Navigating the Unknown:Using Social Media for MinistryA Northeast Pennsylvania ELCA Synod Communications Workshop with Meredith GouldOctober 11, 2014

Use #chsocm to tweet content from this workshop. Twitter handle: @meredithgould.

© Meredith Gould 2014

“As for me and my house,we will serve the Lord.”

─ Joshua 24:15

Essentials About Me . . .

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Session One . . .

Frameworks for Understanding: Barriers to Social Media Success Reality Check re: Virtual Community

Feel free to ask questions as they occur to you.

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Reality Check . . .

Over and done with conversation:

Should we use social media?

New conversation:

Which social media tools should we use?How and when should we use them?

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Reality Check . . .

1st Grade Assignment (2014)What should be on

your digital footprint? Being safe – not sharing info. Making good choices about games. Being nice and polite. Asking adults for help.

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Ongoing barriers to social media adoption . . .

Fear Technology Culture change

Misconceptions. Unrealistic expectations. Skipping past strategy and tactics. Disconnect between strategy and tools. Obsession with metrics. The “we’ll fix it someday” website.

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Current Realities. . .

Digital technology has changed how we understand: Time and timing Identity and Authenticity Privacy Leadership and authority

Digital technology itself is always changing.

Welcome to the new mission field!

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Remember this . . .

Whatever happens face-to-face will also happen online.

Virtual community is real community!

“. . . for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”─ Galatians 3:28

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This new conversation about social media requires: Thinking strategically. Crafting tactics. Choosing tools. Integrating communications across all

digital platforms.

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Coming up on a break, but first:Which barrier(s) do you face?

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Session Two:

Strategic Framework: Defining Strategy Audience(s) Goal(s) Message(s)

Crafting Tactics Hands-on Exercise: Strategic Planning

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Again this new conversation requires: thinking strategically, crafting tactics, choosing tools, and integrating communications across

platforms.

Let’s clarify some terms . . .

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Strategy:Reaching out to who and why.

Tactics:When and how to connect.

Tools:Which digital platforms.

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Audience(s)

ASK and ANSWER

Who are these people?Where online are they?

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Audience(s)Reality Check:

Primary audience needs to be: current membership, and frequent visitors.

Secondary audience needs to be people: curious about your congregation, and seeking a new church home.

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Goals(s)

ASK and ANSWER

What do we want people to learn?What do we want people to do?How will we accomplish this?

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Goal(s)Reality Check:

Must be anchored in realities about: who attends church or wants to (SBNRs), where people experience/live their faith, best practices for digital tools, and how your audience(s) learn.

Must have a reasonable likelihood of being achieved.

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Message(s)

ASK and ANSWER

What do we want people to know about us?Are our messages jargon-free?Are our messages actionable?

Will congregants be able to convey key messages?

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Message(s)Reality Check:

Every church makes these claims: Jesus is Lord, they’re welcoming, and exciting things are happening.

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Tactic(s)

ASK and ANSWER

Do we know what we’re already doing?Have we audited existing communications?

What are our resources?

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TacticsReality Check:

Must know: when audience(s) online, and resources for social media management.

How does your church follow the liturgical calendar?

Will leadership and congregants serve as brand ambassadors?

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My best advice for strategy and tactics:

Complete a communications auditbefore completing a strategy document.

Develop strategy before crafting tactics or choosing digital tools.

Memorialize the strategy document in writing.

Cultivate Brand Ambassadors and equip them with digital tools.

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Coming up onlunch, but first . . .

Let’s create a strategic plan! Get out your work sheet Go! Stuck? Questions? Ask and receive

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Let There Be Lunch!

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Session Three:

Choosing Tools Wisely & Well: Choosing Tools Using Tools Effectively Sticking to Your Plan

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Choosing digital tools involves…

knowing how each platform works, ensuring social media accounts will be

managed and monitored, and being willing to try, fail, and try

something else.

And then, integrating communications across all digital platforms.

