Churches are a natural for Social Media - broadcast information and updates in 140 characters in "real-time" to their members and would-be members - doesn't get better than that - or does it...There are now getting to be some interesting examples of churches using Social Media - or should I say "testing" it to see how to use it.
What we see are people rushing into the water without a plan and without clear direction of what they want to accomplish, the best way to accomplish it and what are the expected results. This is where I believe there is a train wreck waiting to happen. But for now...
Overlake Christian Church here in Redmond, WA had an interesting approach to Easter. The pastor said, "usually we spend about $20,000 on a direct mail piece and send out to a few thousand people to invite them for Easter, since it is a great time for people to check out a church. However, this time we are just going to use a small postcard mailer (much less cost) and deploy a facebook campaign with your members - invite your friends on facebook." The goal is to reach more than 10 times the people - up to 100,000 instead. Lofty goal, or is it? Even if it isn't, it will reach far more people, faster and cheaper than using traditional media. Nice work Overlake, great use of a Social Networking tool.
Another example is from Mars Hill Church - allowing their attendees to twitter during church. You can read more about this experiment at Mars Hill Does Twitter. Interesting concept, time will tell how well it works or doesn't work and how this does or doesn't fit into an overall strategy. Regardless, it is an interesting use of a very powerful tool of Social Media. Stay tuned to see how it turns out.
Blaine
Blaine Millet
Customer Experiences Inc.
twitter: @BlaineMillet
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