Can the cloud help ministries?

With the announcement of iCloud by Apple, cloud computing seems to have gone mainstream.  What was once a topic reserved for tech geeks and IT debates, is now being discussed by soccer moms and middle age men.  Cloud computing has been around for years but not until Apple announced it, did mainstream media truly embrace it.  It seems that when Steve Jobs says “it just works” then it’s easy enough for commoners to embrace it.

I was reading the following article http://www.cringely.com/2011/06/iclouds-real-purpose-is-to-kill-windows/ and this was an interesting take on how iCloud’s real purpose is to kill windows.  Now I don’t necessarily agree with that but I do like the fact that iCloud now brings virtual office software to the forefront.  Google Docs has been around for quite a few years and is a great solution to online documents.  In my opinion, Google Docs is much better prepared to kill Microsoft Office than Apple iCloud, but with mainstream adoption, iCloud does open the conversation for the next generation’s Office software.

The strategy of Apple’s iCloud as well as Google Docs is that they are embraced by the younger generation.  Generation X, Y and I, have access to Google Docs via their google accounts as well as Google’s integration into schools/colleges by offering Google Apps for free.  Likewise, with over 100 million iOS devices being used by numerous young people, iCloud will be available to them on their devices and thus they will take full advantage.  Now, the best part of this strategy is that when you get the young adults and youth to embrace your technology, when they become adult workers, CEO’s and teachers, they will utilize and implement the technology they are comfortable with which will be Google and Apple technology.  

In terms of ministry, virtual office software can help ministries operate more efficiently by allowing them to conduct business anywhere.  If a ministry has a staff of 5 or 500, virtual office software allows them to have the infrastructure of a major corporation for a fraction of the costs.  Google Apps, iCloud and boxnet.com (online storage provider), lets a ministry have email, word processsing, spreadsheets, powerpoint, project management, contact management and a variety of other online software that can be accessed from any device (computer, laptop, tablet, phone) via the internet.  Now the ministry doesn’t have to be done from an office, but can be done anywhere.  If you add in skype video conferencing then you can actually have meetings online and each member can be anywhere in the world.  

I know this is alot to take in but we are in a time now where business is done 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from anywhere in the world and the ministry needs to be able to compete and operate as an efficient business and utilize these tools.  The best part about these tools is that about 10 years ago, a corporation would have to pay tens of thousands of dollars to have these tools and it would all be connected to an office.  A company today can get them for a few hundred dollars and they can access it from any internet connected device, so instead of the employees coming to a location to do business, the business comes to them.  And that is the premise of iChurch, to take ministry to the people where they are at using technology.

Email Marketing is not Dead

I have been asked numerous times if "Email marketing is dead" and the answer is "absolutely not".  The best approach to email marketing now is to evolve it.  Take that e-blast and make it work on more levels now.  Integrate new media into the e-blast to make it more effective.  Repurpose that e-blast so that in addition to sending out a blast to people's email addresses, you also use that same content and send it out via social networks and other marketing methods to reach people that may not utilize their email.  Also, you want to make sure that your e-blasts incorporate text, images, video and links to make them much more engaging and interactive. Of course, keep in mind, e-blasts can not actually have video that plays in "all" email clients, but if you have a screen shot of the video inside the e-blast, then when people click the video screen shot, they will be taken to a landing page that should look identical to the e-blast, and they can play the video from there.

So, let's get specific, how should churches and ministries evolve their e-blast content? I'm glad you asked. First, as stated above, integrate optimized vivid images and videos into your e-blasts.  This form of content is very engaging and results in higher click thru's and response rate.  Next, in order to effectively evolve an e-blast you want to repurpose the e-blast content and send it out via other marketing channels such as social networks and blogs.  

So here is an example, ABC ministries has an e-blast for a monthly newsletter.  This newsletter is also located on their website at www.abcmin.org/newsletter/.  Therefore, here is what they can do:

1. E-blast the newsletter out using a service such as constant contact to their email list
2. Put up a new post on their Facebook Fan page saying that the monthly newsletter is out and put a link to it.
3. Send out a tweet from their twitter account saying that the monthly newsletter is out and put a link to it
4. Take the top articles from the newsletter and put blurbs from them on the ministry blog and then have a link back to the actual article in the newsletter from the blog.
5. If there are any videos in the newsletter they can be put on Youtube.com and the facebook fan page with a link back to the newsletter put in the description or on the actual video.

There are numerous other things that can be done to enhance the e-blast and market it but I just wanted to give a few examples to show that email marketing is alive and well, it’s just no longer the lone focus of a marketing strategy, it now has friends that can help market the ministry.

Who creates the social media content for the ministry?

I was reading a great article over at SocialMediaToday.com and I came across an article titled "Who is Creating Social Media Content in Your Organization?" This article was written with a business focus but it had a great point that can apply to the social media strategies of ministries. There is often an awkward silence when it comes to the question of "who creates the content for the ministry".

I am currently working with a ministry that is learning how to really embrace social media but the last hurdle to overcome was content creation. There seemed to be a disconnect in understanding who should create the content. There was a case that the marketing department should make it, there was a case that the web/social media person should make it, there was a case that the pastor should create it and there was a case that each department should generate their own content and somehow feed it to the social media sites.

