The Vanilla Ice Plan

There are lots of different approaches to using social media. After giving presentations to many groups about using social media for ministry, I have come up with my own strategy for getting started with social media. And it works.

Whether you are a pastor getting started on social media or a church looking to start using social media for your ministry or an author looking to get the word out about your latest offering, it will work.

The plan? Listen to Vanilla Ice.

Yup.Vanilla Ice has some wisdom to drop. Namely: Stop, Collaborate, and Listen. 


Stop
Before you jump into social media, stop. Many people rush into social media, or move from one platform to another, without thinking about it. They want to be doing the latest thing, or know that they should be on social media, but they don't think about what that means. Rushing in most often results in ineffective communications efforts, and a mess that has to be cleaned up later. So stop.

Spend some time thinking about how you are going to use social media, and how it fits into your other communication methods. Think about which platform would be most effective for you, and where your audience is. Read up on social media strategy - I recommend The Social Media Gospel and Click2Save for people who are using social media for ministry.

Collaborate
You are not the first person to consider using social media for your ministry (or business, etc). Seek out the people who are doing it well. Sit down with them. Work together with them to develop a plan to help get you on your feet. Here's a secret: most of the people who are using social media for church communications want to help others do the same. And very often, this sort of experienced help from peers in the field is free or remarkably inexpensive.

Get together (in person or virtually) with others in the same field, people who share the same sorts of goals. Share ideas about how you can creatively and effectively use digital tools. If you are using social media for ministry check out the Church Social Media (#chsocm) community, where some of the best church communicators are collaborating and sharing ideas.*

Listen
Most people get on social media and they immediately start talking. "BUY MY PRODUCT" "COME TO MY WORSHIP SERVICE" "CLICK MY LINKS."

It's about as much friendly as the guy standing on a street corner with a bullhorn. Before you start talking, listen. Learn what are the people in your community are talking about. Learn how your church/product is perceived by others. Listen for the needs, desires, and hurts among the people you are hoping to reach. Before you can talk, you need to earn respect. And the best way to do that is by being attentive and listening.

Even once you have a plan, have collaborated with others, and have listened to the community, it is important to remember to listen more than you talk.

That's it. The "Vanilla Ice Plan" for social media. Stop, collaborate, and listen. 

Well, there is one more step. Repeat. Over and over again. Continue to revisit your plan and strategy. Continue to seek out the best practitioners to learn from an collaborate with. And continue to listen to your community.

Stop, Collaborate, and Listen.

Want to connect? Find me on twitter or facebook. I'd love to hear from you. 

*The Church Social Media conversation happens on Twitter on the hashtag #chsocm, especially on Tuesday nights at 9pm Eastern during our weekly chats. You can also find us on Facebook.

You've Been Hacked!

In my Twitter direct messages today:
"You won't believe what people are saying about you <link>"
"I recommend this resource for you <link>"
"Hey, check this out <link>"

And that was just what arrived overnight. Every day, thousands of Twitter accounts are hacked. Maybe it has happened to you: all of a sudden your Twitter account starts sending out direct messages and tweets that you never intended. Nasty links. Virus-laden links. And the same thing can happen on Facebook.

If you have been hacked, there are some simple steps you can take to get your account back under control.

Step 1: Remove the authorization of applications you don't recognize. 

In the course of browsing the web, we give permission for websites and applications permission to access our social media. Too often, we don't think about it. Some of them are trustworthy. Many are not. Many others start out as trustworthy and wind up being bought or taken over by less trustworthy operators.

On Twitter:

• Click on the gear box on the home page (top right)
• Go to "Settings"
• In the left-hand column, click on "Applications"
• Go down the list, clicking on "Revoke Access" on any application you aren't 100% sure of.

On Facebook:

• Click on the gear box on the home page (top right)
• Go to "Privacy Settings"
• In the left-hand column, click on "Apps"
• Go down the list, clicking on the "x" on the right hand side to remove any application you aren't 100% sure of.

Step 2: Change your password.

In the course of being hacked, your password may have been compromised. Better safe than sorry. 

On Twitter:

• Click on the gear box on the home page (top right)
• Go to "Settings"
• In the left-hand column, click on "Password" and change your password

On Facebook:

• Click on the gear box on the home page (top right)
• Got to "Account Settings"
• On the next page (under the "General Settings" tab) click on "Password" to change your password.

