Social Media is still a relatively new form of communication, although the technology has been around for quite some time. As a result, measuring the relative “success” of social media campaigns and initiatives is still very young, and that’s just for the secular marketplace!
Historically, of course, the Church Universal has been a tad bit behind technologically, not mention that our “metrics for success” are a little bit different than the markeplace. That can be a double-whammy in terms of our ability to commit on extremely limited information and ignorance.
So how do you know if you’ve been successful in your social media strategy, program, and/or initiatives? You commit to them long term. That’s the only way you’ll “know.”
As much as you’d may like to believe that it won’t take that long to ascertain whether your ministry or church is doing a good job at social media, the simple fact is that the development of anything web-related is always a marathon race instead of a sprint.
There is, of course, a Biblical principle here, but I won’t touch that directly. What I do know is that from all my years working in software development and seeing products be birthed into glory only to find themselves in the “deadpool” 6 months later, it takes real guts and real commitment to see anything succeed long term.
Your job, of course, is to make sure that this expectation is set at the beginning, that you don’t necessarily promise the “world” but that you will, as a ministry and organization, commit long term to this endeavor, and “count the cost” as you plan and move forward.
The internet (and Google) is apparently pretty faithful and favors those that stick it out for the long haul; are you willing to commit long term?
I hope it’s a “yes.”
[Image from M.A.X.]
Jim says
ride the long wave