Each of these approaches has a valid basis as a resource for social media content. If we look at a graphic from the article Who is Creating Social Media Content in Your Organization?", we can get a better idea of how businesses should approach social media content

"While the upper right is ideal – since the content will be the richest and most integrated because people knowledgeable about the brand are creating social media content – organizations can wind up in any other quadrant as well. Agencies can work in producing content; interns aren't great choices. Lawyers - who don't so much directly create content as create it by default through saying "yes" or "no" to what can be shared - are an even worse option."

Now if we take the approach of the infographic then we can make a case that the brand experts for the ministry are all of the above options that we mentioned earlier. The marketing department has the information to market the ministry, the pastor and pastoral staff can minister and provide social content, each department within the ministry may have content that can be distributed using social media and finally the web person that setup the social media page, especially in Facebook, can program and customize the page.

Overall, the content for the social media website should come from a variety of sources and be filtered to an individual social media manager who can facilitate what goes out and when. This scheduling process is highlighted in the book, The iChurch Method.

Social Media and the Church...can they work together to change the world?

I was surfing the Internet looking for social media videos to present at a conference. I wanted to provide a summary of social media and its impact on the Internet in such a short amount of time. A major ministry gave the conference and they are attempting to embrace technology, social media and how to utilize the Internet to preach the gospel to the world.
The first video I showed them was this:

The previous video was a good glimpse of social media, but sometimes people need to see things more than once to be convinced of its importance, thus I showed this video next.

Social Media has connected the world so quickly in such a short time that if the ministry learns to embrace it, the impact could be world changing! In the bible there is a great commission:

Matthew 28:16-20 ¹⁶ Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

When Jesus was preaching He had to go from city to city preaching His message, or one of His disciples would take the message to the masses. This process took time, and I am not talking hours, or even days, sometimes it took weeks and months to get a message out. Today, with the Internet and social media, we are able to instantaneously get our messages of the gospel to the masses. This instant, global communication empowers the church to effectively and efficiently fulfill the great commission and "go and make disciples of all nations".

But of course we must always keep in mind that social media is a two way street, so in addition to proclaiming the gospel to the masses, we must answer their inquiries and questions in order to help them understand the reason Jesus is the truth, the way and the life.

To reach them all, you must go mobile

A great internet church will go where everyone is, it is not limited to just the computer. The future of the interet church is going mobile. With more smart phones, tablets and mobile devices being released this year than any other prior year, there will be more mobile users than desktop/laptop computer users. With that being stated, ministry needs to happen on mobile phones as well.

Of course everything has to have a strategy first. There needs to be a vision for the mobile presence of a ministry and how it will further the ministry. Here is a great article from http://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=74897 that explains what mobile means for business and this has the same application in ministry. There is always a spiritual aspect that can be added to this strategy because ministry is more than just business but for the sake of the strategy, this is a great explanation of the impact of embracing mobile solutions.

Mobile Commerce: It’s More Than Just an iPhone App
Understanding what mobile means for your business

Mobile commerce is one of the most discussed, yet least understood, disciplines in commerce. What passes for mobile commerce today often amounts to little more than a simple iPhone application or a mobile-optimized Web site. Both of these are building blocks for a greater mobile commerce strategy, but they do not even begin to tap into the potential of the mobile platform.

Mobile truly has created an "always on" society, where people are online and accessible 24 hours per day. Mobile platforms have become more than simple communications devices; they are lifestyle assistants that enable people to connect, interact, inform, and influence. Because of this, they are also an incredibly valuable piece of the commerce puzzle; no other channel provides such a direct and continuous connection to customers and prospects.

Understanding mobile's strengths is critical to successfully incorporate mobile into the commerce equation. When implemented properly, mobile complements other channels, and vice versa. And yet, from a technology perspective, most mobile commerce initiatives today are either standalone efforts or "bolted on" technology to existing eCommerce platforms. Both approaches represent a problem: Mobile commerce is limited as a standalone function and can actually be counterproductive if it is not in sync with and appropriately integrated into other channels.

For example, an iPhone application that shows minimal product details and pricing is of limited use unless it includes a mechanism to drive customers to an online site or physical store where they can ask questions about and/or purchase the product. And it is of no use at all to the majority of customers who own Blackberrys, Android handsets, and other non-iPhone platforms. This is not to say there is anything wrong with iPhone applications that show product information and pricing, it just demonstrates that such an application does not an overall mobile commerce strategy make.

Unlocking Mobile's Potential

So how can you take advantage of the mobile channel and make it more impactful from both a customer communications AND a commerce standpoint?  There is a vast array of opportunities to drive business value immediately with mobile, without incurring unnecessary expense or complexity. Some of those opportunities include the following:

In-Store Shopping Applications: Mobile devices can become "virtual salespeople" by providing applications that enable customers to check product availability (both in-store and online), compare prices with other outlets, and access reliable product information. (Enabling price comparisons with other outlets seems counterintuitive, but it's actually beneficial because it can help to keep customers in-store to negotiate pricing rather than having them leave to check pricing elsewhere.)

Mobile Barcodes: Mobile barcodes are a powerful way to integrate mobile and in-store initiatives to drive customer engagement and in-store transactions. For example, when retailers enable mobile barcode functionality, customers can use the camera in their mobile phone to "scan" a picture of a barcode, which can then bring up a special landing page for that product or group of products. This can provide customers with instant product and pricing details and create opportunities for cross- or upselling. These same capabilities could also provide the ability to generate coupons or vouchers that encourage impulse buying in the store.

