

Tim

Rethinking Missions Week

by Tim Schraeder on 11/13/2009 in Examples with 4 Comments

Let’s be honest, most church staff dread missions week. [ Not to diss the very important, vital work of missions… it’s important… but missions week can be kind of a drag.]

Having grown up in a church that had a map of the world and pushpins to show every missionary we supported, missions was always a big part of my upbringing in church.

Every year we’d do a missions week where we’d have church every single night of the week.

On the opening Sunday we’d have flags from countries all over the world adorning the stage of the church, guest speakers would typically wear native garb, and show a slide show with “Thank You for Giving to the Lord” playing in the background;. Then, there was always the international potluck meal, where taco salad was considered to be foreign cuisine. And us kids, we were given plastic banks to put change in to help buy Bibles for kids in foreign countries.

And that was missions week.

When the team at Park announced they wanted to do a missions week I nearly fainted.

However, with some creativity and innovation, this Sunday we’re kicking off something I think is going to be pretty sweet.

We took a traditional idea and made it more relevant for our crowd.

It’s all in a Name
Instead of calling it “Missions Week,”, we’re calling it Global Impact Week [part of our vision is to impact the world, so it fit our already existing language]. We found a cool image to use as a logo… a thumbprint that looks like a globe. Part of the challenge for the week will be to “leave your mark.”

Taking Missionaries to Them
Instead of having a service every night [let’s be honest, who would come?] we’re offering three webinars throughout the week that people can tune into during their lunch hours. So, instead of having to come to the church for a service, they can just tune in during their lunch hour from their office.

Cultural Tours
Chicago has some incredibly diverse neighborhoods, so instead of talking about foreign cultures, we’re going to experience them. We have three different tours that are going to different neighborhoods in the city to experience the food, culture, and customs of different ethnic neighborhoods in the city.

Getting to Know Our Neighborhood
One of the professors from Moody Bible Institute who teaches social justice is going to host a bus tour through some of Chicago’s roughest neighborhoods (including our own) to trace the story of thewww.timschraeder.comthe city.

Texting Reminders
We’re going to offer people the opportunity to sign up for a daily text message update with a verse or reminder of something to pray for throughout the week. This will also be another way we can remind them about activities they can engage in during the week.

The thing I love about this whole idea is that it’s all happening outside of our church. We’re going to be out in the city, out in different neighborhoods we might not normally go to, and getting a first-hand look at how “the world” is really right in our own backyard.

I think I might miss the overweight, Caucasian missionary in a traditional African headdress with his slideshow, but I think Missions Week, 2.0 is pretty cool.

I’ll keep you posted and let you know how it goes.