Using Social Media Networking with Your Church

1. Know Your Church’s Goals. What is the focus of your church? How does it intend to accomplish that? What are the needs your church is trying to address? What people groups?2. Who else in your church is already using social media and networking? What networks are they using? Connect with them. In our church we have a social network for the unemployed. The network physically meets biweekly, and connects on Linkedin between the meetings.3. Keep the content active. Blogs need to be updated at least weekly, a Twitter account at least daily.4. Target your posts to the needs of the reader.5. Encourage dialog. Ask questions, introduce conflict. Keep your motives and values pure.6. Let others in your congregation know about your networking. Encourage them personally to join in.7. Reference your church website.8. Use additional tools to enhance your efficiency. For Twitter, for example, use TweetDeck or Hootsuite.9. Learn from the others. Saddleback Church has a special area on their website to train their congregation on using social media to invite others to church. Also see Steve Fogg’s http://stevefogg.typepad.com/blog/2010/02/killer-church-marketing-ideas-which-wont-cost-one-cent.html.10. Contact us if you need help – http://bit.ly/ak7e9c. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes.