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Be Excited

Occasionally we hear people bemoan the lack of traffic flow to their website or social media pages. And after talking with them, typically the reason ultimately returns to one major factor. They’re not excited about the site or what’s on it. This isn’t to say that they’re not excited about their ministry, it’s just that their web efforts aren’t quite feeling the enthusiasm. The number one thing to remember about your web presence is: if you’re not excited about it and converting that excitement into content and promotion, then no one else will be either. So here is a short list of things you can do to help convert your enthusiasm.

1. Actually be excited. We’ve covered this part already. Enthusiasm is contagious so if you’re doing something great in your ministry, be excited about it.

2. Post often about things in motion, not meetings. You know how a little kid who just did something great wants to tell you all about it? Be like that little kid. There are great things going on in your community, and you might just explode if you don’t get a chance to tell someone. The opposite is using your web presence as simply a bulletin board for announcements of things on a calendar… that’s not as exciting.

3. Use action words and exclamation points. Words on a page need a boost to convey enthusiasm. So remember the old Batman series as a reference…bam isn’t nearly as exciting as BAM!!!

4. Take pictures of people being awesome and tag them. This creates a viral effect in the social media world. Every time you tag someone in a photo, it’s generally getting broadcast to all of their friends. This shows that you think their friend is awesome, and it gives them a direct pathway back to your site and ultimately your ministry.

5. Finally, be positive. Always be positive. Save complaining about the world for other venues. People want to associate with people and groups that make them feel like the best versions of themselves. Don’t be a downer.

Blogs: Stop Killing Yourself and Share the Love

Blogging… love it or hate it, it’s sorta like exercising. It always seems like a much better idea in the beginning than it does two months in.

Many people/organizations/companies start a blog because they feel like they have to. The pressure they're feeling could be coming from “everybody is doing it” to some web company telling them that it’ll improve their SEO (search engine optimization). And so, new bloggers start out on the journey with a lot of energy and ambition. Then they realize that it’s an actual job and that deadline keeps coming around faster and faster. The biggest thing about writing a blog is coming up with quality content consistently and then having the self-discipline to keep it going week after week, month after month. I’ll be the first to admit it can get tiresome.

There are tricks to help. Setting up a dedicated time to write, brainstorming topics in advance and finding topics you’re actually interested go a long way. But after a while even the most disciplined writers can get fatigued. It’s in these moments that you need to learn to share the love.

By that I mean you need to bring in other writers. If you’re in a company/organization, bring in others on your team. Chances are the finance person has a better insight into finance than you do, and your worship leader has thought about things that you haven’t.

Give them assignments to write a single post or a short series and then turn your effort from blogger to editor. Give yourself a little extra room to breathe and find your muse again.

Search Engine Optimization Basics

Let’s spend a little time talking about search engine optimization or SEO. For those who don’t know what SEO is, in a nutshell, it’s like putting little “pick me” signs all over your website to help the major search engines: 1) Identify what a particular site or page is about and 2) Establish the credibility or relevance of a site for search engine results ranking. Your ultimate goal is that if someone enters a term like “youth ministry” into a Google search form, your church’s youth group page shows up in the top few return listings.

Each search engine is different in the ways that it organizes results, but it’s important to get the basics down. For example Google organizes results based on how important they believe a site is. Let’s say there are two websites geared for youth ministry. But let’s say one site has been linked to by 10 other websites and the other by only one. The one with 10 connections is going to rank higher on the return.

But that’s not all. Search engines routinely dig through the first 100 words of a page’s content to establish what the page is about. This is where tagging and the first 100 words are critical. Make sure you use keywords that are applicable to your page within the first few lines. Also, make sure you establish file names on all photos with a keyword that reflects your site. Search engines dig through photos and videos as well. If you use a site that allows tagging, then make sure you’re tagging each entry with well thought out keywords for the bots to lock on to. If it can be tagged, then tag it.

I really encourage you to go through your website and do an SEO audit. Check your pages and see if they’re helping or hurting your chances for a good return. All of this is free apart from time and effort, but it’s really important. Research repeatedly dictates that very few people ever go past the first page of search results. You want to make sure you’re on it. We’ll talk more about this in coming posts. In the meantime, keep being awesome!