Location-Based Services: Also providing ways to drive in-store sales, mobile store-locator applications can guide customers to the nearest store, or the nearest store that has a specific product in inventory, and also provide coupons for use in-store.

Multichannel Engagement: Mobile can become the first point of contact with a potential customer, who can then be transferred to a different online or offline channel. For example, a coupon could be used as an incentive to download a mobile application, with the coupon redeemable at the online or brick-and-mortar store. Mobile is also a great way to provide customer updates. SMS messages, email, or automated phone calls can be used to notify customers of product availability or special promotions, driving them to stores, both online and physical, and providing them with vouchers to encourage purchases.

Closing the Sale: Actual mobile transactions have been slow to evolve, due primarily to security and technical considerations. Most of these issues have now been resolved, making mobile an appropriate channel for capturing customer information and executing transactions.

Today's mobile infrastructure has leapfrogged mobile commerce strategy, and mobile platform capabilities are progressing rapidly with the continuing proliferation of smart phones, powerful mobile browsers, and faster cellular networks. For this reason, mobile commerce must evolve beyond its current "iPhone app" phase of development to be most effective for businesses and their customers. The time has come for mobile to become a rich, multifunction commerce platform that drives traffic, sales, and customer satisfaction.

Great content is a necessity

I was watching TV this morning and this AT&T Uverse commercial came one, as I watching the commercial I was trying to figure out what exactly they were trying to sell. As the commercial progressed I noticed they kept saying the name "Marcel". Basically, this commercial was about all the shows, sporting events and anything on TV vying for our attention. They then showed a Uverse feature where you can watch four channels at one time, FOUR CHANNELS AT ONE TIME!

Four channels is a lot of content to consume by one consumer but it brings home a good point, if the content is good, people will not just want a little of it, they want a lot of it. With the advent of the internet (as well as cable) we have conditioned ourselves to consume a multitude of content. When I was young there were only about 13 total TV stations and no internet, thus I only consumed a small amount of content in a given day. On the other hand, today I will spend no less than 12 hours consuming content from the internet via my macbook, iphone, ipad, imac and at&t uverse cable. Therefore, as this commercial showcases, I can watch a channel that shows four channels at once and actually consume that content.

When it comes to your website, you have to offer a multitude of content. Not only do you need to offer content in quantity, but you have to offer it with quality. Therefore you need to offer relevant, informative and thought provoking content as well as update it often.

Content should be easy to understand and written in plain layman's terms in whatever language your ministry put its messages in. Your content should be free of spelling and grammatical errors so that the online reader can focus not the content and not get distracted by the errors.

Content should also be presented in variety and by that I mean in different formats. A good website should have text, images and video. When I was an instructional designer I learned something that I thought was common sense, people learn in different ways. Some people learn by reading, some learn by seeing and some learn by hearing. Thus if you present your content in multiple formats you can reach many more people.

Here are some examples of good content for ministries:

• Welcome video from Pastor
• Vibrant images of church, members and worship services
• Homepage text that details where the church is, service times, who the church is and what the church believes.
• Images of any products the pastor offers
• Video clips of services and sermons
• A detailed self help section for issues that church members or perspective members are facing or want to learn such as faith, finances, baptism, prayer and other topics.

What should a ministry put on Facebook?

This week I was introduced to a new blog called @stickyjesus by a buddy who sent me their "8 ways to use your social networks to increase your church's reach". I thought the article was great and to sum it up here are some of the great ways mentioned that you can increase your social media websites reach:

1. Post your church services.
2. Post quotes from the pastors sermon.
3. Post blogs from your church leaders.
4. Post special events.
5. Promote mission opportunities
6. Share, links, pictures and videos.
7. Be contagious, get as much out there as possible.

After reading this blog post, I recalled the key points I gave a few weeks ago at the 2011 Pastors and Leadership Conference I spoke at. The question I got was about Facebook fan pages, a participant asked "What are the best things to post and how often should I post?"

First things first, no matter if it's a website, social media site or a church bulletin, CONTENT IS KING! You want to provide as much engaging content as possible. Whether it's the content listed above or other content that your church provides, make sure you stay consistent and let the content flow. Now, let's answer the first part of the question above, "What are the best things to post?", well here are the best things, in numerical order:

1. Video - video is the most engaging form of content on the internet as well as Facebook fan pages. This multimedia format has quickly became the most influential and impactful format to get content out to your online users.

2. Links - links give people a call to action, this allows them to click to another page to get more information based on the headline or blurb that is located on your fan page.

3. Status update - Always a fan favorite, just a plain old status update with some information. Whether it's a motivational quote or a reminder about bible study, status updates are great ways to communicate on Facebook fan pages.

4. Photos - Photos are a great way to capture the moment. Continue to provide photos to your fans and they will comment on the great pictures you provide.

5. Questions - questions is a feature that is quickly rolling out on Facebook where you can ask questions to your fans and get instant feedback. This is not only a way to get important questions out to your fans but to also allow them to express their opinions to you. This two way interactive feature is a great representation of the essence of social networking.

