marketing Archives - Nikole Hahn

How To Effectively Communicate

Content Marketing Institute published 15 Digital Content Mistakes That Can Hurt Your Brand. I work with missionaries and churches in online communication. I picked a few items from Content Marketing’s list to connect ministry and secular marketing. While we do marketing, we must always consider it ministry to establish a genuine relationship with people.

First, you are the brand. Whether it’s a church or missionary, or a Christian non-profit. It is who you are. For ministry purposes, that’s how we define our own brands. It is how we differentiate ourselves from others.

“To instantly leave a memorable impression on your target audience, so they slowly but surely become familiar with your company and ultimately buy from you.” (coschedule.com on Brands)

Promotional Content

“The 80/20 rule has been cited as the effective social media content ratio. Focus 80% of your posts on informing and entertaining your followers, while just 20% should be about your business. Similarly, the five-three-two rule says for every 10 posts published, five should be curated from others’ content, three should be original to your brand, and two should be personal and fun to humanize your brand.”

Simply put…

Informing and entertaining can be about your ministry, Scripture, fun photos, cultural immersion, etc. Give value back to your audience. How can you minister to them? How can you minister to your community online? Be generous with your time. Teach and inspire!
20% a call to action to give or about events.
Share or screenshot and share and tag other content related to your brand, your area of ministry, or something valuable to your audience. Paraphrase and sum up another person’s post, tag, or share a link. Subscribe to news events in the area of your service to paraphrase mostly positive updates to your newsfeed.
Three original posts about your brand. This is content you create from scratch.
Two fun things that are personal. To build friendships in person, you find something in common. Do the same online.

Ultimately, the rule is not solid, Content Marketing says. Don’t feel you need to stick fast to this rule, but it’s a good guide, especially if you need to be more creative. Study your data online to know what your audience wants to see from you. Never listen to an expert if your data says to do something different. Do what works for your audience! Do what works to grow a new audience, too.

Emailing

Following along the lines of knowing your audience, typically once a month for churches and once a week to once a month for individuals, is a good guide for email communication with your audience. Larger organizations will have different schedules.

Even if you still need to go to the field, you must keep your name in front of people. Draw on your creativity to decide what to send out to foster solid friendships, or enroll in similar newsletters to see what they write and how they frame their stories. Below is what is true of communications between missionaries and their partners:

76% expect consistent interaction with a brand. Even though this is a secular market, I have found this to be true with missionary and partner relations.

Stay Away From Controversial Subjects

If you don’t wish to get boycotted, get an angry email, or want to keep relationships with people, be aware of trigger points with your audience. Content Marketing says to bring up highly polarizing and emotional topics only if it has something to do with your brand. And when you do, make sure you have researched the subject and keep a steadfast, calm, and loving tone online.

Once something becomes a debate, you’ve lost. Even if you win the battle, you’ve lost the war. You’ll get farther respecting the person as an image-bearer of God than with your self-defensiveness and anger. What is the most important thing your audience can take away from you? Is it because you care about them or your cause?

The Battle To Be Heard

My email accounts have hundreds to thousands of emails in them. The subject line is the most essential part of your email. It’s what will stand out from all your Best Buy, Hobby Lobby, and Hotel emails. It’s also an art form. Don’t be discouraged if it takes a few times to get the subject line right and to see your open rates increase.

The commercial open rate is about 30%. It reaches a different audience than your social media, website, and direct mail. In Church Communication, we always say to use everything to get your information in front of people. Be the email they want to open!

Serving Vs Marketing

Your Church or organization’s Facebook is more than just an extension of your bulletin. Make it a rich experience that offers value in the way of inspiration, content that helps someone navigate life, discover who they are in Jesus, and personalize it with stories of what God is doing in and through your congregations. Your Facebook page is not about marketing, but about serving.

