Social Media & Churches: Stuck In Tactical

Facebook page? Check.

Twitter account? Check.

Doing more than posting status updates or re-tweeting the pastor? Uhhhhmm…

Those are all good actions and activities, but as checklists go, they’re simply tactical. That’s motion without progress; or, if there is progress, how can you know if it’s in the right direction or getting the right results?

The 30/50/20 Rule I outlined for pastors in my previous post is partially tactical, but it’s built around the idea that pastors will start to see value (ROtI – return on their time investment, which is minimal) through conversations. However, to fully take advantage of Social Media is to see beyond the actions and tasks and engage the individuals using these near real-time technologies.

7 Crucial Elements of Social Media ROI for Churches

I will briefly touch on these, as it’s too much information to put into a single blog post.

1) Know How Social Media Integrates the Vision of Your Church

2) Decide What’s Measureable – and What’s Not

3) Define ROM (Return On Ministry)

4) Which Metrics Matter?

5) Empower Every Ministry with Tools & Training

6) Drive People to Decisions

7) Share Success Stories

Having a strategy for your church’s social media efforts goes beyond the tactical and produces a plan to do something with the opportunity. Deciding to measure the return on investment (mostly, time, since churches are not selling product or service) will take time, effort and above all, consistency. However, the results can be very impressive when a strategy is employed.

Learning from the business world helps give context to this kind of dedication, consistency and effort. The folks over at MarketingSherpa polled 3,342 consumer and B2B (Business-to-Business) marketers, giving us valuable insights about how these firms are using social media to engage audience, build brand, generate leads and drive sales. Based on the survey results, the overall average ROI reported by those who are measuring it is 95 percent. One-quarter said they have achieved 100 percent ROI. Higher percentages were reported, too. Twelve percent said they have achieved 200 percent ROI; two percent reported 1,000 percent ROI.

While local churches aren’t looking to generate sales, they are interested in connecting with their communities (loosely translated as “leads” in the business world). The principle here is the point: a consistent social media strategy will yield results.

How is your church approaching social media? With a more tactical or strategic mindset? What have been your success stories and learnings?

Twitter This

Twitter Account Name: Password:

Pastors & Twitter: My 30/50/20 Rule

If your pastor is new to Twitter or hasn’t found a good rhythm of how to use it, try my 30/50/20 rule for Pastors on Twitter:

30% message application: drop hints in your weekend message that you’ll be tweeting life application from the sermon topic every day for the upcoming week.

50% family/personal life: people want to feel like they know their pastors. Since you live in a glass-house anyway, offer them the view you want to share as you live life transparently.

20% inspiration/information (including ReTweets): You don’t have all the answers, and you’re learning, too. Be human and share what’s inspiring/challenging you and who you’re learning from.

Twitter This

Twitter Account Name: Password:

Study: Mobile Makes Life Easier

More data continues to add to the pile of information that’s showing how mobile connections are shaping the lives and habits of Americans. According to the Performics 2011 Mobile Search Insights Study, conducted by ROI Research,  57% of us use the mobile Web more than once every day, with a whopping 77% of us using mobile search more than five times in the last month.

Overwhelmingly, satisfaction and adoption of mobile search holds true throughout the study:

• 75% said mobile search makes their lives easier
• 63% said access to mobile search has changed the way they gather information
• 32% said they use mobile search more than search engines on their computers

81% of respondents reported evening use of mobile search at home, 80% reported weekend use, and 59% reported use before work while 61% reported using mobile search at work.

Churches, the future is now and it’s on the mobile. I just can’t say this enough: rethink how people are finding your church, activities and resources and make it easy for them to do it while on-the-go. Chances are, you’ll need to do at least a few of the following:

• Build out a mobile version of your church website
• Integrate your Small Group finder tool (a part of your church management software) for mobile browsing
  
• Conduct a poll and find out how many of your attendees use smart phones
• Use mass email tools that have a mobile version output
• Have people “check-in” to your church via Facebook or Foursquare when they arrive. Sharing this information creates free visibility to their friends who may not have a church home.

The future of mobile is wide open for churches. Think through how the life of your church can (and should) be anytime, anywhere for ministry.

Twitter This

Twitter Account Name: Password: