One of the greatest aspects of conferences is the offline events that help create online conversations. When I am working with organizations that are planning conferences, I continue to remind them that even though they are focused on the offline event and making it successful, do not neglect the online aspect of the event and how that can impact the experience of virtual and actual attendees. When creating the online experience for the conference we want to make sure the online experience enhances the experience of users at the conference as well as creates a great experience for users that are participating online only. This starts with four key areas, the web experience, the social experience, the mobile experience and the streaming experience.
Web Experience - The web experience should be one that is:
- Easy to use - The website should be easy to use, load quickly and have a great layout. Build the website to suit the user, not the organization. The organization creates and populates the website, the users actually depend on and use it.
Informational - The website should be informational, make it a destination of information. Key pages are speakers, schedule, topics, location, travel accommodations and more.
Interactive - The website should be interactive, providing features that keep potential attendees coming back. Interactive features can be social (interactive Twitter feed, interactive Instagram feed, social sharing links) and they can be informative such as a news feed of latest conference updates. Keep users interested in your conference website by providing interactive features that encourage them to interact and share your conference website.
Social Experience - The social experience is key to creating an interactive online audience, here are some key things to consider:
- Choose Key Social Media Networks - When you are looking at which networks you want to promote your conference on, you want to make sure you choose networks that your audience already uses. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are ones that most organizations use often for adult audiences. When it comes to a younger demographic they may forego Facebook for Vine or Snapchat. Make sure if you choose multiple networks that you have adequate staff to push updated consistent content on these networks as well as interact with people in a timely manner.
Choose a Great Hashtag - A great hashtag can make or break the online aspect of a conference. If the hashtag is difficult to type and difficult to remember, the attendees won’t use it and it won’t gain traction. Without key traction, it makes the online aspect of the conference much more difficult to measure and promote. Choose a hashtag that is close to the title of the conference, a clever short acronym of the conference or a consistent overarching theme of the conference that users can type quickly, share easily and remember.
Encourage and Facilitate Interactions - Sharing features on your website are a great start to facilitating social interactions about the conference. Giving people a way to share your website as well as pre-populating posts with text and hashtags can help people share with the simple click of a button. Additionally, when people are having conversations using the conference hashtag, interact with them from the official conference account. Retweet them and talk with them about the conference, encourage them to share and make them feel like someone is listening to their excitement about this event. Don’t forget to ask that speakers and presenters at the conference use the hashtag and share the event with their online audiences as well.
Mobile Experience - Staying connected on the go is key to conference attendees these days.
- The website needs to be “responsive design” so that it can be viewed on the go. Users are not sitting at desks and laptops that often at conferences but they are carrying around mobile devices often. Make sure your conference website is accessible and loads quickly on mobile devices.
A Conference app is better than a mobile website - An even better option than a mobile website is a mobile app. Conference attendees are much more likely to download your conference app then go to your mobile website. This app gives the organization a much better connection to their users by using features such as push notification, real time updates and continued access after the event since the app is still installed on their device. Make sure your app has all the key pages from your website as well as social interactive features and mobile streaming.
Streaming Experience - Watching the conference live stream can one of the most engaging aspects of the online experience.
- Make video streaming adaptive - Adaptive streaming means the video will adjust to the internet connection speed of the device. Whether the user is on a mobile device with a slower connection or a desktop with high speed broadband, the stream will adapt to their connection and give them the best viewing experience.
Make the video HTML5 compatible - HTML5 compatible video works on any device and the best experience for the user is to make the video compatible on the device they choose.
Make desktop streaming interactive - Whether it’s an online live chat, a live interactive twitter feed or a sharing button to promote the stream on social networks, make sure the desktop stream is interactive. There are a variety of options that can be added to the desktop streaming experience that can enhance it and increase engagement.
Make Access Easy - I can’t stress this enough, make access to your conference’s online properties easy. Users want a seamless online experience or one very close to it. One of the most important aspects of the online experience is to promote it from offline venues. If there is a main stage or traditional marketing materials (goodie bags, flyers, etc.) that are given to attendees, make sure to inform them of the online aspects of the conference and ask them to “Stay Connected with us Online” and let them know how (hashtag, mobile app, social networks, and more).
