When planning for a Sunday experience and trying to choose which way to engage your audience ….how do you decide?

Should you print out a card to send people home with, increasing the life of your message and empowering them with a tool to engage someone else face-to-face?

Should you fore go print and invest in online streaming so you can broadcast to those that are too afraid to walk through the door?

Should you invest time into social media throughout the week to reach a larger audience, reinforcing your message each day, or take your time meeting your leaders in your office and in Starbucks to pour into them?

The truth is, we should be using all of these.  But, how do we know when to use technology and when to say no?

That being said, creating a filter for you and your team is a healthy exercise.  Outlining when to use technology and when to say “no” can help you immensely. This offers efficiency and independence as your people make decisions throughout the week, while, as always, equipping you to re-enforce your vision and brand to your folks.

Creating your filter will take some time, but here’s how to get the ball rolling.

1. Define the pros and cons of each medium. If it is evident (and written down somewhere) which mediums work best for your audience and when, it will make decision making much easier.
2. Outline the boundaries for each medium. As a group, after agreeing on the vision/values/mission, discuss boundaries for each medium. For example: Our team will only spend 20 minutes a day on social media. Or: We will only stream the message when we are teaching a series.
3. Create a timeline of when a visitor will encounter each medium. Throughout the “life cycle” of a visitor (i.e. from guest to member to volunteer to brand evangelist), define when a person should be experiencing the different types of technology.  For instance, maybe texting is a perfect tool for reminding volunteers they are serving on Sunday. And, maybe the website is mostly used for visitors and attempting to engage inactive members.

This may take some time to work through, but in the end you’ll be better for it! Technology is our friend…but can be turned into our foe if we’re not careful. Good luck! We invite you to share your thoughts with us here.

Photo By: bigpresh

We are so blessed to work alongside churches, ministries, nonprofits and businesses that are striving to build the Kingdom. Enjoy rest and precious time with family.

Please note that our offices will be closed Friday, Dec. 23rd and Monday, Dec. 27th to allow us to spend time with our families.

This article offers you the “how to” on getting your Timeline switched on and published.

Unfortunately, news is that, despite the excitement marketers, nonprofits and business owners have for this revamp to the Facebook look and feel, Mashable reports that “the social networking giant isn’t letting brands create Timeline pages just yet and hasn’t given a date on when that will happen.”

So, I say we get our feet wet, explore the good, bad and the ugly of this Timeline, so once brands are allowed to create this page, we are all experts to help tell the Ultimate Story through our church and ministry Facebook pages. Share your experiences as you explore this fun new app.

Social media is one way that we can connect with people throughout the day, despite the hurried schedule our culture leads. See if any of these engagement activities tickle your tinsel (yes..I did just say that….I’m sorry?).

1. Repost and Comment on Natwivity Updates – An organization is going above and beyond to help people see into the lives of those from the Christmas story. Each day characters from the Christmas story tweet/share on Facebook  – add your commentary and engaging questions as you repost this information. Helping people see the humanity of the story allows real connection and makes the miracle of Immanuel even more impactful.
2. Create a “What if it’s true?” Campaign – We know how many amazing miracles, prophesies and stories surround Christ’s birth – but many in our culture (and even some in our churches) struggle with believing these truths.  Try posting a statement from the Christmas story on your Facebook/Twitter page and leave it open with the question “What if it’s true?” Let people comment and pose follow up questions, opening the door to conversations that would have never happened in the first place. But – be ready for the hard questions! They will come…
3. Have a Church-Wide Tweet Up (or ministry-wide depending on church size) – It’s the holidays! Who doesn’t love to gather together for coffee, hot chocolate or cider.  Create a welcoming environment for guests and members alike by inviting people to spontaneously meet up at a coffee shop, café or mall. Allow people to build those important, intentional relationships to strengthen the body of Christ.
4. Use Social Media to Empower Community Cause – Check your community calendar for fun Christmas festivities and join in the fun.  When you use the power of your social media reach to publicize community events, it will be noticed!  Plus, it’s an amazing way to connect with unbelievers to create new relationships.
5. Make Up Your Own 12 Days of Christmas- Never hurt to get a little creative, right? You can choose to incorporate the real Christmas story…or just do something off the wall and fun to get attention and start conversations with your followers.

Let us know which one you try…or if you have a plan of your own!

Photo by JollyUK.

“Try to make a site that is so fantastic you become an authority in your niche.” – Matt Cutts, Head of Google Web’s SPAM Team.

As a church, what is your niche? By now, most established churches can accurately define what they offer to the community and who it is they are trying to reach (niche).

A lot of churches think that if they have a website that looks good to their audience, that it’s enough. The truth is, if we as the body of Christ truly want to be the source of hope to our communities, we have to be the authority in our niche.

If your church is absolutely excellent at something, like feeding the hungry, helping addicts, offering financial management classes, etc., your community needs to know about it. How will they know to turn to you for that need if they don’t know you offer it.

This will take more than just great graphics to let your audience know.  The truth is, you need several elements for your site to be an authority of anything.  Consider content for a minute, if your content is stale and hasn’t been changed in the past six months, it’s no longer helpful in your Google SEO.  With the recent surge of social media activity, Google and other search engines are placing more weight on current content to ensure its formula is pulling the most relevant, up-to-date websites.

The 5 Keys to a Great Site require these elements:

• Visual Design
• Structure & Navigation
• Functionality
• Interactivity
• Content

We have a free video library with tons of research for the 5 Keys to a Great Site to empower you in the area that interests you. Let’s not be left in the dust, but rather pave the way in our community, utilizing technology to not only get the word out, but spread the greatest Truth the world will ever know.