Now that you have an idea of what to post, let's address the second part of the question, "how often should I post?". Well here is a good daily strategy:

1. Morning post (6am - 10am)
2. Late morning post (10am - 12pm)
3. Afternoon post (12pm - 3pm)
4. Mid-day post (3pm - 6pm)
5. Evening post (6pm - 10pm)
6. Overnight post (10pm - 6am).

You don't have to post as often as these 6 times suggest but this is a good start. This way you will start to be consistent on posting and start to develop a large fan base that wants to interact with your ministry.

Mobile is coming!

I came across this great blog by Jerod at Church Juice Blog - http://churchjuice.com/blog/think-mobile/. This is a great summation of my thoughts on churches and mobile websites. Keep in mind that I am not referring to mobile apps, those I will address later, right now I am talking about mobile websites because any good mobile strategy should start with a mobile website and progress to mobile apps.

Out of the 5 - 6 church websites that I visit often, only one has a mobile website and that is Lifechurch. Their website, which is located at http://m.lifechurch.tv is a great mobile website, easy to use, quick loading and gives me access to live and past services, which is one of the things I like most, I love watching video on my iphone.

Unfortunately, most churches outside of a few top megachurches, do not have mobile websites on their radar. They believe that they will need to put these websites up but for some reason they are not focusing on it now. It could be the costs of creating a mobile website (which can be minimal), the cost of updating a mobile website (which can be minimal) or they just don't have the time or expertise on staff to make it happen.

Well here is a good mobile strategy for any ministry.

1. Mobile website first. Mobile websites are versatile and can be viewed on any smart phone or mobile device with Webkit 2.0 (iOS, android, palm, windows 7, newer blackberries, etc..). Thus, if you are going to have a mobile strategy, you have to include a mobile website first before you jump right into mobile apps.

2. Mobile sites can be part of your current website. If you have a template or CMS (content management system) that is mobile friendly, then your website will be a mobile website as well as a regular website. Wordpress is a great example of this, you can add the wptouch plugin to convert your website into a mobile website.

3. Let flash go. Flash was great three years ago and having flash intros with images flying around and music playing in the background was a great visually stunning thing. Now that Apple has released millions of iOS devices (iphones and ipads and ipod touches) you have to create websites that can be viewed on these devices as well as other mobile devices. The answer is HTML5 and JavaScript (Jquery).

4. Start small with a mobile website. For a ministry this can be something as small as a homepage with location, service times and a logo. A live broadcast page where you can watch the service online or archived, and a mobile donation page.

And as Jerod over at Church Juice Blog - http://churchjuice.com/blog/think-mobile/ stated:

Yes, mobile really is worth thinking about.  It can be easy to say mobile strategy is an extra bonus, not a necessity for a website.  But research shows 1 out of 5 Americans use the mobile Internet every day.  That skyrockets to 62 percent when you look at people who own smartphones.  The prices are coming down for smartphones and the tablet market race has just begun.  The number of mobile web users will keep going up fast.

If you have any questions or want to know how to implement these solutions, contact us here

What role should social media play in the church's web strategy

I was doing an interview for a conference I was speaking at and a great question was posed to me. The question was "What role should social media play in the church's web strategy?" As I took a second to think about the question, I came to this conclusion. I believe that social media is a great outreach tool for ministry and should be treated as such. The church should use Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Youtube as additional ways to reach people and expand the online congregation, but not as a main focus of the online outreach as the website is utilized. Social Media is a great free tool but it is controlled by outside companies and should be considered as such, an outside tool for ministry. On the other hand, the church's website is owned by the ministry and should be the focus of all online ministry efforts, very similar to how outreach ministries are extensions of the local church. Online ministry efforts should mimic offline ministry efforts and here are great examples. The church's website (online) should be likened to the church's local building. This is the main place where people gather and get the majority of their ministry and information from the church. The online store is similar to the church's bookstore, a source for products that the church creates as well as other products the church considers important. Social Media is similar to the numerous outreach ministries that the church supports and utilizes to reach the people outside the walls of the buliding. When outreach ministries go out and does ministry for members and non-members of the congregation, they are representing the church and attempting to bring people back to the church to join and support the ministry. Likewise, when content from the church is pushed out via social media, it should have links that go back to the church's website so that people that are on facebook, twitter, youtube or google+ can receive the updates and then click a link back to the church's website for more information.

Just as a church would not focus all it's efforts on a single outreach ministry, the church should not focus it's entire online ministry efforts on social networks, they are just extensions of the website and a way to get people back to the website. A good online strategy should be a website, social media, blog, online store, online donations, email blasts, online video, mobile and online learning. These areas are a good start and even though you may not be able to do them all, add in as many as you can and go from there. If you want a great book on how to take advantage of these online tool then check out The iChurch Method: How to Advance Your Ministry Online.

Ministries should utilize Internet TV

One of the best ways ministries reach large audiences is via television.  Many of the largest megachurches have a complimentary Television Ministry that usually puts their pastor in front of millions every week via television channels like TBN, BET, The Church Channel, ABC Family and The Word Network.  These channels as well as others had high entry fees and the production costs to create professional television show were also barriers to numerous churches establishing a television presence.

