All posts in Social Media

Social Media :: AND Conference

by Tim Schraeder on 09/23/2011 in ANDconference, Church Communications, Social Media with No comments

Strategy

  • Honesty
  • Value
  • Connecting people to each other, not just you
  • Measure progress (stories and numbers)
  • Conversation not broadcast

Benefits

  • Relationship collateral
  • Reputation management
  • Idea generation
  • Audience/competitor research
  • Fan loyalty
  • Help others
  • Record keeping

How to Get Started

  • Determine your audience and objective
  • Pick one, start slow
  • Watch before your interact
  • Don’t put on a non-social in charge of it. Assign by “shape” not by “org chart”
  • Don’t control, cultivate
  • Don’t start it unless you can maintain it
  • Don’t censor unless there’s a problem.

Other Thoughts…

  • People are asking the wrong question first… it’s not how can I get more people to my spot… it’s how can I make people’s lives better. It’s a gift exchange.
  • Deliver what’s unique to you. Don’t recreate the wheel or try to copy what other people are doing.
  • Honesty is more important than talent
  • Don’t be defensive. Just don’t give people an outlet to throw rocks.
  • Would I do the same thing online if I was in someone’s living room.
  • It’s a process, not an event. Be slow and deliberate.
  • Don’t advertise it. Just practice, find your voice… find your groove. Populate your shelves before you invite the customers.
  • Earn the right to share certain stuff. Start with your strength.
  • Do new things in your own voice.
  • Leave room for people to enter themselves into the story. If you do all the talking, there is no room for others to get involved. Leave it open ended.
  • Reverse engineer advertising. From company to consume. Not “here’s what we think” but “what do you think?”
  • Don’t overdesign… focus on the story.
  • People can smell fake. What you put online should be an outflow of what you already do. It’s not an add-on.
  • What question are you answering? That’s the difference between good content and just an advertisement.
  • Have compassion for the audience.
  • Consumer reviews are the purest form of content.
  • Be minimalistic.
  • Twitter is a community of “do-ers,” they’re active people. Wait on twitter until you’re ready to be active.
  • 80% perfect and live is better than 100% perfect in your head.

+1 for Google+

by Tim Schraeder on 07/19/2011 in Church Communications, Social Media with 16 Comments

I’ll preface my thoughts by admitting the fact that I’m far from being an expert on social media. I would consider myself a passionate user of social media and have watched it morph and change over the last decade or so… from Yahoo Groups to Xanga [my site is still active and is embarrassing], from MySpace to Facebook, to Twitter and now, Google+.

As many other bright and much more brilliant minds that I have pointed out, the social web… the ability to share and receive information with networks of friends, co-workers, and acquaintances… is one of the most significant culture shifts to take place in our time. While the mediums have changed and continue to morph, the idea, relationships, and power of the social web have only continued to increase.

It can be exhausting to try and keep up with everything… I mused last week on Twitter: Tweets, Likes, Circles, +1′s, Friend Requests, DMs, Pokes, Adds, Status Updates… it’s all too much! #socialmediaoverload

However, after poking around and reading up on Google+, the early adopter in me is thinking this is something with paying attention to. Think about it:

  • Radio took 38 years to reach 50 million users
  • TV took 13
  • Internet took 4 years
  • iPods took 3 years
  • Google+ added 10 million users in less than 3 weeks… and this is just in the exclusive, by-invitation-onluy debut. It’s just beginning.

I loved this video description of Google+:

Sharing is the currency of social media.

Google+ is redefining and simplifying the way we can share information. Instead of making lists or groups, Google+ makes it easy to add your friends to various circles and customize both your view of their news feed and allows you to select the content you share with your circles.

But, don’t take my word for it, here’s some great content from people wiser than me that’s worth reading:

One of my favorite movies last year was “The Social Network,” and in a lot of ways, I feel like we are in the early days of “The Facebook.” There’s still some kinks in the system, it’s not perfect, everyone isn’t fully-connected yet but there’s room for infinite possibilities. We have no way of predicting where this will be in a few months or in the next year.

Google underwhelmed us with Wave and Buzz, but I feel like they are right on target for redefining the social web experience with Google+.

For church communications folks,  you would be well-advised to get ahead of the curve on this one. Who knows how this could be leveraged for churches or how the church could use it to empower our people to spread the word?