Photo by KidProQuo

9. The days my 1998 Suburban starts (AKA “The Bear”)!  I praise God on the days I turn the key and the engine makes a mighty roar instead of a sad click, followed by even more depressing silence.

8. My two huge, cuddly lab-mixes, Sarge and Puma, without whom, I could actually leave food on the counters, have clean carpet and sit on the couch alone, in peace.

7. FREEEEE-DOM!!!!! Hopefully you read that in a Scottish accent….

6. Working for faithHighway! What an amazing blessing to work alongside passionate, fun-loving, Kingdom-minded co-workers.

5. My Legacy Church family.  I am so grateful God has surrounded me with solid, earnest believers, from all different stages in the faith that encourage and spur me, while building up His church, his way.

4. Family and friends that have been an amazing stronghold for my sanity, as they bless us by caring for our children, helping to raise up Godly boys and putting up with us for mild entertainment. We couldn’t do it without you!

3. My three awesome boys that keep me laughing, running and stretch me spiritually in the most beautiful way: Caleb (3yrs), Abel (8mos) and Jeremiah (8mos).

2. My wonderfully tall, hilarious, creative husband, Joshua, whom I love more each day.

1. The continual outpouring of mercy, grace, patience, forgiveness, steadfastness and unconditional love from my Heavenly Father.

1. Make sure your service times are available on the home page. Your online guests will want that information as well as a map (or link to a map) so don’t make them click around forever to find it.
2. Have a Christmas Invitation front and center. Not only should service times be readily available, any graphics you are using for your Christmas series should be the first element visible in your web design.  This ensures that  if your members are referring friends/family to the website, there is no question where special Christmas information is located. Contact faithHighway if you need help getting seasonal graphics up.
3. Scan copy on your site and update as necessary. With all the web visitors you’ll have this holiday season, it’s imperative that your website acts like the front door to your church (since it’s going to be visited prior to the guest’s attendance to your church).  No one likes walking through cob-webs when they visit somewhere new…
4. Have a mobile friendly homepage. If guests are coming for the first time, a mobile friendly page or site can be the difference of them attending or not.  In the event that they get lost along the way, they can turn to your mobile site for directions or a phone number.
5. Improve your SEO. Make sure the bridge has been created from search engines to your website.  If someone has passed by your church in the car or seen an ad somewhere for your church, there are many variables they will try utilizing in the search bar. This Entrepreneur article can help with your checklist. faithHighway also offers help with SEO in the case that you are looking to boost your SEO performance.

With 5 million spiritual searches online each day, we know our world is in need of the Hope and Light of the world.  Here’s one small step in making sure we are using every possible tool to engage our culture with the ultimate gift this Christmas.

How does it work? Each year that you invest in your website with faithHighway, you’ll receive a 25% reward of your original site cost to put toward the purchase of a new website.

Who is it for? All active clients who are paying the recurring the monthly website maintenance and investment fee. And don’t worry, if you’ve already been with us one, two or three years, we’ll even retro-actively apply your reward!

What is it? A program that rewards you for your investment with faithHighway. It’s a way for us to thank you for your loyalty!

When does it start? NOW! To ensure an excellent production experience, this will only be available to 20 clients per month on a first-come, first-serve basis. Don’t wait for next month! Get in today to earn your reward!

How do I get started? Call your Client Relations Manager or visit our website at www.faithhighway.com/CustomerRewardsProgram.

Here’s to another year!

*Value of free website is of equal or lesser value to initial website purchase.

The research concludes that you should , “communicate your value proposition within 10 seconds.”

So take the test. The good news is that it shouldn’t take too long…

Poll 10 different people (not all at once).  People who don’t know you, your business or your vision.  Go to a library, Starbucks or any place with WiFi and ask 10 different passer-bys to please give you some feedback on your website.  Offer a $5 giftcard for participation if need be…

Grab a stopwatch and give them 10-20 seconds to view your website.  Here are some good questions to throw after they glance through your site.

-Do you like the graphics?

-What stands out the most?

-Would you continue looking through the site after the first glance?

-What do you think the main goal of the website is?

-Who do you think we’re trying to reach?

Share what you’ve learned below! We want to grow together. Look forward to hearing from you.

Photo by: raumoberbayern

A recent study shows that social media does work as a means to increase your brand, but that “you shouldn’t put all your eggs into one basket.”

While this study was specifically for fast food chains, the data is very telling of our culture’s consumer mindset.

Found on Entrepreneur.com, we can learn a lot about the idea that our marketing needs to be spread across multiple channels.  While we don’t want to engage in channels we aren’t going to excel in, make sure that social media is a complement to your other efforts, suchas your website, mailouts, website banner ads, event marketing, etc.

While 24% of those in this study reported customer purchases based on social media, 69% responded when exposed to TV as well.  According to the survey results by Ogivly & Mather, “Those who experienced social media exposure along with a TV ad were two times more likely to purchase more that they did the week before.”

Here’s what Ogivly & Mather concluded their research with:

5 Things You Should Know

1. Social media exposure is directly linked with increase in sales.
2. Integration matters.
3. Social media is a top driver of impact.
4. Social media exposure is directly linked with changes in brand perception.
5. Brand exposure in social media is low.

So what does this mean for you?  While social media should definitely play a role in your marketing and reach, be sure that it is only one piece of the puzzle. One healthy exercise is to place yourself in the shoes of your audience.

What are all the ways they can encounter your brand?

Are you easy to find?

What channels are you investing the most in?

Photo by HeyRocker.