Media Outreach » Laura Burrus

How Does Social Media Affect Your Brain?

Laura Burrus — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:49:21 +0000

A recent info graphic shows that social media use probably has more of an effect on our brain than we think.

What’s most surprising to you?

Infographic by Assisted Living Today – Assisted Living Facilities

Facebook: New Apps for the Timeline

Laura Burrus — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:51:12 +0000

Have you converted? I mean, have you converted to facebook’s timeline profile page? I haven’t done so, yet. Every time I visit someone’s profile who is using the new timeline, my eyes kind of do this, “Where do I focus?” dance across the page. It looks cluttered to me- probably because I’m not quite used to it. I’m sure with time, I’ll get accustomed to it and will say the same thing about the newer profile layout that facebook is probably already designing.

However! If you’ve already converted, then Facebook’s blog post about the new apps is probably something you’ll be interested in.

What kind of apps are available? A Few examples:

Pinterest- post your favorite items from your Pinterest account to facebook.

TripAdvisor- your virtual passport

Foodily- share recipes

Rotten Tomatoes- share movie reviews

Ticketmaster- Find and buy tickets from facebook

Click here for a full list of apps and to start downloading them now.

How Your Church Can Use QR Codes

Laura Burrus — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:22:12 +0000

QR Codes are popping up everywhere. Whether or not your phone reads a QR Code or not, you’ve probably seen them on boxes of cereal, billboards and in magazines.

Jay Baer gives us 3 tips on when QR Codes are more valuable than just a URL:

Unlock information, not a destination
Lead the user to information that’s relevant immediately
Perfect mobile formatting of the information delivered

I agree that QR Codes shouldn’t just be a destination. Give the person who takes the time to scan the QR code something valuable.

What does this mean for your church?

Think outside the box. Use QR Codes:

- At the entrance of your sanctuary for people to scan and download an electronic version of your church bulletin (Go Green!)

- In your printed church bulletin to receive details for church events. Provide time, date, place, rsvp info within the QR Code.

- To provide sermon notes

What other ways can you think of to use a QR Code in your church?

*photo by waxorian

Looking Back: Top Blog Posts for 2011

Laura Burrus — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 15:33:00 +0000

This year has been quite the year. The technology world mourned the passing of Steve Jobs. Google + launched. Casey Anthony was found not guilty. Rebecca Black’s song Friday was a You Tube sensation. iPhone 5 was released as well as iPad 2. Battlefield 3 was released. (for those in the gaming community, please explain the hype to me.) Facebook has changed at least…oh wait, it’s changing again…You get my drift.

Here at faithHighway, we had our share of updates, improvements and new releases. This year we gave a facelift to the admin panel and improved your webmail system. We also launched the Customer Rewards Program, which we hope you have taken advantage of! We released Flex Themes and have created several eBooks as a resource for you! Our blog continues to grow in readership and we hope you continue to take advantage of all the great resources found here and share them with someone that you think could use them.

Our top blog posts for this past year are:

I look forward to the year 2012 and seeing what adventures it takes us on!

Happy New Year!

Promote Your Christmas Event for Free

Laura Burrus — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:27:15 +0000

Is your church having a Christmas program of any sort? My church just put on a family event for our community called “A Wonderful Life.” It was open to the entire community and it was free! There was live music and lots of activities like: gingerbread house decorating, cooking decorating, ornament making and family photos. It was a great event and we had an awesome turn out.

But how do you get the word out to your whole community that you’re having an event?

There are a few free ideas:

Facebook- this is the obvious one. Create an event. Invite your congregation and encourage them to spread the word. You can upload the event flyer as the event picture, so all the details are right there.

Community Event Calendars- Local newspapers usually have an online calendar filled with community events. Take time to submit your event. You’ll probably need to plan ahead for this one and submit it Two or three weeks before the event, in case it has to be approved .

Local Adventure website- some cities have websites that are filled with “free, local fun.” Do a little investigation and see what your city has to offer. Start by Googleing “free events in “your city”.

What other places can you think of?

Free Christmas Media stuff

Laura Burrus — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 16:48:04 +0000

Who doesn’t like free stuff? The guys over at Echo Hub put together a list of Christmas Media Freebies.

My favorites from their list are:

WorshipHouse Media- 12 Days of Christmas.- Visit their site on the days marked with a bow on their calendar and unwrap your free gift.

Igniter Media- Giving away a free Holly Branch Loop

Muddy River Media- All their stuff is free. They’ve got Christmas Trivia slides, music videos and more!

My additions:

Amazon.com- 25 Days of free Holiday Music- visit this site each day for a new Christmas song.

CreativeNerds.co.uk- Give your website a splash of holiday with these Social Media Christmas Icons

Assessing Your Staff’s Strengths

Laura Burrus — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 20:26:21 +0000

I’m friends with quite a few people who are on staff at my church, so I get to hear about what’s going on and what the difficult areas of their jobs are and such. One recurring issue that seems to be a problem in our church is the lack of volunteers. It’s hard finding people to volunteer as a greeter or work in children’s ministry. It’s a shame because most churches are filled with the resources, the issues is just getting those resources to make themselves available.

