This past weekend I had the opportunity to share at a gathering of United Methodist Church leaders near Washington DC. I shared 4 things I think church leaders need to know about church marketing. Below are some notes and videos I shared with them. Enjoy!
All posts tagged social media
Twitter Stories
I can say without reservation that Twitter has changed my life.
Well, the actual application itself hasn’t changed my life, but the connections, opportunities and relationships that have been a part of my life the past four years [yeah, I was a nerd in 2007 when I joined] were in many ways a result of my engagement on Twitter. It’s pretty hard for me to imagine my life without Twitter and the good it has created in my life, both personally and professionally.
Thanks to Twitter, I’ve been connected with people I would have never had the opportunity to meet before and have people in my life who I would consider to be close friends that I haven’t even met in person yet. Projects like Outspoken and the Cultivate Conference would have never been possible without the Twitter community of church communications people backing it. My friendship with people like Jason Fried would have never been possible if it weren’t for Twitter [that's a crazy story I'll have to tell you sometime]. And, from my days @ParkChurch, there were countless stories of how people found out about Park through Twitter.
Twitter is a a simple tool but the good that it instigates and creates is non-negotiable.
Twitter launched a new initiative today that I’m already in love with: @twitterstories… real-life stories of how Twitter has created good, connected people, saved lives, given people a voice, and sparked movements. It’s beautiful, worth following and definitely worth the time to read.
And, being a church communications guy let me say this…
First, if your church or church leaders are hesitant to embrace social media, let this be yet another example of why it works and why it matters… you and your church MUST engage with social media. Just forward a few of these stories to your skeptics and see what they say. And use these stories as examples of ways your church could reach out and connect with people in your community. Creating good is just a part of “loving our neighbor as ourself.” Twitter puts you in direct connection with your neighbors and your community in ways that were never imaginable before. There are countless examples of how churches are leveraging this simple platform and reaching people with the Gospel.
Second, this again illustrates the power of storytelling. Stories create powerful human connection. Instead of just sharing statistics or information, this site brings the human side to the good being created by Twitter. It’s much more moving than some analytics. The stories are moving and give Twitter humanity beyond the technology… imagine if your church could create a similar platform for people to share their stories? Just some food for thought.
Thanks, Twitter for all you do. I’m a believer. Thanks for sharing these amazing stories and for giving us space to tell them.
Social Media :: AND Conference
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+
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:
- Google+: The Complete Guide – everything you need to know
- 10 Things CMOs Need To Know About Google+
- How Google+ Can Beat Twitter
- For the churchy-types: The Pluses of Google+ for Church Leaders
- Is Google+ The Ultimate Content Marketing Platform?
- Google will not run Circles around Facebook, but it gets a +1
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.
