Social media is a buzzword that has been circulating for a while now, and I think it is about time I write a series that really digs into how your church can harness its power. If your church dabbled in social media before and got no results, that singular and probably disjointed venture left a bad taste in your mouth. Perhaps you have yet to do anything because you are afraid to venture in. Many churches think it will consume too much time, and pastors and leadership shy away from it. The worst scenario is that you think it is a waste of time, with no measurable or tangible results. Regardless, please give church social media another glance as we look at it from a more integrated and strategic perspective.
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Tag: Social Media
CWS Podcast – Ep. 28: Get Your Church Known
Just having a church website is not enough today. You need to be proactive in your quest to get your church seen and heard on the internet. So what methods can you use to accomplish this? I propose you initially cove three primary bases; search engines, mapping services, and social media. These three are often very entangled, so spearheading efforts on all of them at once is often very easy and can generate awesome synergy to get your church known to the rest of the Internet.
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CWS Podcast – Ep. 18: Creating a Great Contact Us Page
Most service organization have two main conversion points, request for information and donations. I have articles on both, but this episode will deal with the first and undoubtedly easier problem. I believe that the majority of information funnels on your website ultimately lead to a conversion point where you ask the visitor to contact someone. From church events to membership; you want that personal contact to ensure they get all of their questions answered and hopefully move them on to that next step. I will outline the various contact methods, and provide tips on properly presenting each.
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Serving on a Church Website Team
So you want to be a web geek for us? Many smaller churches jump at the opportunity to bring someone into the fold and help volunteer their time and talent. Yet in 1 Timothy 3:1-13, Paul outlines some very specific things you should consider before bringing them into your ranks. How can you apply them to your website team?
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Because of You: Honoring Disciple Makers
If you are a Christian, without a doubt someone has stepped into your life to help you along with your journey in faith. As that faith matures, many enjoy a look back on their progress. With those reflections, we internally thank those that helped us. Someone, pastors, church staff, volunteers, parents, friends; someone invested in discipling you. This article will explore the idea of using technology to publicly and privately offer thanks to those that helped you grow.
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CWS Podcast – Ep. 13: Determining ROI (Part 4): From Analytics to Project
This week’s episode will finalize our journey into analytics as I settle on one method to turn analytics data into an actionable projects. It should be a relief that you can finally do something other than collect data and then make a few educated guesses. It is time for some deeper analysis and the creation of test projects. The end result is hopefully a successful project that was initiated because of solid data rather than shaky conjecture.
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CWS Podcast – Ep. 9: Documenting Your Church History on the Web
In this episode I delve into how your church web properties can serve as an archive of interesting and useful historical data. This podcast is based on my article “Documenting Your Church’s History“. I updated and restructured it to further explore the content you wish to archive, some of the associated costs, and finally the many benefits of documenting church history on the web.
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CWS Podcast – Ep. 8: Why Even Have a Website?
We consider many things in life necessary to survival. In our culture, a car is often considered essential to living life. Yet if you live in a city such as New York where there is a significant infrastructure of subways and busses, cars are almost seen as a burden. So with the availability of web properties in social media; why even have a website?
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Copy and Paste with Pride
The difference between inspiration and plagiarism is a fine line. However, walking that line helps you create inspiring and engaging experiences as quickly as possible. This article will feature a few ways you can safely draw ideas from around the Internet. In other words, copy and paste with pride.
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CWS Podcast – Ep. 7: A Few More Tips on Photography
Last week’s episode originally had many more ideas and topics; but time constraints kept me to just the area of stock and custom photography. This week I will talk about some mechanics of photographs as well as a few tips and ideas for making photographs work with your website design. They need to compliment and serve your site, not just sit on top of it.
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More Than A Website: Internet Ministry
Various technologies can be used to share the message of the Gospel. What is your church using? Many will argue it is not as authentic as face-to-face conversations. However, the ability to reach a global audience with inexpensive tools cannot be ignored.
Helping Others Deal With Tragedy
How does the church respond when calamity strikes, be it in their neighborhood, or around the world? When people are grieving, they often turn to the church for support; seeking refuge in God’s love. Is your website readily equipped to offer this comfort and do you have a social media policies to help govern your responses in that space? If there is any doubt, read on.
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