Mobile Ministry Forum has it right. In an article called What You Need to Effectively Use New Media by Dr. Frank Preston, one quote made me nod vigorously,

“The research theory that underpins this is what is called the use and gratifications model. This theory states that people are limited by both cognitive capacity and time and therefore will only consume media that fits their needs in their timeframe. Since consumers have a limited attention span, then they quickly forget the message if it is not immediately applicable to them. This is what is called “recency and regency” (recent time and importance) of a media message. By nature, New Media is data driven. Every step in the process needs to be measured and evaluated. If a person “hits” on your media (listens, buys, tunes in, lands on your page, goes to your Facebook, etc.) it is because they want to. (emphasis mine)”

That’s what I’m trying to do as I revamp how WorldVenture uses their social media. Even though I work a full-time job to pay the bills while I raise the capital to take on my new position with WorldVenture full time, I am doing a small part of my job description–coordinating their social media and working with our workers globally to tell their stories. Social Media is all about digital discipleship. What I discovered was how many of our worker’s newsletters come with snippets of wisdom and inspiration from a point of view most of us will never experience. Marry that with nice graphics and put it on social media and it’s not surprising how people take to it.

The data are people, not merely numbers, who are looking for something. We can’t put that data into a box away from our emotions. We have to care. We have to love even the trolls who pepper our posts with ugliness. That’s why I see every person as real and give each person my time. But there are too many people, and no one can run a Facebook page and expect to do digital discipleship alone.

There are 500 plus workers and appointees with WorldVenture. How many people are online in your church congregations or ministries? Why aren’t you training them to use Social Media to do more than just hit the share button, and instead, share their life experiences with people hungry for the Gospel? Some simple things you can do right now with your Facebook page:

Reply to comments as meaningfully as possible. If people left you comments, they deserve a response because each comment is a gift.
Don’t just post content to fill space. Who are your followers? What do they need?
Follow up with people. Do they live in the area? Can you foster good relations, maybe make a new friend, and meet them for coffee in the face-to-face world?
Can you help connect them with a church or ministry who can help meet a need in their life?

Whatever you feel about social media, it is here to stay and will continue to evolve quickly. We can either adapt or become obsolete. It can nicely partner with face-to-face activities, but like our friendships in the face-to-face life, it will take some effort and prayer.

*Help WorldVenture get a digital worker by financially partnering with me here*

Dear Friend: A Blessing in Email @LeadLikeJesus

Most people hate it when you take their email and sign them up for things they may not want. Email is very much in, but it is also what takes up most of our time. I can spend a couple of hours on email, but with my limited time, I simply take care of the important emails. This is why my email is out of control and has been since I started last year with a new day job. But I will never forget the saint who signed me up for Lead Like Jesus email devotionals. You were a blessing.

To you, whoever you are, THANK YOU.

Dear friend, you did me a favor. My heart ached. I felt empty. Numb. I started reading them every morning and used that in the quiet mornings before work became busy to pray and focus on what God wanted me to focus on. What God taught me through those emails over the years will never leave my heart, nor the memory of finding the very first one in my inbox.

Perhaps someone blessed you with an email subscription or sent you something encouraging. In the comments, tell me about it.

Re-Thinking Social Media

When you’re so sure you’re right that you’re willing to burn things down, it turns out that everyone is standing in a burning building sooner or later. – Seth Godin (emphasis mine)

I am reminded every day that businesses, missionary organizations, churches, church plants, advocates for adoption and foster kids, and those against human trafficking need people like me who understand social media and make it work for them. In the spirit of collaboration and partnership, I am always checking my motivations and words. The Gospel is too important for it to be all about me or my ministry. That’s why I love Facebook groups that encourage this kind of collaboration, like Church Communications, AR/VR, etc. That’s why I began a group to encourage a change of narrative.

For the Christian, Social Media is about serving online.

Change the inner narrative, you change a person’s whole perspective:

“But the things which proceed out of the mouth come out of the heart…” Matthew 15:18a