Social media and online tools have been central to much of the success Courageous Church has had in our first months. We get a ton of questions about what tools we use and how we do what we do and I got a chance to speak @ the BUG Conference @ Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Alabama today. I think I need to write a future blog post about our use of Facebook ads because of how many questions I got about them today, but here are some keys thoughts about building a real sense of community online:
(I just got home tonight after a very long day so I don’t have time to expand my notes, but would be glad to answer any questions you may have)
1. All of the rules of building a community off-line still apply!
(Be consistent, be transparent, be honest, be a good listener, be responsive, be outgoing, etc.)
2. Be the church.
(Pray for people, offer biblical advice, point them to resources, connect them to other people, etc.)
3. Services are not Expensive!
(Facebook, Twitter, Google Apps, YouTube, LiveStream are Free. Blogs are Cheap. Websites are affordable.)
4. Don’t get caught up in expensive gadgets.
(I have a Gateway laptop I bought @ Wal-Mart for $500. A Flip camera for $100 & an old-school Blackberry.)
5. Be Yourself.
(If your goal is for your online community to become a LIVE community people will discover the real you.)
6. Keep Crassness to a Minimum. Keep both feet on the ground, but vulgarity, etc. hurts more than it helps.
(Crassness abounds and you can’t out-crass the world. Be funny, be real, but crassness confuses people.)
7. People tend to over-commit and underperform online.
(If 100 People RSVP to your Facebook Invitation, 200 people could show up, but it’ll be more like 40.)
8. Pick a few things and do them well instead of 20 and suck at all of them.
(Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blog, Church/Business Website)
9. Don’t oversell events or church services that may suck. People may actually show up.
(Spend WAY more time on systems and quality than you do neat online stuff. In-person quality will make what you do online much, much easier.)
10. The same relationship boundaries that apply in person apply online. Be careful!
(What happens online is not fake, it’s real. What happens online is not private or secret, it’s public.)
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for posting these notes. Great insight!
As usual Shaun – You have hit it right on the head. Great stuff.
Great insight P. Shaun! it's funny how we complicate everything. This is helpful resources. Thanks.
I got to see the end of your session. Loved the points on ethics. Good stuff.
Hey man I'm Stephen, likin the blog.
I've seen #9 come true so often…People make the event sound like the grand opening of Batman, and it turns out to be a rerun of MTV Cribs…
But at the same time, it's totally worth publicizing online.
Shaun, is there a place we can go and watch your talk from the conference?
9.Don’t oversell events or church services that may suck. People may actually show up.
(Spend WAY more time on systems and quality than you do neat online stuff. In-person quality will make what you do online much, much easier.)
Amen and amen!
Oooh I am so mad that you were in my hometime and I missed it! Hopefully I'll be able to catch it online. I know that you did a great job.
oops, "hometime" is supposed to read "hometown" sorry!