The entire social web revolution is in many ways a 21st century return to the roots of our faith. Our faith was a grassroots movement. There was no marketing or fanfare, only a group of people who knew they had something they needed to share with the entire world. Our faith spread from person-to-person from household-to-household, from city-to-city to the ends of the earth. All we see and experience today is a return to that personal sharing and telling of our story, from individuals to their networks, circles, and friends.

Google+ is a new platform and opportunity for us to consider what’s next.

We’ve got the greatest message worth sharing and we would be taking it and sharing it wherever people are… offline or online.

What about you? What are your thoughts on Google+?

Let’s Circle up! Add me on Google+!

Not on Google+ yet? I’ve got some invites, so drop a comment and I’ll try to an invite to as many of you as possible.

Viral Faith and The Thank You Economy

by Tim Schraeder on 03/22/2011 in Social Media with 21 Comments

I read a lot of books. Since I focus on communication and helping the church communicate more effectively I read a lot of books about marketing, social media and business. Reading them through the lens of the church can be fun, translating words like “customers” to “congregation,” “business” or “organization” to “church,” etc. There’s many good books out there but every once in awhile I come across a great book, one that I know is going to be a game-changer for church leaders [even though I hate using that phrase]. Last year when I read REWORK I knew it would be one that church leaders would need to pay attention to, so I did a few blog posts about it. And this year, especially for the arena of church communications, I want to point your attention to The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuck. I believe this is the defining book for church communication leaders in 2011 [besides Outspoken, which is coming soon!].

If you don’t know what it means to “crush it,” or don’t follow @GaryVee on twitter you need change that quickly. Gary is a leading voice in social media, focusing on how it’s changing the way companies do business, manage marketing, and maintain relationships with their customers. Don’t let those words scare you. The reality is we are in a different world and in an odd way, for the Church, it’s a turning back to the way things used to be.

We come from a viral faith.

The early Church wasn’t built with traditional marketing.  John the Baptist trekked through the wilderness in a unique wardrobe and diet to announce that Jesus was coming… there weren’t billboards or direct mail campaigns to spread the word. When Jesus was born, there wasn’t a TwitPic from the stable in Bethlehem of Mary holding baby Jesus. Angels had to appear to shepherds to announce Jesus’ birth, there weren’t text alerts back then. A star guided the wise men to Jesus and his family, there was no GPS or GoogleMaps. No one was live blogging or tweeting about the #SermonontheMount. There were no live broadcasts of the miracles or teachings of Jesus streamed online. You couldn’t send an evite or join a meetup group whenever Jesus was coming town.

The word about Jesus was spread by people… individuals who had encountered Jesus. Once they met Him they couldn’t help but spread the word to everyone else. It’s funny, there was even an instance when Jesus healed someone and He specifically told them to tell no one. I’m sure there’s a deep theological reason why He said that, but part of me likes to think that it was for the sake of the crowds that would flood to see Him if the word spread. Regardless, word spread and it spread fast. People showed up in masses to see, hear, and experience this man that everyone was talking about. And it wasn’t just a few or a few hundred, it was thousands.

After His resurrection, Jesus commanded all of His followers to go and spread His message and promised help, the Holy Spirit, to empower them to be witnesses. Long story short: the Spirit shows up, things get a little crazy, people from all around the world who just so happened to be in Jerusalem for Pentecost hear the Gospel in their own language, 3,000 people accept Christ, and from there the rest is history. Our faith spread… from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth and people have not stopped telling the story ever since. The word was spread from person to person, from household to household.

In marketing terms, our faith spread virally. Throughout the past 2,000 years the message has remained the same while the medium of communicating it has changed. New innovations and technologies helped amplify and extend our message. The printed press gave us our own copies of the Bible and birthed the Reformation. And in more modern times, broadcasting… well, I’m not sure how positive Christian broadcasting has been, but I digress. Regardless, the main thing that has fueled our faith spreading is individual people who have been courageous enough to tell the Story. Some people have lost their lives proclaiming it and others have given their life to keep spreading the message. It’s a mandate that all of us as believers are called to fulfill, and today the way we communicate and spread our message is changing every single day.

Social media isn’t a fad and it isn’t going away.

