Mark Driscoll gets removed and then reinstated to facebook
Brad Abare writes about “Echo, God as second banana”
Cynthia Ware reports from “Behind the Scenes at Echo”
Paul Steinbrueck talks about why some large churches are losing influence while others are gaining it
A few months ago we did a Echo Conference contest. Well Echo started yesterday and Colt Melrose stopped by and said hello. Here is the video.
It’s a delicate line. You follow someone on Twitter or you friend someone on Facebook. How ethical is it to scout their followers as potential people to pursue in outreach? Rather than approach it that way, there is a better way. With a minimal amount of training and encouragement, you can have your church people be the ones to do the reaching. So here is just one way you could set this up.
Let’s start with Twitter. What you could do during a service is encourage people to follow the church on Twitter. Then, ask them to re-tweet anything that comes across your church twitter that would appeal to their friends. Send an email blast to the entire church restating that information.
The next part is pretty important. You have to tweet in a compelling way. For instance, “church picnic Sunday” is not compelling. “Get your grub on with YourChurch.com this Sunday. Free is good right?” In other words, give them something interesting to tweet. Then, tweet daily with interesting information or updates.
I would go one step further. I would talk with two or three that you know are avid Twitter users. Ask them to help you with outreach through retweeting. People love to have a personal invitation to join the greatest opportunity on earth – to reach people for Jesus!
pic by cote
Have you ever lost your keys ? Of course you have, everyone loses their keys every once in a while. Can you bring back to mind the emotions you felt when you lost them this last time ? Frustration, disappointment, anger. But when you finally find them there is rejoicing !
Imagine this… someone moves to your city and wants to find a church. They search in google and come across your website. They want to find out what time you meet, but it’s not on the home page. So they start clicking around your website, about us page, contact us page, where we meet page…nothing. So they go to another churches website and find it right away. Not only have you lost a potential visitor, but the next time that person comes across your website they will have a bad taste in their mouth. You have broken the “2 Click Rule”.
The “2 Click Rule” simple states this: “Everything that is important to a first time visitor to your website needs to be 2 clicks or less away.” So what are these things that first time visitors are looking for ?
1. What time you meet
2. Where do you meet
3. What kind of church are you
4. Who is on staff
5. What do you believe
6. Who is on staff
7. Where is their media (audio and video)
8. What ministries do you provide.
This is in no way an exhaustive list, but it will give you a general idea of what they are looking for.
So…. right now. Go to your website and see if you are breaking the “2 Click Rule.” If you are fix it, if you are not give yourself a pat on the back. And remember to put your keys in the same place every time you go home.
pic by Davichi
Now that you have your Twitter account up and going, you may wonder, “How often should I tweet?” Unfortunately, there is no magic answer to that.
Look at Ashton Kutcher, the most followed Twitter account according to Twitterholic.com. Boasting over 2.8 million followers, Kutcher updates an average of 16 tweets per day. But then, falling in second, is the Ellen DeGeneris show with 2.5 million followers. With less than 1 post per day (309 in 11 months), you can see that the number of posts doesn’t necessarily dictate your following.
The general rule of thumb is to find a balance of items to tweet about. Tweet when you have something interesting to share. If you only post about drinking coffee and reading emails (and you’re not a celebrity), chances are you won’t be followed by many.
Utilize your Twitter account as a way to connect, educate and inspire. Post interesting articles from online newspapers or blogs. Tweet random statistics or facts of the day. Use a little humor. Make light of life.
There’s no shame in keeping people updated with the daily routine either. Just be aware that if it is the entirety of your tweets, you’ll be chirping to deaf ears.
How often should you update your Twitter account? As frequently as you like! People love stories. And people love people. Just be yourself. Don’t worry about the details. Simply enjoy an application that allows you to stay connected with friends, family and congregation members all day long.
Will you be a mega-tweeter like Kutcher or fall among the majority that update once a day? Only time will tell.
pic by striatic