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My recommendations…

Social media toolkit must include:Facebook

Pinterest

Instagram

Blogging platforms:

Social media toolkit might include:

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Media ManagementReality Check:

Managing social media requires decisions: Social media accounts: how many and which ones, individual or collaborative, and resource allocation.

How many (and who)will be responsible for: creating content, posting content, engaging with visitors, participating in hashtag chats, and managing and monitoring.

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Managing accounts…

• Tweetdeck • Hootsuite • Buffer Also:

• Clean up regularly!

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Measuring Engagement…

Do not:

generate unrealistic expectations, measure what cannot be measured, confuse “clicks” and “bounce rates” with

the realities of faith formation.But go ahead and check stuff!

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Coming up on a break, but first:Which tools: have been working? do you need to try? do you need to ditch?

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Session Four:

Making Sure Your Website Works:

Content Management Systems (CMS) Integrated social media (brand identity) Sample websites

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One of the biggest barriers to social media adoption:

The “we’ll fix it someday” website

Weak or no communications strategy. Misperceptions about what’s needed. Lack of resources. Inertia laced with fear.

Why? Because . . .

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Church WebsiteReality Check:

People visit church websites to find: worship times, address and directions, staff names, phone numbers, email addresses, information about baptisms, weddings, funerals,

religious education, calendar of and (maybe) registration for events,

and other ways to participate.

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Church WebsiteReality Check:

Churches need websites that are: Created with non-proprietary CMS “Responsive design” Easy to edit (WYSIWYG) and manage Inexpensive to set up and maintain

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Components of User Experience (UX):

Navigation – How visitors find stuff Functionality – Stuff visitors can do Design – How stuff is displayed Content – Stuff visitors learn about

Essential Step:

Get your website in sync with current best practices for navigation, functionality, design and content.

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Checklist for website navigation:

5-7 clearly labeled, descriptive tabs? Minimal drop-down menus? Tabs/content open in a new window? Content distributed in logical/intuitive ways? Links to internal as well as external content? Strong “call to action” to engage via social media?

Do not let clever eclipse clarity.

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Checklist for website functionality:

Linked to social media platforms? Linked to Google calendar? Google maps? “Robust” search? E-newsletter sign-up? Event registration? Donate button? E-mail to staff? Contact form?

Do not load your website with functionality visitors don’t want/need.

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Checklist for website design:

Responsive design? Color palette consistent across all platforms? Web stable and readable fonts? Key information in header and footer? Dominated by pictures? Sliders?!?

Do not make your design so trendy that it’ll be obsolete within a year.

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Integrity Alert:

www.pixabay.comwww.flickr.com/creativecommonswww.commons.wikimedia.orgwww.picjumbo.com

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Checklist for website content:

(Relatively static) information? Brief, informative content? Downloadable documents, forms, applications? Directions and contact information?

Do not burden website visitors with stuff they neither want nor need.

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Best practices for distributing content: On website: (Relatively static) Information Downloadable documents, forms,

applications Directions and contact information

On e-newsletter: Time-sensitive news and announcements

With social media: Conversations and community-building Picture albums and pictures Event invites and follow-up

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Also known as “branding” or“maintaining brand identity.”

Integrated digital communications:

1) Style and tone are consistent acrosseach and every platform.2) Each and every platform invites engagement with each and every other platform.

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What brand identity looks like…

www.slateproject.org

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What brand identity looks like…

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Checklist for integrated digital communications:

Logo used across platforms? Color palette consistent across platforms? Sub-brands coherent? Content distributed appropriately? Strong “call to action” within and between

every platforms?

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What a “call to action” looks like…

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Sample websites…

Emmanuel Lutheran Church (Souderton, PA) St. John’s Lutheran Church (Lakewood, WA) St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (Baltimore, MD) Delaware Maryland Synod ELCA The Slate Project (Baltimore, MD) The Episcopal Church of St. Michael the Archangel

(Lexington, KY)

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My best counsel for social media success . . .

be grounded in your faith, be committed to using social media to be

and do church beyond the building, be open to learning from others using

social media, and don’t make Jesus weep!

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It’s Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Now what? What do you need to do? How will you move forward? When will you get started?

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