And hey - while your're at it - feel free to connect with me on Twitter and Facebook! 

Podcasting for Preachers: Recording

I started podcasting my sermons about six months ago, and since I have helped a number of friends set up their own podcasts. Rather than continuing to repeat the same info as other people ask, here is a guide: Podcasting for Preachers.

Ok, not just for preachers. Podcasting 101 for everyone. But the people who ask me about podcasting tend to be pastors or other church workers. And I'm a pastor.

Step 1: Record your sermon
There are a number of ways to record your audio, with two determining factors to consider: cost and quality. The least expensive solution is to record straight to your smartphone, using the built in microphone. If you do this, you will need an app like GarageBand or something similar. While this is the cheapest solution, it also produces the lowest quality recording.

I recommend getting a digital recorder. You can invest as little as $50 and as much as $500 on one of these, so do some shopping. I personally use a Tascam DR-05, with an 16 gig micro SD card (about $100 total).

If your digital recorder has a built-in microphone, you can use this to record your sermon. Set it on the pulpit, or somewhere that it can pick up your voice well, hit record, and there you have it. It will be better quality than just your phone, but still will have some imperfections.

For the best quality, run a line out from your sanctuary sound board, and plug it into your digital recorder. This will give you a nice, clean signal to for your recording. If you have a sound board with an output signal, this is the method I recommend.

My recording set-up.
Digital recorder plugged into soundboard

Step 1a: Edit your recording
Plug your digital recorder or phone into your computer, and move the file. Ta-da! You now have yourself an mp3. But once you have a recording, what do you do with it?

Some preachers may want to run it through a editing software. Using a program like GarageBand (Mac) or Audacity (PC) you can tweak your recording, run it through filters, or just trim it up some of silence and pauses. I have used Audacity to make a recording slightly louder or slightly quieter.

Many preachers / podcasters do not do this. It isn't necessary.  But if you find it helpful, the option is there.

Now you have a nice, clean, mp3. A digital recording of your sermon. How do you become a podcaster? Keep reading in part 2 - Podcasting for Preachers: Broadcasting.

Podcasting for Preachers: Broadcasting

In a separate post, I provided a guide for recording your sermons. First a clarification. You can take this digital recording of your sermon and post it on the church website. That is nice and helpful - but it is not podcasting.

Podcasting is providing a way for people to have your latest audio recording it delivered directly to their mobile device.

You've got your sermon as a digital recording - as an mp3 file - that is the first half of the process. Next up, getting your audio file onto the mobile devices of your listeners. (go back to the previous post if you don't yet have this first step).

Step 2: Find a Host
You will need a host. Someone who can store your audio files. If you have a sermon blog hosted by Wordpress, you can upload your mp3 directly to your wordpress site. This is an ok way to get your post online, but it adds some steps.

A better option is to use a podcasting service. I personally use Buzzsprout, and am extremely happy with the service. Many people also use Libyn, which is another good service. You can google "podcast hosting" and you will see that there are many options, with a variety of services provided. Some are free, and some charge a nominal fee.

Protip - Who Owns Your Sermons? Many pastors choose to host their podcast exclusively through their congregation. I understand why. It makes it easier to integrate into the congregational website, and the congregation can pick up the tab in the communications budget. I would advice that you pay for your own hosting service. That way, whenever you leave the congregation for a new call, your sermons come with you rather than remaining at your previous congregation.

Step 3: Provide a Feed
Whether you use Wordpress, Buzzsprout, or another host, your host will provide you with what is called an RSS feed. It should look something like this:
http://yourwebsite.com/feed
http://yourhost.com/feed.rss

Many podcasters use Google's feedburner service as well. You give feedburner your RSS feed, and it cleans up the feed and makes it easier for people to subscribe. Go to http://feedburner.google.com, and enter your RSS feed into the "Burn my feed this instant" box. Tell feedburner that you are a podcaster, and they will give you options to optimize your feed. The final product looks something like my sermon feed:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/HansenSermons

Now you have a podcast feed. But you still need people to know about it.

Step 4: Publicize
How will people know that you have a podcast?
The best and most widespread way is through iTunes. Open the iTunes application. Go to iTunes Store. Navigate to "Podcasts" at top menu, then "Submit Podcast" on right menu. They will walk you through the next steps. (Note: Many podcasting host sites will submit to iTunes for you - which is very convenient!). People will be able to seach iTunes and find your sermons, and you can also point people to your iTunes page.