Social media is changing the way we interact, engage, share information, tell stories, and make everyday decisions. Think of the last movie you went to see, the last book you read, the restaurant you checked out last weekend… chances are you made those decisions based on what someone recommended to you. We don’t go by what marketers tell us, we trust the voices of our friends and social networks. Marketing has had to change dramatically and is becoming increasingly social. It’s no longer what companies or businesses say about themselves that matters, it’s what the individual customers say that sways public opinion. We have a voice.

Beyond the tremendous changes its brought to business and marketing, social media’s ability to spread news and idea is undeniable. From sparking revolutions to sharing news and information and literally saving lives during natural disasters, it’s become a new way of channeling information and breaking news even before the “news” even knows there’s breaking news.

And the thing that’s crazy is that we’re only a few years deep into this. Twitter just celebrated its 5th birthday yesterday.Facebook has only been around for 7 years. We have no idea what’s possible or what’s next. But we do know that things will never be the same.

For us as church leaders, all of this represents the return to how our faith began… people connecting people. Friends telling their friends. Person to person, household to household. It’s a return to the viral roots of our faith. I believe this presents churches with an incredible opportunity to engage and interact with their congregations and communities, and ultimately, to see our message reach people we would have never been able to reach before.

Corporations and businesses understand that in order to survive you’ve got to change. In order to be heard you need to stop broadcasting and start listening. And I believe that if the church wants to make strides and reach more people in today’s world it should look at the opportunities opened up through social media as a gift from God and discern how to steward it wisely.

So stepping off my soapbox and into the world of the Thank You Economy… in this book Gary paints a picture of what the future of communication looks like, and it’s not a distant future, it’s a reality we are living in today. In this book we’re presented with some amazing things to consider as we stand on the cusp of this cultural revolution. We can either be on the leading edge of this or be racing to catch up later. But the truth of the matter is that this new shift is going to impact your church at some level in the not-so-distant future if it’s not already.

Awhile ago I said that I believe that churches that fail to go online would run the risk of going offline… and in a short amount of time a lot has changed. It’s not about just being online anymore… it’s about being present, active and engaged. I believe that churches that fail to engage in social media will be left out of the conversation and miss one of the most significant opportunities we have to share and spread the message of the Gospel.

There, I said it.

Has the church grown and flourished without it? Of course. Will the Church keep on prevailing, with or without it? Yes, because Jesus said it would. But, I believe that just as the printed press ushered in the Reformation, that the Thank You Economy, the new way of connecting and engaging with people through social networks, presents us with one of the greatest opportunities we have to reach the world with the truth of Jesus Christ.

It’s not about getting your church on Twitter. It’s not about designing a cool Facebook page. It’s not about offering deals on Foursquare to first-time visitors. Although, for some of your churches that may be part of the solution. It’s about recognizing the cultural shift that’s taking place where we do less talking and more listening; where we create content that’s easily shared and spread; and it’s about being willing to tread in unfamiliar territory and see the web and social media as new means of engaging with people and leveraging online conversations to create offline relationships and connections. It’s a new mission field. And our challenge as communications leaders is to understand where conversations are happening in our unique contexts and to begin leveraging those platforms to connect people in our communities with our local churches and ultimately into relationship with Christ.

Over the next few days I’ll share some thoughts and reflections from The Thank You Economy, give away a few copies of the book, and hopefully spur some productive dialogue around a topic I think is important for communications leaders in churches to engage in.

In a nutshell, The Thank You Economy says:

  • Care with everything you’ve got.
  • Don’t be afraid of what’s new or unfamiliar.
  • Speak your customers language.
  • Allow your customers to help you shape your brand but never allow them to dictate the direction in which you take it.
  • Build a sense of community around your brand.
  • Play Ping-Pong between traditional media and social media.
  • Aim for quality engagements, not quantity.
  • Use shock and awe to blow your customers’ minds and get them talking.
  • Remind customers why they should care about your brand.
  • If you’re small, play like you’re big; if you’re big, play like you’re small.
  • Don’t be afraid to crawl before you run.

Those ideas may seem very corporate or scary, but don’t worry, over the next few days I’ll translate them into Christianese for you.

So what’s your personal take on social media as it relates to the church? Do you think it’s good for churches to use social media? I would love to hear your thoughts. Share them below and I’ll buy one of you a copy of The Thank You Economy today. Submit your answer by 5 PM CST today and I’ll randomly pick a winner.

