In my role of Mobilization with Encompass, I’m heavily involved in creating, facilitating and resourcing networks for Great Commission good. On April 22, there was a special event I was able to facilitate with Grace Brethren communications folks who have been getting together for a while now. They asked me to plan the next get together…and so I did. We called it Connect & Equip for FGBC Communicators.
We had communicators from all over, so we gathered online via GoTo Meeting:
Our first 45 minutes we did introductions and also shared one tool that we were using to help us in communications in our work.
Thankfully someone wrote them all down… Thanks Steve Koontz!
Here are the websites that were mentioned.
Doodle.com – schedule meetings
https://www.dollarphotoclub.com
https://www.designcuts.com/
http://unsplash.com – random, free photos once a week
http://www.freepik.com/ – free vectors
https://www.lightstock.com/ – faith-based photos
latergram.me – schedule Instagram
https://attendify.com/ Application builder
http://mobivity.com/ – texting
viviotech.com – webhosting
https://feedly.com blog reader for auto alerts
After this we had a time with church social media guru DJ Chuang. He has been instrumental in my even starting this website! You can find out tons about my fellow Southern Californian online.
DJ took on the topic “Fresh things he has been learning about churches and social media.” My friend and participant Aaron Scantlen shared some of his notes on our Facebook event page:
I had a great time and got two pages of valuable info. Thanks to everyone for sharing what they are using right now and to DJ Chuang for sharing great stuff with us about the church and social media. I’m sharing with our Pastoral Leadership Team at Winona Lake Grace Brethren Churchtomorrow morning about the highlights of our gathering.
Highlights:
1. Social Media is about People – It’s easy to get caught up in all the new platforms and technology, but we have to remember that it is relational at it’s core. – DJ Chuang
2. Be Authentic – People can tell if you are only on there to “sell” them something or if you actually use the platform regularly. Each platform is different, so use the ones for your church that you know and are using and then use them as intended, or people will ignore you. – Andy Jewett Also, follow your church members and interact with what THEY are posting about rather than always trying to make them see YOUR posts. – DJ Chuang
3. Communication is about Content – We should be giving people content/value, not just telling them information. 90% of what we share and post should be story and adding value and 10% can then be an announcement or sale. We have lots of content already, especially through sermons, that we just need to package and give away. – DJ Chuang
4. Find a Reverse Mentor – Find a someone from the next generation to mentor you in how they are using social media. What platforms are they using, how do they work, and how do they use them with their friends. Don’t do this just one time. Social media is constantly changing. Once you get on the treadmill, you have to keep up. – DJ Chuang
Even if you weren’t there live, this rich time was recorded and is available for you to listen or download off my Dropbox at: ConnectEquipCommunicators2015April22 ENJOY!