I’m not complaining…in fact we do have a group of solid, dependable volunteers at my church and I know our church staff is so very thankful for them! However, as a staff leader, it’s important to make sure you don’t spread your volunteers too thin. Learning their strengths and helping them figure out where they can best use those strengths will help you build a strong volunteer staff.

Here are four steps to help you get started:

List Your Strengths- have your volunteers and staff make a list of their strengths. They should include the activities they enjoy the most, the things they are best at.
Ask Others- It doesn’t hurt to have someone else create a list of strengths for you or your volunteers/staff. It might be surprising to see how someone else views them. Maybe pair volunteers up, if they know each other well and start with questions like: What am I best at? What are my weaknesses? What strengths might I build on?
“Hire” your volunteers- Interview your volunteers for specific positions. Get to know your volunteer and encourage them along the way. Take time to listen to them and see what they are looking for. Maybe even let the volunteer interview you.
Review the Strengths lists- once you start listing strengths on each of your volunteers and getting other’s feedback, keep it in a file. Every quarter, when you meet with your volunteer, go over those strengths and see what areas they would like to grow in.

What other things can help build a strong volunteer staff?

*photo by Jacob Moyer

Thankful for…

Laura Burrus — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:21:53 +0000

I love love love this time of year! I can’t wait for Thursday morning to roll around. I’ll be in the kitchen with my mom and two sisters cooking away. There will be lots of laughter, talking about memories from previous years and most definitely a little dancing.

I’ve been working on having a thankful heart every day, year around and not just this time of year. It’s amazing to look back and relish all that I have to be thankful for. Wow! I am blessed! Great church. Great pastor. Great friends. Great job. Great family. Great place to live. Great roommate. Great football team…ok, Texas Tech is not so great this year…but still thankful to be able to be a fan. Wreck ‘em! J

Here’s my list of 10 things I’m thankful for.

My parents- always supportive, always challenging, always there.
My friends- who hold me accountable, encourage me and laugh with me…and at me.
My 8th grade youth group girls- who never stop teaching me what it means to love each other
My job- thankful for the opportunity to grow and be challenged in an encouraging environment
Wine- and the many conversations I’ve had with my girlfriends over a glass of wine.
The ability to be active- will never take for granted being able to walk, run, skip and dance.
Music- it brings me joy and allows me lots of opportunities to share that joy with friends
Creativity- enjoying seeing how creative people can be when given the opportunity
Facebook- it keeps me in touch
Growth- personally, spiritually and professionally

My fun list:

Cereal- for the 8 boxes that are currently in my pantry. My staple.
Raid- to kill bugs, so I don’t have to squash them
Coffee – it wakes me up and makes me feel alive
Stuff Christians Like- the blog and book- makes me laugh and brings to light the things I often think about
Quirky people- who make me laugh and give me something to analyze

What’s on your list?

Understanding the new Facebook Insights

Laura Burrus — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 17:15:40 +0000

If you have a facebook page, more than likely you want to see how your page is doing and who your page is reaching. The new Facebook insights makes it easier to see just how far your updates reach and how many people are engaging with your content, however, they can be difficult to understand.

Not only are insights tracking how your page fans are interacting with your page, they can track the total reach of your page. Meaning, it tells you how many of your fans’ friends saw your content.

Here are some definitions and useful information to help you understand what you’re looking at.

Weekly total Reach- the number of people who viewed your content within the last week

People talking about this- The number of people who have created a story about your page. This includes when someone likes, comments on or shares your posts.

Virality- the percentage of people who have created a story from your page post out of the total number of unique people who have seen it.

Reach- The number of unique people who have seen your post

On the left side of the screen, if you choose “likes,” you’ll be able to see where your likes came from. For example, if someone liked your page from a mobile phone or from another page, it will tell you how many people did so.

The analytics can go pretty deep. Play around with them. If you have questions, feel free to ask us!

Christmas Outreach Kit Giveaway

Laura Burrus — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:15:15 +0000

This Christmas season, we want to equip you with the tools you need for your Christmas outreach! We’ve put together a Christmas Outreach kit…complete with a banner, invite cards, door hanger, web graphics and even a worship service slide.

There are lots of designs to choose from…click here and let us know which one if your favorite!

AND in the spirit of Christmas, we are giving away one of our Christmas Outreach Kits ($595 value!)…here’s how you can win this for your church!

You don’t have to be a pastor or staff member to win. Anyone can RT and win this for your church.
Watch our Twitter account (@mediaoutreach) for the designated Tweet and RT it.
You can enter up to two (2) times per day per twitter account.
RT’s must be sent between Oct. 31^st (8 a.m.CST) and Nov. 4^th (12 a.m. CST)

And just in case you don’t see the tweet from us, feel free to use the tweet below. Just copy and paste it into your twitter update!

Win a Christmas Outreach Kit for your church! (valued at $595) RT to win! Details here. http://cot.ag/uhbFvL #fromfaithHighway

The winner will be announced via Tweet on Tuesday, November 8th.

Good luck and happy tweeting!