Social Media in Ministry: An Introduction

The world is moving online -- we all know that. Has your ministry stepped up to the plate? Over the next few weeks, we will be taking an in-depth look at social media and what it means for ministry. We will cover topics like safety, uses, expectations and planning. Hopefully by the end of this series, readers will have a better understanding of where social media can fit into their ministry.

As with most new things, we are sure you are brimming with questions. As we move past this introduction and into the series, we hope to set you on a path towards understanding. Then with this newfound understanding you will have the ability to go back to your ministry and work to grow your social media web presence.

What is Social Media?

There are many different ways in which social media can be defined. The reality is anything online which causes people to interact with each other can be labeled social media. As an example, let's look at social media through the dictionary definition from Merriam-Webster:

Social Media: forms of electronic communication (as Web sites for social networking and micro blogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (as videos).

Social media is meant to foster community. It can be used as a communication tool. There are many ways in which social media can be used. In the next few weeks, we will see the uses social media can have for a ministry. We hope to use this time to dispel any rumors or misgivings one might have about social media and ministry.

Why trust Axletree?

This is what we do. As a Christian media company, we deal in this stuff every day. We exist to make your life online easier. In working with ministries, we have come to an understanding of how social media works for ministries. Also, our social media team has experience not only with ministries but businesses as well. Our team understands social media and cares about seeing it work well for your ministry.

As we begin to delve into this series on social media, what has been your experience so far? Are there any topics surrounding social media and ministry you would like to know more about? Leave them in the comments below! Let’s get social!

Social Media in Ministry: Is Social Media Evil?

Even though social media has been around for a few years now, some churches still don’t use or understand it. After all, this is why we are typing out this blog series. We are hoping to shed light on this growing phenomenon known as “social media”.

One of the questions or concerns about social media is: is social media evil? In a recent debate tournament, the topic was “Social media is a necessary evil.” The winning side was the ones who argued against the resolution because we know wholeheartedly that social media is not necessary nor is it evil.

Think about it -- what makes something evil? Evil is a strong word. We may throw it around quite often but when it comes down to it, evil has a pretty simple definition and purpose. Evil has more to do with the intent of an action than the action itself. A lesser form of evil is simply the unfortunate action, but for all intensive purposes today, evil has to do with intent.

So then what is a ministry doing with social media? They are trying to extend God’s calling in their lives. Ministries are simply doing the Lord’s work. So it would seem then that social media is not evil.

Which is what we believe. Yes, social media can be used for evil but in the same manner it can be used for good as well. This is the classic Star War’s moment where Darth Vader is encouraging Luke to turn to the dark side. Instead, as ministries we will always choose to do what is right.

Social media may be used for evil. We however are going to seek to use it for good. Social media is not something created by the devil. Social media is yet another tool for us to use in ministry. Just like Paul in Acts 17: 22-23 spoke of the altar of the unknown God to the people of Athens, we should embrace our surroundings and begin to use them to spread God’s Word across the Internet.

Have you ever had someone tell you social media is evil? Do you actually still believe social media is evil? We would love for you to click the comments button beside the title and leave us your comment! We can begin the conversation about how social media can be used for good in ministry.

Social Media in Ministry: Safety

Welcome to week two of Social Media in Ministry. With the introductions out of the way, this week we will look at safety. There are several different aspects of safety, which ministries and their workers tend to be concerned about.

Personal Safety

There are several habits people have adopted for personal safety when it comes to inhabiting the online world -- namely, creating a fake name for a profile and providing misleading information all to obscure an identity. These things can provide initial comfort but down the road may not be as useful. With the world moving online, it can be important to build solid profiles, which accrue backing and influence over time. This is best done by having the correct information from the beginning.

To maintain personal safety online, these areas should be noted and used when needed.

Privacy Settings: Understand how they work. Set them according to how much information you want to be known.
User Agreements: Read them. Make sure there are no back doors through which information can be leaked.

Having better knowledge of these two aspects of the online world is very important. However they aren’t the catch-all end-all. What works best is simply posting only what you are comfortable with the entire world knowing. Even though you may use privacy settings to scale back who sees your posts, we know how “secure” these sites can be. In the end, simply watch what you post and then you have nothing to worry about.

