Technology Compliments Ministry: Part 2

Technology helps us spread our message to new people. More than that, technology offers us a platform to stay connected between Sundays. There is a lot of life that happens between the close of one service and the following weekend. If we don’t find a way to stay connected – and measure that connectedness – then we limit our impact potential.

Here are some additional suggestions as to how technology can compliment your ministry:

• Learn how to use Google Analytics. You should want to know who is visiting your church’s website each week. Where do they live? Which pages on your website are receiving the most hits? What do people search for that brings them to your site? What site linked directly to your church’s website? What content is most popular? Google Analytics can help you answer some of these questions. Consider how your church could improve community outreach if you knew what people were looking for when they log on to your church’s website. This has incredible potential to change how we engage others.
• Utilize video. Not only should you utilize video in services (which you should!) you should also utilize it on your church’s Youtube channel, Facebook page, and on your website. Seeing a smiling face on the homepage can help confirm for a visitor that this may be a church for them. When you can use your smart phone to capture HD video, there is no excuse to not leverage this powerful medium. Check out this video: Ten Tips to Feel Comfortable on Camera by Mary Ellen Miller for some tips on how to get comfortable in front of the camera.
• Utilize social media support tools. There’s more than a few dozen available, but let’s focus on two: Tweetdeck or Hootsuite. Tweetdeck helps you keep track of keywords. Say you want a notification any time someone mentions your church’s youth ministry “Collide.” It’s a great way to see what people are saying about your church, the ministries within it, and the events and ministries you promote. Hootsuite, according to their website, is a “social media dashboard for teams using Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin.” Hootsuite helps ministries consolidate messages across social media platforms and lets you see the activity happening on all of them in one convenient spot. It’s great for active pages, ensuring that you don’t miss what others are already saying about your church.

Technology really can compliment your ministry initiatives. Whether it’s software for giving, events, scheduling, or ticketing or strategy and tools to engage your congregation in ongoing conversations about ministry, faith, and life, your church can expand its reach and maximize its impact with these tools. What’s your next step?