Fast forward to today and there are numerous online video options for ministries such as youtube.com, facebook.com, vimeo.com, ustream.tv and even creating your own online campus for archived video viewing.  While these options are great and can create a great online viewing experience for users via their laptops, desktops and mobile devices, they still don’t tap the builtin television audience that traditional channels reach.

Well the future is coming! I was reading an article at Zdnet on Apple TV, Google TV, Roku boxes and the entire Internet TV emerging market.  These new devices are setting up the framework for people to integrate the living room TV, which is prime real estate, with the internet.  The majority of people haven’t integrated the internet into their main viewing televisions but these devices are helping make the process a seamless transition.  Now, the question is, how can ministries take advantage of these emerging opportunities? I’m glad you asked...

Internet TV is mainly ran by apps and the open web, thus instead of ministries having to spend thousands of dollars weekly to keep their television show on the air in your local area, they can create apps for these Internet TV devices one time and update them with new shows for a fraction of the costs.  Google TV uses apps that are similar to the apps you can create for their android phones and tablets. Likewise, Apple TV will open their device up to apps that are similar to what’s created for their iPhone, iPod and iPad devices.  Lastly, Roku devices uses apps that are able to be created in a timely manner and not complex or overwhelming for a programmer.  Overall, the costs of making a ministry app for these devices that people can view from their televisions is vastly less than the cost of running a nationwide television campaign.  Of course, the technology has not reached maturity yet and the majority of people do not have Internet TV devices, but their audiences are growing and the future generations that churches are trying to reach are already familiar with this technology.

If your ministry or church is interested in learning more about Internet TV solutions and how they can take advantage of this upcoming opportunity, please contact us.

Internet Church is coming

Over the last few years I have been watching the Internet Church phenomenon and how it is evolving and taking shape.  Since I find Online Church/Internet Church as the inevitable next step in the evolution of The Church, I have been researching what new technologies and strategies are coming to the forefront and how churches can use these opportunities to advance their ministries online. What I am starting to see are more options for Online Church/Internet Church as well as younger people migrating towards digital ways of connecting to ministries instead of the traditional church interaction of weekly attendance.

Now don’t get me wrong, virtual church attendance will never supplant actual church attendance in terms of importance but I do believe that there are some churches that will need to address the fact that there will be people that will support their ministries, watch their streaming services and consider themselves members of the church and never step foot inside the church. I have seen churches address this with examples of Internet Churches setup by Lifechurch.tv, SaddlebackChurch.com and TDJakes.org.  Another great example of this was the Church on Facebook experiment conducted by Liberty University. I won’t recite the entire article but to sum it up, Liberty University conducted their weekly church service online because the location they were supposed to use was not available.  They used Facebook as the main tool of communication and streamed the services online and interacted with the online audience.  Here is a quote “What is Facebook, after all? It’s a community. What is church, after all? It’s a community. For us, doing church on Facebook isn’t innovative. It’s intuitive,” Moore wrote.  The experiment was a success and a great step for Liberty University to further develop their online church audience, which was more than 61,000 people last year.

There have been a few companies that have arisen to help churches take that next step and create their own online campuses.  Companies such as Streaming Faith and Streaming Church.tv have paid options that are available where a ministry can select a package and these companies provide the entire solution from streaming to social media integration.  But the best option may be coming January 9, 2011 when the most innovative and technologically advanced church, LifeChurch.tv releases their Online Church product for FREE.  This software will allow churches to utilize their own streaming software and integrate it into their online campus software and create that full online campus experience. The only addition that churches will have to supply on their own will be live streaming services and this can be done with FREE websites like www.ustream.tv or www.livestream.com.  

Overall, I believe that many of the larger churches with the resources will adopt these Internet Church/Online Church options within the next year or two but it will take up to five years for it to trickle down to the smaller churches.

Hootsuite.com is a great ministry social media tool

As usual, I continue to read numerous technology websites to see what’s new and what technological advancements can help ministries reach out online easier.  I came across the article “Increase Traffic by Optimizing Publish Times” and the main software they spoke about was hootsuite, which is located at hootsuite.com.  The premise of this article was to help social media specialists learn the benefits of scheduling their posts at certain times using hootsuite.com software and not have to manually post their facebook, twitter and linkedin updates.

I started using hootsuite.com early 2010.  It was an important factor in my development of a social media strategy for ministries.  With ministries that have a good amount of content to distribute via social networks, hootsuite is a good way to automate the process of content distribution.  As stated earlier, with hootsuite you can schedule your posts at any time of the day, this not only enables the automation of multiple types of posts such as ministry updates, daily devotionals, ministry links, videos and pictures, but also enables posts during traditional off hours.  These off hour posts make a local ministry visible to an international audience.  This was the strategy I used for a large ministry located in Dallas.  This pastor not only had a large national following, but a large international following, thus we started to schedule facebook and twitter postings throughout the evening and overnight hours which were targeted towards the international audience.

