broadcast model has been so pervasive, most people first approach social media as simply another form of broadcast media—as one more way to blast our message out there and get people to join our church or organization. This approach to social media is bound to fail. First, because the emphasis is on the needs of the institution rather than the needs of the individual. It’s about our message. Second, because people want and expect to engage with you personally. They don’t just want information. They want and expect to have a relationship.
“FOLLOWING”
“Following” is how people connect on Twitter. Unlike on Facebook, where you must request access to another user’s profile by “friending,” on Twitter you can access almost any user’s tweets by clicking the “follow” button on a user’s profile:
Only if a user follows you back can you use Twitter features like private messaging, but, as you’ll see in Chapter 3, there are lots of other ways to connect on Twitter.
IT’S CARING, NOT SELLING
In his book The Thank You Economy, Gary Vaynerchuk describes this shift from broadcast to social media by drawing upon an important distinction between caring and selling.
Vaynerchuk tells the story of how he helped grow his traditional family-owned wine shop, Wine Library, through an active digital social media presence. The story begins with Twitter.
Vaynerchuk began by following conversations on Twitter about wine, specifically chardonnay, and answering questions and giving recommendations. But he made a point never to link to his own website. He wanted to make a human connection, not just a sale. He writes:
To find conversations on particular topics on Twitter, enter a term at twitter. com/search and the latest tweets with that keyword will appear:
For example, you can look for your denomination or more general terms like “spirituality,” “prayer,” “Christianity,” and so on.
Eventually, people started to see my comments and think, “Oh, hey, it’s that Vaynerchuk guy; he knows Chardonnay. Oh cool, he does a wine show—let’s take a look. Hey, he’s funny. I like him; I trust him. And check it out: he sells wine, too. Free shipping? Let’s try a bottle of that. . . .” That’s what caring first, not selling first, looks like, and that’s how I built my brand.
Now, at the end the day, Vayner chuk does want to sell something. He wants people to order some wine. And he knows that engaged and happy customers make for good revenue streams and, thus, profits. In some respects, it is not about relationships themselves, but about monetizing relationships. In business, relationships are typically a means to an end. This is certainly not necessarily evil. People need and want lots of things, and it is more pleasant to go about obtaining these things from people who are able to connect with you on a personal level, who are attending to something of your authentic self. For digital ministers, however, the meaningful relationships we create and nurture should be ends in themselves, not the means to increasing our membership or giving levels.
Occasionally review your list of friends on Facebook or followers on Twitter as a reminder of who you are speaking to when you post.
This is a subtle but quite powerful distinction that often makes much of the very good advice on using social media for business marketing not particularly adaptable to church settings. We are ministers, not marketers, so our presence in digital spaces must be very clearly defined in terms of authentic ministry—an authentic connection with others that focuses on the sharing of love, wisdom, and gifts rather than monetary or other transactional exchanges.
That said, Vaynerchuk is right about this: people need to know that you care—and they need to care about you before they will ever care about your institution. They must be invested in your mission and ministry before they will be invested in the success of your congregation or organization in achieving that mission. Being human, authentic, and caring is the entry point for engagement with you and your congregation.
So, don’t just share information about your church. Don’t sell your church or yourself. Move beyond “creating buzz” by promoting others, making connections, making introductions, encouraging others, and sharing your story, experiences, and life of faith. Perhaps most importantly, telling your church’s story should always be preceded by sharing your story. In social media, the personal is primary. As Elizabeth has argued, “Institutions don’t do social. People do social.”2
Part of being personal is not trying to speak to everybody at once. This often happens naturally, but try to address small groups among your friends and followers. Your tone will be personal, but it allows others to overhear.
People want to connect with people. That’s the whole point of social media. Effective social media ministry invites and nurtures these personal connections.
IT’S PERSONAL, NOT INSTITUTIONAL
The Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, which Keith pastors, has evolved a more personal, relational digital ministry over time. They first came to social media in 2006 when Keith began posting the manuscript of his weekly sermons on a blog. This was mostly for his own use. It was an easy way to categorize, archive, share, and search sermons.
Two years later, just as Facebook was becoming popular, the church council established four strategic goals for the congregation. One of those goals was improving church communications. A small group spearheaded the effort. Keith built a new church website and Redeemer pushed further into social media, creating a Facebook page, Twitter feed, and using iTunes, YouTube, Constant Contact emails, and multiple blogs to share not only sermons, but podcasts, adult education programs, and the latest congregational news. Over these last three years, Keith and the congregation have used just about every type of social media available. Altogether, they have provided a robust platform to connect with people within and beyond the congregation and share God’s grace. Like many of the people and ministries profiled in this book, Redeemer’s experience with social media has been one of thoughtful experimentation. Some of the brightest ideas—like a blog with resources for nurturing spirituality—have petered out, and some things started on a whim—like a 2-Minute Bible Study on YouTube you’ll hear more about in Chapter 3—have surprised with how strongly they resonated.
The most important lesson in digital ministry is that people want to connect personally. Thus, although you are a priest, pastor, or other minister, and use social media in your ministry, the content you share should not be just about church or faith. Keith, for instance, shares updates about family life, his passions for web design, running, social media. And, he increasingly uses the social geolocation platform Foursquare, which we’ll describe in Chapter 3, to check in and tell a story about where he is and what he’s doing both as a pastor and as a human being in the world more generally. Elizabeth, on the other hand, tends to share updates about political and artistic interests, about life in Northern California,