Ministry Safety

Every ministry wants to be protected. They want to be able to reach out and do ministry effectively without bringing any problems to themselves. There are several steps, which a ministry can take to keeping themselves safe online.

Practice what you preach: We hear this all the time. However, the truth of the matter is, with social media people are always watching. Making sure you practice what you preach will help keep your ministry safe online.
Don’t Over Promise/Share: This is something which comes from the business world, however it fits here. There is a time and place for everything. Knowing what is safe to share and within your limitations as a ministry is key.
Proof Everything: This should go without saying. When proofing, we aren’t just looking for spelling errors though. We are also checking the content to ensure it stands alongside what the ministry's core values are also.

Conclusion

In the end, taking the time understand how social media works for the individual is the first step to maintaining safety online. The second step is lining up policies for your ministry in order to know how to safely post materials and respond to situations online. Social media can seem like a daunting situation, however, with the proper preparation, everything can be handled effectively and safely.

Social Media in Ministry: Why is it Necessary?

As we continue in our series on Social Media in Ministry, our progression has led us to another subject. We have so far covered social media safety and its inherent evils. This week we will point out the necessity of social media.

If you follow us on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/axletreemedia), you might have seen an interesting statistic and article we shared this week. The article informed us that 17% of online Americans have viewed a church website in the past 30 days. This correlates and reinforces our call for social media in ministry in a few different ways.

The Reach

Social media creates another avenue with which ministries can reach out to their communities. With the world moving online, this is key. This also allows for ministry supporters to promote the ministry in a more mobile-friendly way. These avenues are also part of what drew people into looking at the church websites we talked about above. Hence we see the reach, which social media can provide.

The Response

Ministry websites are great for storing information. Ministry websites often don’t get the attention needed for consistent conversation with individuals. This is where social media is necessary. Should a question come up, it can be answered quickly through social media. If a crisis happens, social media can be updated in a more rapid and informative manner to work in conjunction with a well-maintained website.

The SEO

This is where the ministry website benefits. Social media can actually build the search engine rankings for a ministry website. By being connected to social media (some of the most sought after websites online), a ministry website will climb in the rankings through the mutual listing. It’s part of how search engine optimization (SEO) works.

The Reality

As the world becomes mobile, social media sites are being used at an increasing rate. Part of staying relevant as a ministry is to be on social media. When ministries are on social media, the things listed above are just three of the many benefits they receive. Social media isn’t going anywhere as far as we know. Sure the most popular site may change at a moment's notice, but in the end it is better to have planned ahead than to be lost in the dust.

There are other major benefits of social media for ministries. What are some of yours that we haven’t shared? Click beside the title and leave a comment. We would love to dialogue with you about the subject!

Summertime Blues

It has been my experience that, inevitably, summertime means decreased attendance for churches. School is out, people go on vacations, sports teams travel and weekend trips are the norm. Admittedly, I’ve been guilty of some self-righteous indignation on those Sundays. I’m there and most of my friends aren’t. But, over the years, I’ve come to understand that it’s just part of the leadership gig.

But, though I’m still a firm believer that it’s better to be there in person, perhaps it’s time to consider some mobile options to keep our traveling community members in the loop and spiritually fed. Here are some ideas…

- Twitter – Yes, I said Twitter. Pose some questions, tweet them, encourage your flock (get it? Flock? Tweet?… OK it was a bad joke) to respond.

- Audio and Video – These are nothing new, but if you’re capable of live streaming, you give people an opportunity to listen or watch live. If not live, then use our E-Zekiel.TV to let folks listen and watch from the road.

- Create Vacation Scavenger Hunts – If these people are going to be gone, give them something to do that will not only be entertaining but also turn vacation into a spiritual quest.

- Vacation Diaries – As people travel across the country and the world, encourage them to journal or blog about the ways they see God at work in the places they visit or travel through.

- Be OK With Them Being Gone – Part of our spiritual journey should include times of rest. It’s really OK if some folks are gone. Appreciate the time that they are getting to spend with their families and pray that they find the rest they need.

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