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Social Media in Ministry

We are not being sarcastic when we say that the first step in getting social on the web… is getting on the web. Before you can create engagement and interaction you have to create a virtual presence for yourself. Claim your virtual real estate! Get your domain name! Your www.yourministryname.com

Then get a website. You may ask, “Should I have a website or a blog?” Websites are more effective if they are more than online business cards. What do I mean? Websites should be living things – able to interact with visitors, draw visitors back and offer them value. And of course they need to offer easy to find contact and service information. And, FYI, free services are less likely to be found in search engines and usually have advertisements so be careful. You want your website to be:

✓ Interactive
✓ Informative
✓ Valuable
✓ Marketable
✓ Search Engine Optimized

Now once you have your domain name and website you want to begin claiming your virtual real estate. Keep in mind that having internet real estate doesn’t necessarily mean you live there! In other words, just because you are listed on Blip.fm… doesn’t mean that you know what it really is, or even use it. The more places you are listed – the easier it will be for people to find you. So where should you and/or your ministry be listed?

1. Online Phone Books: 76% of people say they don’t use print phone books anymore. But what about the internet? The more places you are listed, the easier it will be for people to find you through Google or other search engines.

✓ Google Business
✓ YellowPages.com
✓ Switchboard.com
✓ Yelp.com
✓ Twellow
✓ eComplements.com

2. Social networking sites, and these are the most popular:

✓ Facebook
✓ Twitter
✓ LinkedIn

For more information and a training on how to market your ministry on these social networking sites, please view thesocialmediasecret.com [1]

3. Up and Coming Social Media Tools: Foresquare.com, for example, is all the buzz. If you know anything about social media, you should be on Foresquare… right? MYTH. Using any and all social media tools can dilute your efforts! As a general rule, LIST yourself on all social media tools, even the small ones, but don’t waste your time trying to make rain out of an empty cup.

Here are some sites that have either been around a while, or are new, that you should be listed on and keep your ears open for:

✓ Foresquare.com
✓ FriendFeed
✓ Bolt.com
✓ Friendster
✓ hi5
✓ Google Buzz

We’ll be back with more tips next week. Blessings! The Winters Technology Group Team!!

Need a church website?

foresitebanner [2]