Over the last three years, The Potter’s House Church of Dallas has seen significant growth in a very nontraditional way. While most churches measure growth by attendance in the sanctuary, The Potter’s House saw a huge increase in their online presence. Going from a platform that reached thousands online to one that reaches millions was a strategic, focused effort and opened up new ministry opportunities for the church. With this type of growth, the one question that we are often asked is, how did you do it? Well, let’s look at one of the most important initial steps we took.
Social Media, Internet Church, Internet TV, Mobile Apps and a myriad of other digital buzzwords are always thrown around when it comes to describing digital impact, but at The Potter’s House we started with our main platform, our ministry website. Our website was the most important online platform that we as a ministry had. Our internal research showed that up to 80% of our new visitors checked out our online properties first, more specifically our website. It was our largest welcome ministry, our largest information resources and the largest representation of the ministry. Our website spoke to people at times and in places no one else was speaking. The reason it was constantly speaking to people was that our website was made to be accessible, innovative, simple and practical.
In 2013 there were 191 million people who used the internet for ecommerce, in 2014 we are on track for 197 million and in 2015 the projection is 202 million people. These numbers show that ecommerce (online giving, online shopping, online transactions) is here and it’s usage in increasing rapidly. When I was hired by the first church I worked at, I remember them basically telling me that my job as the webmaster was to fix their website. That was all the direction I received, they didn’t tell me what was wrong with it, they didn’t say what they wanted it to become, they just said “fix it”. Thus I set out looking for ways to improve the online experience for the users. As I went down my iChurch Method checklist of websites, multimedia, ecommerce, social media and mobile, I found the ecommerce or more specifically, the online donations process of this church was a huge issue. And with the ecommerce opportunities we have today as churches, we need to make the process as easy, secure and accessible as possible.
Make it Easy
Let me explain further the issue I was speaking of above, the entire online donation process from the time you hit the “donate button” until the time you got the “thank you for your donation” page, was 17 steps, that was 14 - 15 steps too many. In addition to having an excessively long process, there were numerous times during the transaction where the website would kick people off and make them start all over. Now I may not be the smartest guy around but I do know that this user experience was the opposite of easy. When we are creating our online experiences, we need to mimic the easiest ecommerce channels like amazon.com. Amazon has a normal checkout which is 2 - 3 steps or they have a one step checkout. The 2 - 3 step checkout is to check your transaction, make sure it’s correct, register your information/shipping and then checkout and this is fine for many people. Likewise, the one step checkout is for people who want to log in, complete their transaction and keep it moving, that’s the definition of easy.
When considering the best way to take a message around the globe or take a message to the people, we have to consider mobile and how widespread mobile internet accessibility is globally. As mobile device adoption increases, we are seeing a great opportunity for ministries to reach people on their mobile devices. Here are some key statistics, there are currently 2 billion mobile devices being used in this year, 7x times the number of PCs. Additionally, 6 billion mobile devices are expected by 2016. The average person checks their phone 150x a day and 85% of the time spent on mobile devices is using an app. Texts are open 98% of the time and usually within 5 minutes of receiving and the average teenager/young adult sends over 3300 texts per month. Lastly, we are never more than 2 - 3 feet away from our mobile device, in other words, it’s alway within arms reach.
With this type of device adoption, this shows how important mobile devices are in our lives. Thus, the question is how can Churches use the “mobile explosion” to their benefit? Well the answer is twofold, the first thing is that churches need to think mobile first when it comes to their digital strategies. When digital content is created for the ministry (social media, multimedia, web, online video, etc..) it needs to be understood that it will be consumed via a mobile device rather than a desktop. Secondly, the mobile experience needs to be easy, fast (as in fast loading) and productive (easy navigation and providing useful content).
Instagram for Ministry
An interesting transition is happening in the world of social media, Facebook is undoubtedly the king of the hill and Twitter is up there as well but the popular new kid on the block is Instagram and it’s here to stay. Instagram now has 300 Million users, over 20 billion photos shared, 1.6 billion likes daily and 60 million photos posted daily (
Traditionally, when churches were organized, their goals were to impact the community and bring the gospel to the locals. The pastor would be a part of the community and everyone in the geographical area would be the focus of the church. Today, things have changed and the moment you go online (social media, website, mobile, internet TV), you have the potential to become an international ministry. Church is happening outside the walls of the sanctuary and churches need to adapt and take the ministry to the people. Additionally, the way people want to connect with their churches has expanded beyond the traditional midweek and weekend services, now they want to connect 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, from anywhere in the world on any internet enabled device.