With hootsuite a ministry can schedule their social media posts up to 30 days out and this can help the ministry focus more on the content and interactions of social media and less on managing the technology used to distribute it.  One of the main points I focus on in The iChurch Method is the strategy used in social media and not the actual technology.  The websites used for social media may change but the strategy (content and interactions) will remain the same.  Here is an example of a ministry’s weekly social media strategy from The iChurch Method:

Facebook Social Media Posting Strategy Template

Monday

• Morning - Inspirational Quote
• Afternoon - Product from Weekend Shows or Sermon
• Late Afternoon - Video (current events, promotions or Sunday announcements)
• Evening - Poll
• Night - Repost Inspirational Quote
• Overnight – Additional inspiration

Tuesday

• Morning - Inspirational Quote
• Afternoon - Video (current events, promotions or Sunday announcements)
• Evening - Weekly Broadcasts of TV Show/Sermon
• Night - Repost Inspirational Quote
• Overnight – Additional inspiration (testing this strategy)

Wednesday

• Morning - Inspirational Quote
• Afternoon - Current Event/Conference Post
• Evening - Bible Study Information
• Night - Repost Inspirational Quote
• Overnight – Additional inspiration (testing this strategy)

Thursday

• Morning - Inspirational Quote
• Early Afternoon - Conference Post
• Late Afternoon - Video (current events, promotions, update or Sunday announcements)
• Early Evening - Poll
• Night - Repost Inspirational Quote
• Overnight – Additional inspiration (testing this strategy)

Friday

• Morning - Inspirational Quote
• Afternoon - Product from Weekend Shows
• Evening - Video (current events, promotions or Sunday announcements)
• Night - Repost Inspirational Quote
• Overnight – Additional inspiration (testing this strategy)

Saturday

• Morning - Inspirational Quote
• Afternoon – Saturday service Reminder
• Night - Repost Inspirational Quote
• Overnight – Additional inspiration (testing this strategy)

Sunday

• Morning - Sunday Service Post
• Afternoon - Product airing on TV
• Evening – Reminder about Sunday evening service
• Night - Inspirational Quote
• Overnight – Additional inspiration (testing this strategy)

What is The iChurch Method?

The iChurch Method is simple: a method to help ministries advance the Kingdom online and take the gospel to the world. It’s a five part approach to taking your ministry online and reaching the world: Part 1: Website – A Great Website that is Easy-to-Use. Part 2: Multimedia – Interactive Multimedia. Part 3: Ecommerce – Online Stores/Online Donations. Part 4: Social Media – Engage and Connect. Part 5: Mobile – The Future of Technology and Ministry.

With these five parts, a ministry can reach and change the world. The iChurch Method book is a MUST READ for every ministry leader who desires to have a global presence online. Caston Digital and CEO Jason Caston, created this method to help all ministries establish a global presence and utilize technology to the fullest, without having to worry about huge financial investments and hiring numerous technical specialists. As explained in the book, this method is as advanced enough for a technical expert to understand, but simple enough for a non-technical church leader to understand.

Order The iChurch Method Book today!!

Ministries Need to have great Customer Service

I have been a customer for about year or so at the local cleaners and have spent quite a bit of money there.  Unfortunately, this last time, the cleaners left numerous spots on my white Air Jordan basketball shorts and I was none to pleased.  I took the shorts back to the cleaners and let the owner know that they messed up my shorts and could she please get the numerous spots out.   Prior to picking my clothes up, I told my wife, if this lady charges me for the cleaners mistake, I will never take my clothes there again.  Well, as soon as she showed me the shorts, spots still there and all, she rang me up for $2.83, and with that I gave her $3.00, told her to keep the change and took my business elsewhere.  That was one of the worst cases of customer service I had ever seen.  That cleaners lost over $400 per month in cleaning services over $2.83, and she didn’t even notice.

Which leads me to my point, customer service is very important whether in business or in  ministry.  One of the main focal points of The iChurch Method is to use technology to provide better customer service for your members.  Whether it be through the website, social media, mobile or any of the numerous ways a member can communicate with the ministry, make sure your ministry acknowledges correspondence when they receive it from members as well as responds in a timely manner.

Here are three good examples your ministry can use to increase it’s customer service capabilities.  First, make sure when a user sends an email or request to the ministry online, use an autoresponder to show that you received the email.  Second, if you have a “contact us” form on your website, make sure you also have a “contact us” form on your mobile site so that people can reach out to the ministry even if they are away from their computer.  Finally, when online users reach out to your ministry using social media channels like Facebook and Twitter, acknowledge and respond to users and let them know that your social media channel is a two way, interactive, street.

Mobile - Take the ministry to the people

As I was reading Social Media Today’s article on “How Brands are using M-Commerce”, I started to wonder how ministries and churches could use M-Commerce.  M-Commerce, short for Mobile Commerce, is the process of doing business (financial or otherwise) via mobile devices.  Mobile devices are the future of technology and ministry...in my humble opinion.  Since mobile devices are so important to technology and ministry, they play an important role in the iChurch Method.

The Ichurch Method’s task can be broken down into one simple statement, “take the ministry to the people”.  That statement can be fulfilled with the numerous technological solutions that are available today whether it be via traditional computer or mobile device (smart phone or tablet).  If ministries are to effectively take ministry to the people, then they need to embrace mobile devices and develop mobile strategies.  

According to the article at Social Media Today, the top three ways companies use M-commerce are (1) Ensuring a mobile-friendly website, (2) Engaging and building loyalty via mobile and (3) Online shopping. These three ways are a great strategy that ministries can utilize as well, let’s look at this a little more in depth.

