4 Rules to Increase Your Visibility via Social Media

Now, the key is to get the attention of the SEO's (Search Engine Optimization, here is a great beginners guide).  Which means we want our pages to be Relevant and Popular.


I run social media for my church. I wanted to do this to the best of my ability, so after months of talking to people, reading blogs, looking up research, and taking advantage of every resource I possibly could, I put everything together to the use of social media in 4 simple rules.



1 - Consistency is King

Post. Like. Update. Blog. Write. Check-in. Respond. Regularly.  But no more than once per day.


2 - Link Everything

Everything needs to be linked to each other in order to grab the SEO's attention and create traffic to and from webpage to webpage.  So link everything.  Blog to Twitter, Twitter to Facebook, Facebook to blog, Facebook to Instagram. Link everything. 


3 - Quality Over Quantity

The old tried and true rule. Make sure that whatever you post is of the highest quality.  If its a picture, make sure its not blurry and its grainy.  If its a blog check for spelling errors (I know, I should take my own advice seriously!). Whatever it is. Quality speaks wonders. 


4 - Protect Yourself

The last thing you want for yourself or your business is to have a negative user experience (UX), or get a bad reputation from a review.  Make sure that you are posting things you are allowed to post!  For example, if you are posting pictures of kids at VBS, make sure you get the parents permission or at the very least, inform the parents of this possibility before posting it online.  Give the parents an opportunity to opt out before your splatter pictures of their kids online. (I'm saying this from experience!)








Above all else, remember these 3 goals.

Create Community. Maintain Relationships. Communicate Vision. 

Titanic! The Desire For Desperation.

               Like most of you, I don't dream.

                    Well thats not true, according to many studies including this one, everyone dreams.
That being said, I don't remember my dreams.

            Last night, I remembered my dream. I was on Titanic hanging out with Leonardo DiCaprio, we were watching Kate Winslet go on her very tippy-tip toes on the dance floor. I look around and see everyone enjoying themselves. Looking to a hopeful future. Enjoying life assuming tomorrow was going to be more of the same.

The next thing I remember was running around the ship trying to find a lifeboat, of which there were only 16, and as we all know, they just take up deck space anyway.

            But I wasn't concerned with trying to find a boat for myself, but instead I was trying to find people and talk to them, knowing that they are all going to die (except the 700 that made it in a lifeboat), I had to speak to them, for just one second. I had one message that I said over and over and over; "Do you know Jesus Christ?"

            I was in an alarmed state. Trying to get everyone, every single person, to understand the gospel. This was their last chance, their only chance. To know Him.

            What if we lived life like this? Knowing that there is a chance every single person you meet needs to know the creator before its to late. The culture is continuing to sink, there is no time left, life can be over in seconds, there is a huge sense of urgency for spreading the good news of the gospel.

          The dream continues...

          The people who quickly accept Christ join me, grabbing people who are crying and hysterical, forcing Jesus upon them knowing that in the end those who accept this message will be eternally grateful.

          I stopped. Things go in slow motion for the next scene.  Laying next to Jack and Rose as we look into the inevitable fact that we are all going down. I look around and see hundreds of people drowning. People I didn't talk to sooner. People I didn't reach out to. People I didn't even try to shake hands with. I recognize some from the earlier dance floor. I had the time to talk to them, I was just too scared, and now its too late.

It felt like the last scene in Schindler's List.

I never want to end my life having this sense of regret. Knowing I could have done more.
                         I hope you feel the same.

Lord Jesus,
      I pray that you give us a desire for desperation. A deep sense of urgency. A passion to share the wonderful news of Jesus Christ and the cross before its too late. Help us to step out of fear and step into love, for sharing your gospel is the most loving thing a person can do.
                                                                                               Amen

3 Thoughts on Cell Phones in Church

Couple Cell Phone Statistics before we being:

• Average number of texts sent by an American Teen each month: 3,339 Texts (566% increase in two years)
• 42% of teens say they can text message blindfolded
• Texting is the number 2 use of cellphones (Checking the time is #1)
• (2014) Americans spent about $42.8 million on mobile devices
• (2015), should be close to $1.8 BILLION.

*Information provided by: www.onlineitdegree.com

Consider 1 of the 3 "solutions"
      1. Tell everyone to turn them off as soon as they sit down.
      2. Accept everyone and allow them to do what they want. Let people be responsible.
      3. Jump into the hipster/techie movement and make cell phones part of the service.

There is no best answer, but I side with 3.

Use them to your advantage.

      One of the coolest churches I've been to put their notes on a free bible app. I download them every time. You can even comment which is amazing because then you can interact with other church attendees! And hey, that creates really cool conversations and interactions. Another church encourages members to take pictures of/in the service and post them online hoping this can be a non-threatening way of inviting friends.

People really take notes on them: I know, its crazy.
      During any given service, I'm jumping between my 'notes' app and my 'bible' app as well as looking up things I didn't quite understand. This is much easier than trying to have a desk of books and journals and a pen. Its just like when I sit in class, I have my laptop out trying to retain all the information I can.

Still, Students want structure.

       I use to be very relaxed when it came to cell phones during small group. And students would pull them out at times, probably texting each other. One of the students blurted out "Can't you guys put your phones away for just a few minutes!" Then the group asked for a box. Heck, they even made the box. Now we have a box that we can just throw all of our phones in.