Dawn Nicole Baldwin on 5 Ways Social Media Can Kill Your Brand

by Tim Schraeder on 12/02/2010 in Church Communications, Social Media with 3 Comments

Dawn Nicole Baldwin is a strategist with a passion to help churches reach people more effectively. She lives this out as founder and lead strategist of AspireOne and as a senior partner with Jarbyco, a mobile communications firm specializing in live events that works with organizations such as Park Community Church, Lifechurch.tv and Youth Specialties.

A former staff member of Big Idea Productions [creators of VeggieTales] and Willow Creek, Dawn Nicole frequently contributes to today’s leading-edge thinking of integrating Christianity and culture but is best known as a change agent who is intent on stretching imaginations, connecting people and making a difference.

Dawn participated in the M2LIVE webinar series sharing on 5 Ways Social Media Can Kill Your Brand. Here’s my notes and you can check out Dawn’s here.

  • Over 500 billion minutes per month are being spent on Facebook.
  • One of the fastest-growing demographics is middle-aged women.
  • Twitter is growing fastest in the age 12-16 demographic.
  • People are now connecting with brands through social media.
  • Everything is moving mobile.
  • Over 30% of people who are connecting to social media are doing it through their smartphones and mobile devices.
  • Hear how Park is using texting.
  • Technology can be leveraged for “holy” things.
  • Some churches are allowing people to text in prayer requests.

1 – To be unprepared

  • Organizations are rushing into the space out of a fear of being left behind.
  • Since social media is free, many people are jumping into it without thinking about why.
  • “If you fail to plan you are planning to fail.”
  • Being unprepared will kill your brand.
  • So many people are throwing darts without a bulls eye in mind.
  • We have to have a clear, defined target.
  • Planning is a key component of effectively using social media.
  • There is no perfect fix.

2 – Having the wrong people lead it.

  • Social media channels can get delegated down to the wrong person.
  • It’s not the job for a tech person… they often don’t have the larger picture in mind.
  • You need to look at social media as one of the first ways your church interacts with the public.
  • Whoever is spearheading you communication channels needs to be involved in the flow of social media.
  • Social media isn’t a siloed function of organizations.
  • You have to have a cohesive identity in how you are expressed in social media.
  • The people you put in leadership of social media will be “brand ambassadors” for your organization.
  • Social media isn’t a task to tackle.
  • It’s not an item on your checklist.
  • Communications is another channel to deliver your vision.

3 – It’s not set it and forget it.

  • It’s not uncommon for organizations to set up multiple accounts but have no one championing it.
  • “If you build it they will come” doesn’t work anymore.
  • If you build it, they expect a response.
  • Silence on social media is worse than not having a social media presence.
  • Every communications channel has its own rhythm.
  • Content is king when it comes to blogs.
  • Audience interaction determines the rhythm of other channels.
  • Check Facebook and twitter hourly and daily and respond when appropriate.
  • It changes the way we communicate and will impact our daily activities.
  • Social media isn’t something everything should do.
  • How does it fit around what you do well?

4 – Not Adding Value

  • SPAM applies to content.
  • People are looking value.
  • Don’t just repeat what people have already heard.
  • Leverage it to give new, relevant information to your audience.
  • It’s not about YOU, it’s about your audience.
  • How can you meet their needs?
  • Social media is a two-way conversation.
  • It’s also a listening tool to connect with your audience.
  • You don’t have to always know the answer.

5 – Expecting miracles.

  • Technology isn’t the end-all-be-all.
  • Social media isn’t a substitute for other media channels.
  • Print still has a place in most places.

Some examples of social media impact:

Closing Thoughts

  • People have always had conversations but social media gives people a public platform to amplify them.
  • Google removed front doors. It made everything accessible.
  • Don’t get overwhelmed… you don’t have to do everything at once.
  • Think through what you want to accomplish and how it fits who you are as a church.
  • Does it matter to the people you are trying to reach?
  • Planning will help your efforts become more fruitful and effective.
  • Choose channels that are manageable. Try one at a time.
  • Experiment and let people know about it.
  • Experimenting gives you freedom to adjust.
  • Don’t be afraid to collect information.
  • Don’t be afraid to ask people questions to find the right channel.
  • Conversation beats everything.
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