Ensuring a mobile-friendly website - When the church creates a website, normally the purpose is to put information about the church up so that people can access it online.  Service times, location and a bio on the pastor are the usual parts of a small church website.  There’s no consideration whether the website is mobile friendly because most church leadership only surfs the web from their computer so they assume that all their online users will do the same.  That single minded perspective greatly inhibits how the ministry can advance online.  With over 4 billion (and growing) mobile devices worldwide and numerous people ranging from teenager to senior citizen carrying smart phones, it would only benefit the ministry to have a mobile enabled website that anyone can access from anywhere on any device, mobile or computer.  

Engaging and building loyalty - With the abundance of mobile devices, and so many people using them, they are a great way to stay engaged with your online users.  Whether it’s mobile social media websites such as facebook, twitter and foursquare, you can engage and interact with your online users via mobile devices.  In addition to mobile social media, text messages are a great way to engage mobile users.  When you develop your social media strategy or text messaging strategy, setup people within your ministry that are able to respond quickly from their mobile devices since people will be able to interact with you quickly via mobile devices.

Online shopping and donations - Quite a few churches offer online stores and products for their members.  Again, this is normally created based on someone accessing the online store from their laptop or desktop computer.  Additionally, online donations are an offering of churches and the process is also usually created for a laptop or desktop experience.  While this a good initial approach, if there is no mobile shopping and mobile donation strategy in place, the ministry is inhibiting how people can support the ministry financially.  Yes, there will be numerous people that will donate from their laptop or desktop, but there will also be people, usually techies, younger people, or supporters from countries that use mobile more that are comfortable using their mobile devices for commerce.  This audience should not be excluded because it will go from the exception to the norm.

Overall, any strategy for a ministry that wants to continue to reach the masses into the future will need to consider mobile because it is the future of technology.

Thanks Steve Jobs, Apple will help advance ministries online

As I sit here with my iPhone, iPad, iMac, Macbook, Apple TV, my wife’s iPhone, iPad and my children’s iPods, I marvel at the impact that the Apple hardware and software has made on my family.  Our numerous purchases and loyalty to Apple products makes us an above average family technologically as well as a collector of Apple products since they release new ones every year.  The reason I am reflecting is that one of the top news stories last week was the passing of Steve Jobs.

Now I didn’t know Steve personally but based on the stories I have heard and read, he was  innovative, brilliant, entrepreneurial, egomanic, maniacal, a family man, non-philanthropic and quite a few things in between.  I found myself drawn to Steve for his innovation, products and business acumen, but not pleased with the sweat shops in China that produced the products and the ways he berated people in order to get them to produce beyond their limits.  Overall, he was quite the unique guy.

Nonetheless, I named my first book The iChurch Method, based on my appreciation for the numerous iOS products that I feel have enhanced my life and business.  I had the choice between iChurch, internet church, eChurch and online church.  Each of these names encompassed what I was trying to explain in the iChurch Method book and how ministries can advance and utilize the internet.  I desire that this book not only be innovative in it’s approach but also “just work” as Steve Jobs would say.  There is somehow a misconception that the ways megachurches use technology is based on their large revenue streams and I want to dispel that myth.  With the numeourous megachurches that I have had the opportunity to work with, each and every one of them has used similar technologies and software that can be used by a small storefront for a fraction of the cost. They all had the same approach which is:

• A great website that is easy to use
• Interactive multimedia
• Ecommerce - online store and online donations
• Social Media - engage and connect
• Mobile - The future of technology and ministry

These five steps were so consistent amongst these ministries that it inspired me to write the book and let the masses know that this technology and methodology was readily available.  Finally, the premise of Apple products and the vision of Steve Jobs, was that every product “just work”. By bringing down the “difficulty wall” on cellphones, mp3 devices, tablets, computers and every other Apple product, they have redefined the user experience for their products.  This “ease of use” is what The iChurch Method is based on, to take technology for ministries, make it easy and help churches to make sure it “just works”.  Thanks Steve, Apple will help advance ministries online.

How to maintain church finances in the summer... online giving.

I was reading one of my favorite church technology blogs, Church Tech Today, and I came across this great article title, “Online Giving Skyrockets”. After reading this article, I was very pleased to hear how technology could help the church financially, but that got me to thinking about an issue that I have come across with churches and finances over the last few years. I have worked with numerous churches over the last 5 years and one thing that I kept hearing was that church finances and attendance decrease in the summertime. Initially I didn’t understand how church revenue and attendance consistently went down in the summertime but according to what I was told, since numerous people take vacations and travel during the summer, attendance is down, which means offerings are down, which means finances are down.
Taking this into account, I started to figure out ways that people could travel and still remain connected to the church. And then it hit me, iChurch! The iChurch Method book that I have written and the entire iChurch concept is based on making the ministry accessible and taking church to the people. By that I mean take the church to the people, if they go on vacation then the church can go with them. When you integrate the iChurch Method into your ministry, you can do two things that will help your ministry keep revenues up. One, you can broadcast your worship services online and let people donate while they are watching from their computers and two, you can broadcast your worship services to mobile devices and let people donate and watch as well.
Online church and online donations are the key to keeping people connected to the ministry and thus giving them easy ways to continue to give their tithes and offerings no matter where they are located. As we learn that the people are the church and not the building, we realize that wherever we are we can have church. One of the best parts of having church is receiving the message and giving our tithe or offering. Once the church streams it’s services online, weekly television show and archived videos, anyone with a computer or mobile device can remain connected to the church. Likewise, with online and mobile donations, church members can worship God with their tithes and offerings from their computer or mobile device, anywhere in the world. Of course, this is based on having Internet coverage, but there are very few places that the Internet hasn’t penetrated and connected the world.
Finally, if your church is not taking advantage of online streaming (which can be done for free), online donations, mobile videos and mobile donations, then they are limiting how people can connect with the church and that is no longer an effective way to advance your ministry.....online.

