Social Media and Ministry Bethel University & Converge 2012 Biennial Peggy Kendall, Bethel University & Mark Kraakevik, The EDGE Church, Colorado

Session Overview Survey results Creating a social media fit New ideas to try out

Survey Results Survey Purpose Online survey January, churches (56 Converge churches)

Church Size

Church Place

Primary Type of Attenders

Use of Social Media

Perceived Effectiveness of Social Media

Facebook Pages Person or Organization? Large Organization or Smaller Ministries? Relationship Building or Marketing?

Sr Pastor Facebook Relevance Accessible “Having our Senior Pastor have a Facebook page, he is able to share not only sermon topics, scripture verses and visions for our church, but he is able to be a "regular" guy by sharing his heart about his wife, his children, sporting events, travels.” Uses “He only uses it to wish people ‘happy birthday.’“ Boundaries “This is her social page. Not any church related stuff there”

Church Facebook Page

Traffic Success: “All generations in our church tend to benefit …that it doesn't work as a singular method of communication.” Traffic Failure: “We have had some response to questions asked or people responding to events we have posted but traffic is not as high as we would like.” Management Problems: “Poor management, do not have a person who has taken on responsibility for this as a passion” Uses: “We post about large events as reminders, and add some photos from events.” Uses: “80% of those who "like" our churches facebook page are former attenders who have moved away but would love to stay in touch with our church.”

Twitter Average use: 1 time a day Least effective of surveyed tools Management: “Twitter is a quick, concise way to say much. We have some of our pastors who pre-select tweets and then schedule those tweets to be posted through the day or week.” Audience: “95% of our twitter followers are other ministry professionals, non-profits, or twitter bots. Very few of our congregation members have twitter, use twitter, etc.” Uses: “Not much interaction.” Uses: “Twitter is used primarily as a push to our blogs or website.”

Blogs Average 1 new blog per week (some churches 1 per month and a few times per month) Uses: “Encouragement and for further input on sermons. Not a whole lot of response on the blog” Uses: “We post blog posts on certain seasons in the church calendar (i.e advent, lent).” Management: “The lead individual provides the most posts and then others with blogs share as well”

Mass s Usually once per week Perceived as most effective social media tool Reach: “Only about 3 families do not have an account, so it is a great form of communication for our church.” Uses: “We send out a weekly Friday with announcements. Special events, or registrations also are sent out in their own . The pastor sends out s to the congregation related to prayer or special events about twice a month.” Problems: “They're effective for quickly getting out a mass message, but also greatly contributes to the noise, and when too many different people/ministry areas use it, can muddy the message and clarity of our communications.”

Specialized Social Media Platforms “The Table Project” or “The City” Provides a private area for congregational prayer and service requests

Marketing Preferences

Other Social Media YELP!, Four Square Text-messaging Text-polling QR codes YouTube PrayerNET

Interesting Findings 1.Blogs: the more children in the congregation, the less effective the blogs are perceived to be; the older the congregation, the more effective 2.Church Facebook: the more young adults, the greater the likelihood that the church will have a church Facebook page 3.“Social” media: the more young adults, the more the church uses social media in a 2-way fashion; the more middle aged adults, the more 1-way messages are used 4. No effect based on size or location of church

What Works? – Announcements – Prayer Requests – Sermon follow-up – Stories – Build capital campaign momentum – Videos of worship songs, sermons & marketing campaigns – Volunteer opportunities – Event follow-up with pictures – Follow-up connections w/ non-Christians (as a result of questions or comments)

What are Problems With Social Media? Can’t use just one Misunderstandings can happen easily Some people are more private than others Technical problems & mismatch with adoption levels Inactivity and lack of monitoring Inappropriate comments Inappropriate self-disclosure (especially prayer requests) Time

Advice Target your audience and speak to each audience differently Consistency & branding You need a champion Don’t be discouraged by silence Proofread Keep it short Use the tools to build relationships “Just Try it!”

TENSIONS

Tensions Marketing vs. Relationship building F2F vs. Virtual Authority vs Collaboration Church vs. Everywhere Pastor vs Friend

Tensions: What is your goal? Marketing vs. Relationship Building Media “Social” Media Web 1.0 or 2.0? – 1-Way or 2-Way – Static or Fluid – Text-based or Visual

Tensions: How do we connect? F2F vs. Virtual Conversations What do we lose? What do we gain? – Accessibility – Control – Momentum Ministry – Information gathering – Reverent affirmation – Conversations

Tensions: Who is in charge? Authority vs Collaboration Changing View of Authority 2-way communication=loss of control Problems – Many voices – Loud voices Opportunities – Buy-in – Meeting needs

Tensions: Where is ministry? Church vs. Everywhere Changing Role of Place – Community – Here & now – Mobile technology Problems for everywhere – Less committed – Community building – Boundaries of work and home Opportunities – People see in – Integrates life

Tensions: Who am I? Pastor vs Facebook Friend The great equalizing effect Opportunities – Humanize – Starting point Problems – Boundaries – Respect

Strategy Who is your audience? What media are they using? What is your goal? How virtual do you want to get? How much control do you want to give up? Where is your ministry located? How much do you want to share?

Basic Social Media Tools

Resources Social Media Ministry: – Click to Save; Tweet if you Love Jesus (both by Elizabeth Drescher) Social Media Marketing: – Church Marketing Sucks.com – Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking by Andy Sernovitz – Groundswell by Li & Bernoff Misc. Good Books: – Reboot: Refreshing Your Faith by Peggy Kendall