Are You Reaching Your Digital Members?

You and your staff may know most of your members personally, but what about those you haven’t met who are lying just on the periphery, perusing the website and following on social media? Are you reaching your digital members? Here are some (free) tools you already have in your pocket to do just that.

YOUR WEBSITE

Pretend you’re someone looking for a church to join and surf your own website. You’re searching for two things:
1. a ‘wow’ factor, and
2. just some basic facts and logistics.

What sets you apart from other churches? What’s your church’s personality and beliefs? Is this evident on your homepage? Does it clearly state where they need to park for Sunday service? Is there a call-to-action for curious visitors?

This church website offers a prime example of new membership appeal! They include verbiage like, “No matter where you are on your spiritual journey, all are welcome here.”

Right on the Homepage, there is a section called “Next Steps“, a program where people can easily plug in and find their place in their church. In the “About” tab, they’ve outlined their core values and beliefs – so helpful to those searching for theological compatibility! Finally, at each location tab, they include a map and directions. They get an A++ from us!!

EMPOWER YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA TRIBE!

Everyone’s on social media these days. Have a campaign once a year where members are encouraged to use a certain hashtag or Facebook frame, inviting their friends to join them for a service! You can even create a Facebook event or a cool graphic folks can share on their personal profiles.This equips your members to get the message out! They want to bring others to Jesus, so why not give them another way to do so?

PODCAST MUCH?

In this digital age, podcasting is becoming an increasingly popular way to connect. (In fact, here at Epic, we’re getting ready to launch our own podcast! More on that later.)

If you don’t already have a podcast, consider creating one! It can be a killer supplemental line of communication, whether you simply release weekly sermons or generate completely new and different content!

At the very minimum, we recommend sharing Sunday sermons on Youtube – film them using an iPhone and upload away! Youtube is teeming with millions of active users, so tagging the videos with phrases like “sermon”, “Christianity” and other related terms to increase your exposure. You may have 2 subscribers or you may have 2,000, but soon podcasts and video will fully dominate communication online, so it’s good to be part of the trend now.

Plus, your podcasts and Youtube videos offer more juicy content for your digital tribe to post online!! Bonus.

BOTTOM LINE

  • Your priority is your website! Be sure there is a clear call-to-action for visitors to your Homepage. Highlight what sets you apart from other churches and offer helpful tips on how newbies can dive into your community.
  • Equip your church members to spread your message online with either a hashtag, a graphic or a link to other sites!
  • Finally, keep generating content for people to discover and share. Our top preference here again would be a weekly podcast or Youtube video!

There’s so much unedifying, unseemly content grabbing people’s attention online these days. But as a Church, we can be intentional with our digital presence to create positive engagement and draw people in with hope!

WHO IS EPIC?

We’re passionate about serving our partners quickly & efficiently with high-end design.

Our team wears lots of hats as we tackle our partners projects and work seamlessly, passing tasks back and forth to ensure an excellent product and to be sure things keep moving quickly. We’d love to help serve you too!