Share the link to your iTunes page, as well as to your RSS feed, in all of your networks. Have your webmaster integrate it into your congregational website. Check with your podcast host - many of them will provide a podcast player that you can insert in your website. (Here is what our podcast player looks like on the St. John website).

Are you podcasting your sermons? Provide a link in the comments - I love listening to other preachers!

Making the Most of Facebook

After my recent post about churches who use social media in anti-social ways, my inbox was flooded with requests. "What does good social media look like?" "How can we be more social?"

For most congregations, Facebook is the primary social media. Most of our members are on Facebook and it is the logical way to reach them.

First of all, we've all figured out that Facebook pages (for organizations and companies) do not work the same way as Facebook profiles (for individuals). With a page, you cannot comment on the status updates of posted by other individuals, so how do we keep the church Facebook page from becoming a virtual bulletin board?

Here are my best practices.

1) Profile Picture: This will be the widest-reaching impact of your page. Every time a post of yours is shared, this image will show up. An image of an empty sanctuary or of the outside of your church building will not tell me anything about your congregation. A (well-designed) logo is slightly better. But the best is to show people involved in ministry. The church is the people -- show the people!

2) Cover Image: Facebook has given us a huge piece of real estate to take advantage of - use it! Use that space to give some insight to your ministry. A collage of images, info about the most important upcoming events, or an image that shows us what makes the congregation unique. (What size is your cover image? Here is a quick guide sizes for all sorts of social media image sizes.)

3) The Basics: How quickly can a visitor find your website and worship times? There are some natural places to put them in the "About" page. Forget about that. Get this most important information on the very front page, so that a visitor sees it without having to click through to a second page.

Ok. That's covers all the layout set-up issues. Now comes the fun part. Be social! You are a little bit limited on a page, but your hands are not tied.

1) Share information & images from other connected organizations. Whether is another local congregation, the local chamber of commerce, or a local business, use that share button. If someone else is posting information that is helpful community information, share it. Use the share button, so that your post shows where it comes from. The economy of social media is one of generosity -- the more you share your influence, the more influence you gain.

2) Share posts that are just plain fun. Yes, we are a church and we take seriously our task to proclaim the Gospel. Be we are also called to be joyful. Have some fun with it.

3) Pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. Don't tell us about your congregation, show us! Show us pictures of people involved in mission and ministry; show us joyful people, worshiping people, working people, singing people.

4) Questions. What is the best way to get people to respond to something? Ask them a question! It really is that simple sometimes.

Use Facebook as your page.

5) Comment. Yes, you can comment as your page. Not on individual profiles, but on other pages. Click on the top right gearbox to "use page as" and use it as your church. Now go forth, and comment on the same sort of community and connected organizations as above. The more you comment, the more visible your page will be.

6) Post. Post. Post. I have found the sweet spot to be 2-4 posts a day. It might be different on your page. But remember -- every day that you do not post something, you lose some of your audience. So try to post at least one thing every day.

Here is the question to ask yourself: If I was not a member of this church, would I follow this page?

Your goal is to provide quality, engaging content for the wider community. That is how you build the audience, who will then be there to take notice on the occasions that you post an announcement about your ministry.

Interest Lists - How To

You've decided to use interest lists to help streamline your facebook experience. So, how do you use interest lists? (Here's why I like them!)

To create your own interest lists, go to a page you want to add to a list. Click on the gearbox symbol to get a pull down menu, and select "Add to Interest Lists." All your interest lists will show up, and you can select the one you want to add the page to. If you don't have any lists yet, you can "Add New." (This same method works to add people to interest lists). As you are setting up interest lists, Facebook will ask you whether you want the list to be visible only to you, to your friends, or to be public.

Often, other people have already organized awesome news and information into interest lists that you might like to follow - For example my awesome Brenham, Texas and ELCA News lists. Click on the lists, and then click the nice big button at the top right that says "Subscribe." 

Now that you have subscribed to some Interest Lists, or made some of your own, you can view the news feed of all the posts from the pages/people on that list. On the Facebook homepage, you will see a category in the left-hand column titled "Interests." (If you don't see it, you might need to click on the heading that says "More" in that column, then it will show up). Once you click on the Interest List, you will see a news feed of every post from the pages and the people on that list:

How are you making use of lists? What are some great lists that you have found to follow?