Google Docs can help ministries

I was reading an article on TNW (TheNextWeb.com) and they had a great piece on the 15 tips to get the most out of Google Docs. The best part about Google Docs is that it's one of the premiere software packages that I endorse when I explain to ministries about cloud applications. "The cloud" has provided a great opportunity for ministries to access and utilize administrative and collaborative software at affordable rates and sometimes free. http://thenextweb.com/google/2011/09/02/15-tips-to-get-the-most-out-of-google-docs/

Here are the keypoints of the article but click on the link above to access the article.

• Google Docs is much less expensive than Microsoft Office
• Automatic Backups and full downloading feature
• Revision history
• Drag and drop uploading
• Drag and drop image insertion into many document types
• Google Docs Templates
• Google Docs Search
• Google Docs has enough space to store ALL of your documents
• Collaboration of numerous people on documents
• Add Youtube videos to Presentations

http://thenextweb.com/google/2011/09/02/15-tips-to-get-the-most-out-of-google-docs/

What is Your Ministry's Web Strategy?

The 2011 Echo conference in Dallas was a great one based on the articles and notes that I have seen come from there. I have no excuse for not being there since I am located in Dallas, but I will be there next year and the following years.

A great article I found from the Echo Conference came from Drew Goodmanson (CEO of Monk Development and the co-founder/pastor of Kaleo Church) and it was about an overall Web Strategy (http://churchjuice.com/blog/develop-a-powerful-web-strategy-echo-2011-notes/). Here are a few key points from the article:

• Skymall Syndrome. Someone in leadership sees something they think is cool and says we need to do that.
• Ministry schizophrenia. Every ministry within a church is trying to run the website and get prime placement.
• Enough about you let's talk about me. A website totally designed for the organization. Users look at it and say it's a waste of time because it's not for them. It wasn't designed with the user in mind.
• The blind leading the blind. No one has a clear vision.
• You have 43 seconds of someone's initial attention when they come to your website.
• 85% of people say their church website is important place for them to learn more about connecting with the church.
• What is the big idea of why your church exists? It doesn't have to be big, fancy language.
• What is your vision? In the next 18 months, what is that going to look like? Don't plan more than two years in advance because things are always changing.
• Who are your current people and who do you want to reach? Take a survey to see what they want. If you don't know your people, your tools won't be effective.
• How do you manage internet presence? How are you represented across different platforms? If you have a great website and no one visits, does it exist?
• How are you being found? Are you listed on MapQuest, Google local listing and Yelp?
• How do you choose content management solutions for web development? How do you control what people can put on the website? Are you helping people know the church's voice and style you use to communicate?
• Do you have a mobile site or apps? It can be expensive to build your own app. Mobile websites with all the information isn't as good as scaling it down to what people are probably looking for (directions, latest message, visitor info, etc.). Keep a click though where folks can go to the full site from their mobile device.

There is much more to this article, check it out - http://churchjuice.com/blog/develop-a-powerful-web-strategy-echo-2011-notes/

Five Key Social Media Strategy Points

The 2011 Echo conference in Dallas was a great one based on the articles and notes that I have seen come from there. I have no excuse for not being there since I am located in Dallas, but I will be there next year and the following years.

A great article I found from the Echo Conference came from Scott McClellan and it was about Social Media Content and Strategy (http://churchjuice.com/blog/more-than-a-profile-social-media-strategy-ech0-2011-notes/). Here are a few key points from the article:

Five verbs that should be a part of your social media strategy.

Listen. People are talking, but what if we started with listening? What if we used it like a grandma who just likes to look at pictures of the grandkids? As a church, you could follow people in your church to get a feel for what they care about. If there's a community you're trying to serve, follow and listen to them.

Converse. Social in social media implies that it's two way. Churches are good broadcasters and trying to port that to social media fails. It doesn't send the message you want. It says, "I'm important and you're only as important as the stuff of mine you click on." As organizations we love to broadcast. Conversing is different than what we do lots of time as a church.

Share. It sounds a lot like broadcasting, but it's different in mindset. Sharing is about giving gifts to people. Broadcasting is drawing eyeballs. Sharing is about saying here's something you might like even though we didn't create it. Or if you did make it, tell why you created something for someone.

Tell stories. This is difficult in 140 characters. short blog formats or short videos. Committing to telling stories commits you to observing stories. You start listening as you walk through the church, or as you follow people on twitter, in a different way because you're looking for a story to tell.

Invite. Social media gives us the power to invite people into the work God is doing and the stories God is telling. It allows the stories we tell to spread (when we're telling good stories).

These Five Verbs sum up social media strategy very well. There is much more to this article, check it out - http://churchjuice.com/blog/more-than-a-profile-social-media-strategy-ech0-2011-notes/