[Find all posts in the Mind the Social Media Gap series here.]
The beginning of trying to mind the social media gap does not start with tweeting, posting Facebook statuses, or even creating the accounts so that people know we are here. We must be strategic in how we go about posting to social media so that everything flows well. This step is before we lay foundation for everything else we are to do. This step is designed to give us intentionality, purpose, limits, and direction with what we post and how we post it.
This will be the biggest piece of the gap and therefore it will take the most amount of time, creativity, and effort to find the best foundation for your ministry’s account. Below we are going to have some practical questions you need to answer if you want to begin well and make the rest of this process that much easier.
Before we jump into the questions below, you need to do things: be authentic and have a dialogue with someone that can help you. This is not the time to give scripted answers that you read on a blog somewhere. Be real, answer from your gut, and then refine it. Just make sure it is really you.
But authenticity is not enough, you need another viewpoint on this process. I personally would love to be that person that can help you want through this project, but it does not have to be someone that does social media as their job. Let them speak truth with you, challenge your responses for practicality, and push you to go further.
- What do you know about social media?
Should you really be trying to jump into Twitter if you have never used it? Would it be better to have someone run the account that has experience? Do you know the best image formats for Pinterest that gets the most click throughs? Did you know that Facebook wants you on their site and may penalize you for using third-party applications to post on their site? We can only build from what we know, so lay out what that is here. - What are your goals for social media?
How is this network going to help with your ministry? Do you want people to click through to your website or is it more important that people interact on the social media account? Do you want to primarily be evangelistic or discipleship focused? Think long term as well as short term? - What people do you see are using social media well and who are you annoyed with or think they are doing it wrong?
If you can find a few companies or ministries that are your role models in how you see social media being used smartly, follow them closely. What is it that you love about them? What are they doing and yet what are they communicating? The same thing goes for bad companies. Do not run to the statistics right now, just focus on what they are communicating. - Why do you even want to use social media?
Can you achieve your goals better elsewhere? What is fueling this need to get on social media? (If it is because it’s shiny or someone else is doing it, then just forget about it) What are you going to do if that passion gets blocked because you get busy, what will fuel you then? How long are you looking into the future with your plan?
[…] Dreaming of the Initial Ideas This is only the beginning of entering into the process. Here we need to define what they know about social media, what goals they have with social media, who they see as doing social media right and wrong, why they want to even do social media, and any other hopes and dreams with social media (and maybe looking at the reality of what social media can do). [Read More] […]