Enter the Internet Church Campus and the need for an online extension of the offline church. The Internet Church Campus is more than a streaming page that broadcasts live services a few times a week, it’s a fully functional, interactive online experience with an online pastor and online members. This is not just a place for people who don’t want to come to service and choose to watch online, this is a place for people who are online members of this church and possibly live in places that traditional church locations are not an option. Next question is “How can you implement this for your church?”, well i’m glad you asked.
Adding an online store to the iChurch is a little bit different that the above items. Although you can set up an online store for free, most online store modules can cost up to $1,000. With an online store, you must have products or services to sell. Also, you want to make sure your online store has the same look as your website so the user doesn't feel like they have left your ministry brand. Here are some benefits of adding an online store to the iChurch.
Digital Products - These are all profit. There is no shipping, no handling, no staff, no storage fees and no product creation costs. Digital products can be podcasts, eBooks, documents or videos. The ordering system is easy for the online users. And they receive the product instantly so the iChurch can tap into the moment the spirit moves them. The purchaser is emailed a secure download link they click on to receive the product. This link is good for only 72 hours. The only downside is that the digital product is not protected or restricted so they could share it with someone else and you won't receive payment for that usage. On the plus side, this nonpayer will be exposed to your church or ministry. With this module, you can capture some information such as name, address and email addresses to use in later marketing plans. Selling digital products through an online store is a nice profit builder for the iChurch. I like the phrase: load once, fire forever! 
What is a Mobile App?
It’s a program that works on your mobile device and allows the user to perform some function. For example, I have one on my smartphone that turns it into a flashlight so I can see in the dark. Other apps allow you to keep track of your calories, your goals or your to-do list. Mobile apps can do just about anything and are so popular that they have become an industry all to themselves.
First and foremost, let me reiterate, when you post content through your networks, make sure you optimize it for interaction and sharing.
Call to Action - When you share content, provide a call to action such as asking to like, comment, share or retweet this. Calls to action let people feel like they are participating with the organization. When your organization posts something that is engaging and moves someone to action, they make a conscious decision to participate in your social media marketing. This is the power of social networking and as your organization reciprocates that communication and engagement, the online relationship becomes deeper and those fans become self-proclaimed brand advocates and marketers. Make sure in your posts you put a call to action and allow people to participate in your social media campaigns with you.
1. The iChurch Method Vol. 3: Digital Missionary Field - April 6, 2015 is the release date of the latest volume in The iChurch Method series. This book will continue to focus on the five main areas of the iChurch method, web, multimedia, ecommerce, social and mobile, as well as take things to another level with topics such as internet church, internet tv, mobile apps, responsive design and much more.
2. Social Connections: Connect With and Engage Your Audience - April 6, 2015 is the release date of the first book in the new Digital Connections series by Jason Caston. This social media manual will help any organization connect with and engage their social media audience.
3. Mobile Connections: Reaching an Always Connected Audience - August 10, 2015 is the release date of the second book in the new Digital Connections series by Jason Caston. This mobile manual will help organization understand how mobile is changing the internet and we are always connected via our mobile devices.
4. Speaking - Here are Key Speaking dates - ichurchmethod.com/calendar
*dates are subject to change
HIM Conference - Honolulu, HI - March 20, 2015 - 
5. iChurch TV - with new book releases come new episodes for iChurch TV such as internet tv, internet church campuses, social media strategies, best networks to use and much more. 
6. AT&T Inspired Mobility - As I continue to be the spokesperson for the AT&T #InspiredMobility Campaign, I will continue to speak on how we use mobile devices to enhance our personal and spiritual lives as well as teach how The iChurch Method can help organizations connect with growing online audiences. Look forward to events coming soon. h
The most difficult part about using social media is maintaining consistency. Too often an organization sets out to harness the power of social media but ultimately loses interest over time, often because they discover that it's more work than they had anticipated, or other pressing needs come up and the social media project falls through the cracks.
Consistency is vital if you want to maintain a social media presence. Just as with your website, if you don't update your sites regularly with fresh content, people will lose interest. Set a strategy for your social media project and stick to it.