Besides being a full-time web developer, I am also the web guy for my church. This year I have proposed a new plan of attack for our web presence. Because social media is still a new concept to my pastor and the other ministry leaders, I outlined a very basic social media plan for us to begin with. The plan we are starting with is also only costing my time. There are no out of pocket expenses to get this off the ground. It is as follows:
- Web site: This will act as the hub for our web presence. The site is currently under going a redesign. I decided to use WordPress for this redesign. I wanted a tool that was open source and easy for end users to update information with. WordPress is perfect for this.
- Facebook fan page: We currently have a “group” on Facebook but this is changing to a “fan page”. I would like to note that I did not set up our current group. There are a couple of reasons for changing this group to a fan page. The first being, our group is closed off. Anyone wanting to join needs to request access. I am a firm believer in the “open” church concept. If you are going to say anyone is welcome to come through the doors of the church, then the same principle should apply to all areas of ministry. The second reason is “groups” are somewhat flawed in that you need to go to the group page to see updates. With the fan page concept, any updates are automatically fed to a users feed.
- Twitter: This is an easy and quick way to get the word out about events that are taking place as well as what we are studying in service. Our Pastor’s blog will be tied to this as well.
- Pastor’s blog: Who better to talk about what’s happening at our church then the Pastor? He will be blogging about the things he feels led to blog about. These could range from recaps of his messages to wishing someone in the congregation a happy birthday, or who knows what. The idea is to have a frequently updated blog about what he is thinking and where he is leading the church.
- Podcasting: This is a new thing for us. Up until about 2 months ago, our sermons where captured to cassette. Now that we have an easy way to capture sermons digitally, we are adding them to iTunes for download. They will also be available for download on the new website when it launches.
I know, you are saying to yourself “Why didn’t Chris mention the church URL or even the name of the church?”. Well, I will be mentioning it soon. I plan to do a post/case study about it when it launches.
If you are looking for a free hosted WordPress website, you can go to http://www.wordpress.com for more information.
This post was written as part of the 31 Days to Better Blogging project. You can read about the project here: http://blog.ourchurch.com/2010/04/27/join-us-and-become-a-better-blogger-in-31-days/
Great minds must think alike!
I might be touching base to get some ideas from you, sounds like we are in the same boat. I am an IT guy and helping with our church website, we also just have a Facebook group and I have wondered about adding a Fan page.
Good ideas.
I have just this year made a church web site http://www.newcovenantgj.org/ using OurChurch.com. I have recently added a Facebook page.
I don’t Twitter yet. Is it that important?
I have my blog both on the church site and blogspot.
Still in the planning stage for audio sermon files or podcasting.