I’m Quirky Like That…

I had a new first time experience while at WFX: someone who follows me on Twitter was asking about where we as a group were going to eat. This person chimed in and said, “well, I know Anthony doesn’t like Greek, so Gyros are out!”

Now here’s the really interesting part: this person and I had NEVER MET in person until that day.

So, how’d he know my aversion to Greek food? He’s read my blog and followed my tweets. Somewhere along the way, he remembered me saying something about my dislike of Greek food.

Though this is a very small and mostly insignficant fact, the big take-away is that the power of social networks allow us to get to know people without ever meeting them in person. Perhaps this was best exampled by the “tweet ups” we did where conversations happened easily and bonds were already formed by our online interactions well before we’d ever met In Real Life (IRL).

How has social networking impacted you with IRL meetings?

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Help Churches Understand Twitter

More often than not I try to share freely from my experiences and give you a lot of useful info, links and content. But for this request, I’m asking for a favor from you.

I’m asking for you to help promote my E-Book “The Reason Your Church Must Twitter” to your friends and peers. You can simply share the link “TwitterForChurches.com” and they can download the E-Book there. Best of all, it’s a ministry-friendly price of only $5 (five bucks)!

Blog it. Tweet it. Just share it. Thank you for helping me promote this resource!

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Understanding, Measuring & Leveraging Social Media

Today I asked the following question on Twitter:

Would your church spend $250 per month to measure, track & engage what’s being said or asked about your church/ministries across social media?

The responses were nearly identical: “No, we don’t need that. We can get that information for free with Google Analytics.”

Oh, if it were only that easy. Well, in a sense, it is – if you only want limited statistics. But there’s more to measurement than click-thrus and page loads.

In fact, I’m using some amazing software from Radian6 that allows me to compare, analyze, report and engage with people using social media. Measurement is good, but we need a way to connect, share and relate.

Measuring More Than Numbers

Let’s use an analogy everyone in church is familiar with: attendance numbers.

While it’s helpful to measure total attendance during weekend services, it’s more helpful to know who was there, what service they went to, if they volunteered, where they volunteered, how often they come to the services, how much (if anything) they give financially, what small groups they’re involved with and what kind of growth (i.e., life-change) they’ve experienced.

It’s good to know who showed up. It’s better to know more about those people than the fact that they’re a warm body in an empty seat.

With Social Networks, measuring page views, number of Twitter followers and the quantity of Facebook friends is a very narrow metric system. Many of the answers to my question were based on the fact that, yes, it’s easy and free to get basic stats. But to actually have a cross section of data points (measurement across all social networks simultaneously) and the ability to track, measure and actually engage with people from those metrics is where the strategic value provides a strong social networking strategy.

After all, social networks are: A) social - meaning connections, conversations and relationships; and B) networks – meaning an exponential reach.

Churches Need an Online Strategy

Many pastors I talk with ask a very simple yet very relevant question:

“Why should our church care about social networking?”

The answer is simple: because the local church is best at reaching out to people. What happens inside the four walls of the church (relationship building, community, sharing, support & encouragement) is exactly what happens on social networks! Therefore, the church is best equipped to do exactly what they do offline, online via web and social media.

Without an online communications strategy, a church will spend a lot of time trying to use a social networks as a marketing vehicle rather than as a relational connection. That strategy will require more than baseline metrics; it will require an ability to measure, track & engage with people online proactively.

Use the free measurement tools all you want, but until your church has a way to not only see metrics, but measure holistically, accurately and in real-time, you’re still just counting heads!

Putting a Price on Relationships

If a church could find conversations, answer questions, build relationships, establish a reputation for being personal and relevant, what would that be worth? How do you measure the value of helping people get connected into a local body of believers? I think most churches spend quite a lot on it! Just look at all of the hard costs (salaries, facilities, technology, supplies, etc.) and soft costs (time, volunteer coordination, content creation, etc.) that goes into each and every weekend at churches.

I think there’s a better way. I think churches can do more than passively count click-thrus. I think the answer is in developing an online communications strategy, and I’m here to do it for them or show them how. It’s time for churches to embrace the digital culture!

If you’re  ready to learn how, let’s set up a phone conference and find the right strategy for your church. Just email me: anthony AT anthonycoppedge.com

Go ahead and share your thoughts below.

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